fei75766_ch16_495-533.indd 525  02/06/20 01:34 PM
Chapter 16    Skinner: Behavioral Analysis525
other thannicotine andreport nopsychiatric problems, andwomen hadtopractice 
amedically acceptable form ofbirth control andtestnegative forpregnancy. Partici -
pants wereinformed thattheycould receive various drugs, including placebos, stimu -
lants, andsedatives, andthatthepurpose ofthestudy wastoinvestigate theeffects of
these drugs onmood, behavior, andphysiology. Participants werepaid$435 ifthey
completed allninesessions. 
Thegeneral procedure included ninesessions, thefirstofwhich wasa3.5-
hour session toacclimate theparticipants totheprocedures andequipment; no
drugs were administered inthefirstsessions. Sessions 2through 9lasted 5hours 
eachandincluded breath teststoensure noprior smoking hadoccurred. Baseline 
measures included pre-session questionnaires andphysiological measures suchas
heart rate,skintemperature, andblood pressure. Also, eachparticipant litaciga-
retteandsmoked atleastonepuffinorder toensure equal timeforallparticipants 
since lastexposure tonicotine. Theexperimental drug(orplacebo) wasthenadmin -
istered followed bybaseline mood questions andalightmeal inorder toprevent 
nausea. Mood questions included “Doyoufeelanygood effects?” “Doyoufeel
high?” “Doyoufeelnervous?” andsoforth. Using adouble-blind procedure, par-
ticipants received either aplacebo orD-amphetamine. Theparticipant thencom-
pleted amultiple-choice testthatpitted money against smoking toassess baseline 
levels ofthemonetary value ofsmoking. Forexample, theparticipant wasgiven a
series of45hypothetical choices between smoking andaprogressive amount of
money. Thepoint atwhich theparticipant stopped choosing smoking andchose 
money wasreferred toasthe“crossover point” andwasconsidered anindex of
drug-reinforcement efficacy.
Next, a3-hour progressive reinforcement (PR) session began. Progressive 
reinforcement involves increasing thenumber ofresponses thatarerequired 
before reinforcement. Inthiscase, participants hadtodoarepetitive motor task
n-number oftimes (starting with160andgoing allthewayto8,400 times) to
earneither twopuffs from acigarette or$1.Which reinforcer theychose wasup
tothem. Theideabehind theprogressive nature ofthereinforcement procedure 
wastoseehowlongittookaperson tostopresponding (give uptrying togeta
cigarette ormoney). Thisbreakpoint isconsidered thestrength ofthereinforcer. 
If participants’  breakpoint increased more inthedrugcondition thaninbase-
line,theywere considered responders (tothedrug); ifnot,theywere considered 
nonresponders.
Thegeneral result wasthatthere wasasmall effect ofD-amphetamine on
increasing smoking. However, there weresignificant individual differences, andwhen 
oneexamined theeffects forresponders compared tononresponders, theeffect was
clear. Smoking breakpoints forthe10responders became increasingly higher with
increased dosages ofD-amphetamine, andmoney breakpoints became increasingly 
lower. Inother words, responders werewilling towork harder togetcigarettes under 
increasing amounts ofD-amphetamine. Butthispattern ofresults didnotholdfor
theeight nonresponders; D-amphetamine hadnorealeffect ontheircigarette smok -
ing.Possible reasons forthiseffect wereseeninthesubjective ratings oftheeffects 
ofthedrug: Responders saidtheyfelthighanddrowsy andthatthedrughadgood 
effects. Onobjective measures (physiological effects), however, there wasnodiffer -
encebetween thetwogroups. Final PDF to printer