Of the four simple consequences for behavior, none is more misunderstood than negative reinforcement. A Negative Reinforcement Quiz administered to 233 student teachers from two universities revealed that the vast majority of respondents mistakenly viewed negative reinforcement as a synonym for punishment, and believe that negative reinforcement…

The importance of understanding the manner in which the desire to buy arises in buyers has been neglected in the study of consumer psychology. This report identifies those few research projects which have studied the origins of consumer motivation and describes a phenomenologically-guided investigation which studied individuals' desires to…

Assertive training interventions have become increasingly popular for teaching specific life skills to individuals, but spouses are rarely involved. To study the effects of training on marital relations and social skill, assertive training was conducted with married individuals (N= 4 couples) reporting less assertive ability than their spouses.…

The final report of the first year (1979-1980) of Project First Chance Interactive Outreach Model Program reviews outreach activities and gives detailed information on child progress data from the model demonstration site serving 10 preschool handicapped children. Indicators of project impact are reported in the areas of product development and…

Personality and physiological, cognitive, and environmental factors have all been suggested as critical variables in smoking cessation and relapse. Weight gain and the fear of weight gain after smoking cessation may also prevent many smokers from quitting. A sample of 45 adult smokers participated in a study in which three levels of preventive…

This review of the performance appraisal process discusses the major assumptions on which performance appraisal is based, the general goals of performance appraisal, and the characteristics of effective performance appraisal programs. The author stresses the dependence of the process on the assumption that human behavior can be changed; he…

An energy education program was implemented to deliver energy conservation information to older Oklahomans in Chocktaw and Pushmataha counties. Methods for building inexpensive, home-produced, easy-to-install equipment to significantly reduce heat loss in the winter and cooling loss in the summer were emphasized. Six paraprofessionals were trained…

Proposes an operant framework for the analysis of environment-intelligence interactions in old age and calls for an implementation of research aimed at examining the range of modifiability of intellectual proficiency in the elderly. Intellectual decrement is interpreted to reflect the lack of supportive environmental contingencies. (Author/SDH)

Two treatment components were manipulated in this study: (a) contingency contracting with parents and (b) the order in which problems of varying difficulty were treated. The meaning of convergence and discrepancy among data sources is discussed with regard to individual cases and the sample as a whole. (Author)

Results were interpreted as supporting Spielberger's notion that trait anxiety reflects a dispositional tendency to respond with anxiety in ego-threat situations and as suggesting that personality trait measures may be more relevant outcome indicators than measures of transitory mood states in marathon therapy research. (Author)

This paper reviews some pertinent literature as regards measuring teacher effectiveness (1) by subjective observation of the teacher by, usually, the principal or superintendent; (2) by systematic, detailed, objective observation of the teacher; including studies on classroom interaction; and (3) by pupil productivity. (Author)

Forty eighth-grade students, all failing math, were divided into a control group and an experimental group. Control group received traditional treatment. Experimental group met with trained older peer tutors twice a week. Results indicate that experimental group improved significantly while control group did not. (HMV)

Described is the alinguistic (without language) child, and proposed is a remedial program stressing manual communication methods. (Author/DB)