Valuation Alteration: Stimuli Increase in Value When Preschoolers Deliver Them to Peers

Abstract

We tested the effects of the repeated delivery of metal nuts to peers on the establishment of them as preferred stimuli for 4 preschool children. Prior to the conditioning procedure, metal nuts were relatively nonpreferred stimuli for the participants, as indicated by responses to mastered and acquisition tasks. We used pre- and postconditioning tests of reinforcer effectiveness, which included an ABAB reversal design for a mastered task and an AB design replicated across 4 acquisition tasks, delayed across participants. During the conditioning procedure, the participants were instructed to deliver a metal nut to a peer at the sound of a beep while they were denied access to the nuts themselves. Conditioning sessions continued until the participants demonstrated a low rate of delivery. Postconditioning tests demonstrated that repeatedly delivering the metal nuts to peers resulted in the metal nuts functioning as preferred stimuli for all participants.