Mary was frustrated with her son John. He almost never took out the trash and only cleaned his bathroom about half of the time that it needed it. Mary wanted to see if paying John was an effective treatment, so she started giving him cash every time he took out the trash. He soon became outstanding in this area, taking it out every time that she asked. Since the money worked so well with the trash, she decided to see if it would also help him to clean his room more often. Soon after she started paying him for cleaning his room, that behavior also increased dramatically. What experimental design was Mary using?
A) Multiple baseline across behaviors
B) Multiple baseline across individuals
C) Changing criteria
D) Alternating treatment

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Mary was implementing a multiple baseline across behaviors design, meaning she implemented the treatment of paying John for one behavior (taking out the trash) first and observed its effects before implementing the treatment for the second behavior (cleaning his room). This allowed her to establish a functional relationship between the treatment and John's behavior.

Mary Was Frustrated with Her Son John