EFFECTS OF PRICE, OPENNESS OF THE ECONOMY AND MAGNITUDE OF THE ALTERNATIVE REINFORCER ON RESPONDING FOR CAFFEINATED COFFEE

Consumption of a commodity is influenced by various factors. This expe riment examined three factors: unit price, 'openness' of the economy, and magnitude of an alternative reinforcer. Subjects earned caffeinate d coffee and money by responding on concurrent random-ratio (RR) sched ules. Coffee price was varied by changing the coffee schedule from RR1 . 3 to RR16, while holding the money schedule constant (RR4). Opennes s of the economy was varied by changing the amount of unearned coffee provided during a 2-h post-task period (0, 1 . 5 or 3 free cups). The magnitude of the alternative reinforcer was varied by allowing subject s to earn an average of $2.00 or $6.00 for responding on the money sch edule. Number of responses for coffee and amount of coffee earned vari ed inversely with the openness of the economy, but were unaffected by the amount of money available. Analysing the demand for coffee as a fu nction of coffee price revealed that coffee was a less elastic commodi ty when the economy was closed than when it was more open. Within the range of parameters tested here, price of caffeinated coffee and openn ess of the economy strongly affected responding in humans, whereas the magnitude of an alternative monetary reinforcer had only limited effe cts.