The Motivative Augmental Effects of Verbal Stimuli on Cooperative and Conformity Responding under a Financially Competing Contingency in an Analog Work Task

The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) is an assessment tool designed to measure one’s learning history with respect to preexisting verbal relations (Barnes-Holmes, Hayden, Barnes-Holmes, & Stewart, 2008 ). Responses to stimuli are regarded as implicit because they are measured with respect to the associated response latencies and accuracy, or brief and immediate relational responding (BIRRs; Hughes & Barnes-Holmes, 2013 , p. 104). This study used the modified (MD) IRAP to select stimuli that were presented in motivational statements in a simulated work task to increase cooperative and conformity responding. Participants came into contact with customized motivational statements promoting cooperative and conformity responding in conditions with a competing pay-for-performance contingency using an alternating treatments design. Results showed that motivational statements temporarily increased cooperative and conformity responding. Moreover, those participants identified as having a stronger history with particular stimuli, as identified in the MD IRAP, chose to cooperate and conform at higher and more sustained rates. The coherence between implicit responding, as demonstrated in the MD IRAP, and explicit responding, as demonstrated in the simulated work task, and the implications it has on prosocial behaviors will be discussed.