Effective training programs for individuals with disabilities often involve the use of positive reinforcement. Social interactions have many benefits over other forms of reinforcement, but more research is needed to determine how to identify social interactions that serve as reinforcers. In the first experiment, we evaluated the use of two procedures to assess preference for social interactions: a video-presentation and a picture-presentation paired-choice preference assessment among five boys diagnosed with a developmental disability. In the second experiment, we conducted concurrent operant reinforcer assessments to validate the results of the preference assessments among three of the five participants in which at least one assessment indicated differentiated preferences. The video-presentation and picture-presentation preference assessments resulted in the identification of the same high-preferred social interactions for two of the three participants, and subsequent reinforcer assessments indicated these social interactions served as reinforcers. The results of the video- and picture-presentation preference assessments differed for the final participant. The results of a concurrent operant reinforcer assessment indicated the social interaction identified as highest preferred in the video-presentation assessment served as a relatively more effective reinforcer. Results of this study indicate that video- and picture-presentation preference assessment results in differentiate responding for some participants, but not others; however, reasons for these results remain unknown. Moreover, a video-presentation preference assessments may be more effective in identifying social reinforcers, but evidence should be considered; preliminary and future research is warranted.

针对残疾人的有效培训计划通常涉及使用积极强化。社交互动比其他形式的强化有很多好处，但是需要更多的研究来确定如何识别充当强化者的社交互动。在第一个实验中，我们评估了使用两种程序评估社交互动的偏好：在五个诊断为发育障碍的男孩中进行视频演示和图片演示配对选择偏好评估。在第二个实验中，我们同时进行了操作性增强器评估，以验证五名参与者中三名参与者的偏好评估结果，其中至少一项评估表明偏好存在差异。视频演示和图片演示偏好评估结果为三个参与者中的两个参与者确定了相同的，高度偏爱的社交互动，随后的强化者评估表明这些社交互动充当了强化者。视频和图片演示偏好评估的结果对于最终参与者而言是不同的。并发操作人员强化评估的结果表明，在视频演示评估中被确定为首选的社交互动是相对更有效的强化。这项研究的结果表明，视频和图片演示的偏爱评估可以使某些参与者（而不是其他参与者）做出不同的反应。但是，这些结果的原因仍然未知。而且，视频演示偏好评估在识别社会支持者方面可能更有效，但应考虑证据；有必要进行初步和将来的研究。