The relative effectiveness of real news violence and fictional entertainment violence was assessed in an experiment with pre-adolescents. One group saw a brief fight scene portrayed as a news story in a simulated TV newscast, while a second group saw the same scene presented as a movie preview during a commercial break. The primary dependent…

The presentation was given at a Pupil Personnel Service seminar to familiarize the conference participants with the techniques used by a behaviorist when he consults with a teacher using a classroom observational schedule. The report is divided into three parts: (1) method employed (subjects and setting apparatus, training children, instruction to…

This report describes two studies in which 48 male college students and 144 male high school students, respectively, were assigned to high or low spatial density conditions and instructed to construct, as a team, an erector set model within a 40-minute period. High school students were assigned to high, middle, and low attraction groups on the…

In an attempt to move the principles and technology of the therapeutic community into the college classroom, the author used mutual interviews and first-name group discussion among his students to build group rapport. Once group leaders were assigned, the students again used interviewing techniques to admit members to the groups. Other features of…

The five papers which comprise this volume share a common interest in the relationship of the problems of instructional technology to the insights of the behavioral sciences. The first chapter is concerned with the applications of present knowledge and empirical methodology to the solution of particular behavioral problems, an activity that…

This study, which used systematic desensitization (SD) behavior therapy to reduce anxieties associated with giving speeches, was based on the hypothesis that subjects given SD therapy five times in 1 week (massed training) would achieve greater reduction of communication anxiety than would subjects treated once a week for 5 weeks (spaced…

This study explored two group treatments, humanistic and social modeling, in helping teachers to be more open and helpful in the classroom. Subjects were 42 volunteers from elementary schools who indicated a desire to become more open and helpful. Each of four groups met four times over a 9 day period for 1 1/2 hours. The modeling groups viewed a…

Female subjects in this study were induced to harm another person in an alleged "learning" study by administering aversive noise to a confederate-victim as she performed a problem-solving task. The subjects consisted of forty-six female undergraduates enrolled in Introductory Psychology at the University of Toronto. They were randomly assigned to…

Recently, behavioral researchers have extended the application of operant conditioning techniques from the behavior management of individual students to the behavior management of entire classes of students. This extension has been facilitated through the utilization of such contingencies as the interdependent group-oriented contingency. The…

The possibility of alleviating migraine headaches by autogenic relaxation training, with or without hand temperature biofeedback, was assessed. The study examined five independent groups in a bi-directional control group design. Volunteer migraine sufferers served as subjects, each participating for 12 weeks. The first four weeks of the study were…

Four profoundly retarded multiply handicapped children (with a mean age of 12 years) were placed in a situation where auditory stimulation was made contingent on a visually directed lever-pulling response. (Author/MH)

The results of this study suggest a practical alternative to increase the effectiveness of discipline in the home and school. Parents and teacher might well rehearse (reinstate) with the child the transgression sequence just prior to the discipline. (Author)

In order to foster the responsible use of behavior modification procedures in the schools on a practical as well as a research basis, this article discusses ethical issues being considered by researchers and the involved public. (Author)

Describes a successful intervention procedure utilizing operant conditioning techniques that reduced the high frequency of inappropriate behavior of a retarded girl in a residential facility. Three teachers, in three different instructional settings, mildly punished each incident of hand-mouthing while concurrently teaching more functional…

This study attempts to evaluate the effects of one specific positive-reinforcement-oriented contingency management program on students' total and school-related self-concepts as well as their personal and social adjustment. (Author)