THE COSTS OF EATING - A BEHAVIORAL ECONOMIC-ANALYSIS OF FOOD REFUSAL

Behavioral economic concepts were applied to the analysis and treatmen t of pediatric feeding disorders in a clinical setting. In Experiment 1, children who chronically refused food were presented with varying a mounts of food on a spoon (empty dipped, quarter, half, and level). Ea ch child exhibited a different but orderly demand function of response (acceptance, expulsion, and mouth clean) by cost (increasing spoon vo lume) for a constant pay-off of toys and social interaction. In Experi ment 2, physical guidance or nonremoval of the spoon for food refusal was initiated at the smallest spoon volume with low levels of acceptan ce, and was subsequently introduced at the largest spoon volume with m oderate levels of acceptance. Treatment was effective in increasing ac ceptance, and these effects generalized hierarchically across untarget ed spoon volumes. The results of both studies provide preliminary supp ort that increasing spoon volume can be equated conceptually with incr easing response effort, and that the change from differential reinforc ement to physical guidance or nonremoval of the spoon appears to have altered the elasticity of each child's demand function.