The relative effectiveness of positive and negative adult preference statements in controlling children's behavior was studied. Results indicated that the adult's antecedent negative comments exerted greater control over the children than did the positive comments. (ST)

These findings suggest that a high density of negative feedback induces both reflective and impulsive children to make fewer errors than does positive feedback. (Authors)

The purpose of these 2 experiments was to determine whether sequential response pattern behavior is affected by partial reinforcement in the same way as other behavior systems. The first experiment investigated the partial reinforcement extinction effects (PREE) in a sequential concept learning task where subjects were required to learn a…

Research supported in part by Public Health Service grant NB-07346 from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Each of two experimenters taught one set of 32 prekindergarteners to discriminate four different letter combinations (R-P, Y-V, C-G, and K-X). Each set of children was randomly selected and assigned to two treatment conditions. The treatment consisted of three warm-up trials, 10 actual training trials, and four post-test trials on a…

This discussion of how conditions of the recipient can affect effectiveness of feedback presents an overview of the topic (feedback functions and feedback about what, when, by whom, and types), and discusses factors affecting formative feedback, i.e., recipients' discrimination repertoires and self-monitoring behavior development in…

Language training for the non-verbal or language delayed child should utilize feedback to reinforce correct responses and should closely follow the syntactical development of normal children. The two basic areas of language training are receptive and expressive. Receptive language training includes attending and responding, following single phase…

TO TEST THE RELATIVE EFFECTIVENESS OF 3 TRAINING PROCEDURES FOR ACQUIRING A TEACHING SKILL, EACH APPLYING REINFORCEMENT PRINCIPLES, STANFORD TEACHER INTERNS WERE VIDEOTAPED ON 4 OCCASIONS DURING THE FIRST 20 MINUTES OF CLASS. EACH INTERN SAW A VIDEOTAPE PLAYBACK WITHIN 3 DAYS (NEW LESSONS WERE VIDEOTAPED WITHIN 2 DAYS AFTER PLAYBACK).…

Examines the influences of behaviorist psychology on performance and instruction technologies. The basic assumptions of behaviorism are outlined, reinforcing contingencies are reviewed, conditioning is described, and such specific topics as stimulus control, behavior chaining, and successive approximation are discussed. (Author/JL)

This study examines some variables that may affect two aspects of syntax in Head Start children; the use of descriptors and the use of complete sentences. Thirty-six children were assigned to six experimental conditions in a design which varied adult verbal modeling, feedback, and sex. Children given adult verbal modeling produced significantly…

To estimate the relative effects of three types and three combinations of feedback on children's discrimination learning, a meta-analysis was performed on the findings of 89 studies. In general, reward compared to punishment or to reward plus punishment is the least efficient method of feedback for teaching children discrimination materials.…

A nursery school teacher received three types of training in self-observation skills, which were compared with regard to their effects on the accuracy of the self-observations. Minimal training consisted of a brief description of the behaviors to be recorded. The feedback condition incorporated daily information about the accuracy of the…

Programed instruction applies what is known about learning to educational psychology. The success of programed learning is determined by the material used and by the construction of this material. In order to construct effective learning sequences, the behavioral end products of instruction must be specified clearly and precisely. The subject…