Visit your dad, but not for too long!

A token economy combined with written instructions were used to see its effect on the duration of home visits a male participant made to his old sick father, using a range bound changing criterion design (RBCC). The participant had long desired to make more frequent visits to his father, but was unable to due to varying factors. This experiment was considered socially significant for the participant, as his father’s increasingly deteriorating condition was leading to feelings of guilt and worry in him. The ranges used were 60-90 45-60 and 30-45 minutes, on any 3 random weekdays. Tokens were delivered contingent on these durations. Baseline recordings showed extremes between 0-195 minutes, 0-3 days a week. The participant was also to initiate verbal behavior and provide assistance to his father during his visits. Generalization effects from extrinsic to intrinsic values were also seen.