Prior research has shown that responding can be maintained under concurrent food and social reinforcement in rats, but little is known about interactions between these reinforcers. In the present study, we approached the problem from a behavioral-economic perspective, using demand-curve methods to analyze demand for, and interactions between, food and social reinforcement. Four rats were given repeated choices between food and 10-s of social access to a partner rat on concurrent schedules, with social access arranged by lifting a door to a restraint, within which the partner rat was held. The fixed-ratio prices of the food and social interaction were varied, separately or together, generating within-subject demand functions. Demand for both food and social interaction decreased with increases in their own price (own-price elasticity), though food reinforcers were more robust (higher levels of consumption at the lowest price) and less sensitive to price (less elastic) than was social interaction. Demand for a constant-price of social interaction increased with increases in the price of food (positive cross-price elasticity), suggesting a substitutable relationship. Demand for a constant-price of food did not change with increases in the price of social access, suggesting no reinforcer interaction. Demand for food alone was less elastic than demand for food in the presence of social reinforcement opportunities, showing that value of food is modified by the presence and availability of social reinforcement. The results provide further evidence of the reinforcing value of social interaction, and how it is modified by the broader economic context in which it occurs, including the price and availability of qualitatively different reinforcers of higher value.

先前的研究表明，大鼠在食物和社会强化同时进行的情况下可以维持反应，但对这些强化物之间的相互作用知之甚少。在本研究中，我们从行为经济学的角度来处理这个问题，使用需求曲线方法来分析对食物和社会强化的需求以及它们之间的相互作用。四只大鼠在同时安排的时间表上在食物和与伴侣大鼠的社交访问之间重复选择 10 秒，社交访问通过打开限制的门来安排，其中伴侣大鼠被关押。食品和社会互动的固定比率价格单独或一起变化，产生主体内需求函数。对食物和社会互动的需求随着自身价格（自身价格弹性）的上升而下降，尽管食物强化物比社会互动更强大（以最低价格消费更高水平）并且对价格不太敏感（弹性更小）。随着食品价格的上涨（正交叉价格弹性），对社会互动的固定价格的需求增加，表明存在可替代的关系。对固定价格食品的需求没有随着社会获取价格的上涨而改变，这表明没有强化物的相互作用。在存在社会强化机会的情况下，仅对食物的需求比对食物的需求弹性小，这表明食物的价值受到社会强化的存在和可用性的影响。结果进一步证明了社会互动的强化价值，以及它如何被它发生的更广泛的经济背景所修改，