Publication Details

The word choice has a variety of different connotations. From an applied behavior-analytic perspective, when we refer to choice, we tend to focus on direct-acting contingencies, that is, contingencies for which the outcome of the response reinforces or punishes that response. Within direct-acting contingencies, one way to conceive of choice is based on the notion that every response we engage in throughout each day constitutes a choice between that response and one or more concurrently available alternatives (Herrnstein, 1970). Another behavior-analytic view of choice refers to an antecedent intervention involving the allocation of behavior among stimuli such as different tasks or a consequent-based intervention in which a target response results in a choice among stimuli such as small prizes or edibles. This chapter describes and discusses the variables that affect choice responding (i.e., response allocation across concurrently available response options) under laboratory and natural conditions, choice as a behavioral strategy designed to promote specific behaviors, and a behavioral-economic account of choice behavior in the context of complex and dynamic conditions (i.e., interactions existing between qualitatively different reinforcers). The chapter provides illustrative examples of basic, translational, and applied research throughout and proposes directions for future basic, translational, and applied research.