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The premack principle, response deprivation, and establishing operations

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Abstract

This paper describes response deprivation as an establishing operation. In this context, we review the concept of establishing operation, in particular, its reinforcer-establishing and evocative effects; we place response deprivation in the literature on the reinforcing effects of behavioral activity, wherein response deprivation subsumes the Premack principle; we describe the reinforcer-altering and evocative effects of response deprivation; and we address a methodological concern about the evocative effect. In closing, we discuss some conceptual and empirical implications of the foregoing analyses.

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Klatt, K.P., Morris, E.K. The premack principle, response deprivation, and establishing operations. BEHAV ANALYST 24, 173–180 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392028

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