A base rate of deviant behavior was obtained for the eight most disruptive children in a third grade adjustment class. In a token reinforcement program, the children received teacher's ratings, which were exchangeable for reinforcers such as candy and trinkets. With the introduction of the token reinforcement program, an abrupt reduction in…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a behavior modification method for remediation of reading skills with ten primary grade students enrolled in a sixteen week program. Ten elementary school teachers enrolled in a graduate diagnostic and remedial reading course received eight hours of instruction, including the collection…

The use of operant techniques in the classroom, especially with slow learners, was investigated, and several types of reinforcement were compared. Subjects were 129 fourth graders enrolled in a middle school in a disadvantaged rural Florida community. The subjects were stratified by race, sex, and homeroom and were randomly assigned to one of five…

Research on overcorrection (for use with the mentally handicapped, schizophrenic, and autistic) is reviewed, and two types of overcorrection, restitutional and positive-practice, are described. (BD)

The study investigated the relationship between topographically different child behaviors (compliance and inappropriate activities) in four mentally retarded subjects (aged 3-5) by using a methodology that tests for response covariation. Regardless of the intervention used, the behavior targeted, or the direction manipulated, the nontargeted…

The history and main features of organizational behavior management (OBM) are compared and integrated with those of total quality management (TQM), with emphasis on W.E. Deming's 14 points and OBM's operant-based approach to performance management. Interventions combining OBM, TQM, and statistical process control are recommended. (DB)

Adaptive motor actions require prior knowledge of instrumental contingencies. With practice, these actions can become highly automatic in nature. However, the molecular and anatomical substrates mediating these related forms of learning are not understood. In the present study, we used in situ hybridization to measure the mRNA levels of two…

The study examined the extent to which momentary DRO (differential reinforcement of other behavior) maintained suppression (following initial treatment with whole-interval DRO) of the maladaptive behavior of nine severely multihandicapped elementary aged students. Results indicated that momentary DRO maintained response suppression comparable to…

Joint attention (JA) initiation is defined in cognitive-developmental psychology as a child's actions that verify or produce simultaneous attending by that child and an adult to some object or event in the environment so that both may experience the object or event together. This paper presents a contingency analysis of gaze shift in JA…

This paper provides students with a brief outline of behavioral principles and behavior change techniques, and describes various means of behavior change including operant conditioning. Methods discussed include reinforcement, extinction, punishment, response cost, time-out, overcorrection, training, and data collection for taking a baseline.…

Using a conformity research methodology, the authors investigated the questions of whether (a) the Asch-type conformity setting produces greater yielding than variant settings where subjects are screened from one another and (b) the nonverbal element of contradictory or inconsistent nonverbal communications significantly alters response to the…

Discusses the use of behavioral assessment for both descriptive and program evaluation purposes. Notes the use of behavioral assessment to study coaching behaviors and their effects on young athletes. Operant and cognitive-behavioral interventions have proven effective in both athletic and psychosocial outcomes. Discusses unresolved issues and…

Despite the seminal studies of response differentiation by the method of successive approximation detailed in chapter 8 of "The Behavior of Organisms" (1938), B. F. Skinner never actually shaped an operant response by hand until a memorable incident of startling serendipity on the top floor of a flour mill in Minneapolis in 1943. That occasion…

An important approach to understanding child behavior and development is the experimental analysis of such behavior. The experimental analysis procedure must be distinguished from related analyses used occasionally. An analysis by anecdote is an analysis based upon the accumulation of recurring associations; for example, B followed by A. This does…

Reports on a study that used positive reinforcement on a group of fourth and fifth graders to underscore the contingent relationship between student behavior and environment and thus develop a more internal locus of control. Shows that experimental subjects were significantly more internal than their placebo or control group counterparts following…