Many children with mental retardation and developmental disabilities suffer from the consequences of chronic drooling. Behavioral treatment for drooling should be considered before other, more intrusive treatments such as medication and surgery are implemented. However, empirical studies on behavioral procedures are scarce. This article reviews 19…

Educators commonly consider praise an example of positive reinforcement. They are correct, but they may also be incorrect because the effect upon students of educators administering praise is influenced by the students themselves. Two situations, at least, exist where praise may not bring about its intended effect. Praise may be inappropriate when…

This study reports on four possible feedback sequences to be used in groups. The acceptance and desirability of the feedback, as well as subjects' endorsement of group attractiveness, are compared for various feedback conditions. (Author)

Evaluated in 198 mothers of 2-year-old normal children was the use and relationship to other variables of positive contact. (CL)

This study investigated the relationship between informal interaction with students and faculty members' perceptions of students. The findings suggest that increased informal interaction is associated not only with more positive expectations of students' intellectual interests and openness but also with the degree of congruence with students' self…

Forty primary school students were randomly assigned into four groups based on the level of pretest approval provision and type of pretest task. The efficacy of social approval as a reinforcing stimulus was then tested on a two-choice discrimination learning task in which every correct response was reinforced by contingent approval presentation.…

The study sought to reduce physical contact among students in a special education classroom and to reduce inappropriate contact with classroom objects or materials. Four students, aged 7-9, who exhibited disruptive classroom behavior, were the subjects. During small-group mathematics instruction, three rules of discipline were explained to the…

The effectiveness of social modeling reinforcers in changing the toy preferences of preschool-age children was investigated in this document. Subjects, ranging in age from 37 to 64 months, were matched by sex and age, then randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions or to one control condition. In the high-reinforcement condition the…

Research has demonstrated that a person's attraction to a stranger is influenced by experimental manipulations suggested by general behavior theory. To examine whether a neutral observer, listening to a conversation between two strangers, could be influenced by the manipulation of several learning variables, 80 female undergraduates listened to a…

Describes a method of positive reinforcement used by school social worker to increase a child's ability to follow directions. Not only did the child become a better student, but she was also able to interact more with her peers, something she had not done before. (HMV)

This paper briefly describes a parent education program in a private pediatric office, including some of the concerns parents have brought to the program and their perception of the advice received. Some of the main problems include negative behaviors, toileting, developmental delays, school problems, sleeping difficulties, personality problems,…

Students in four university classes in educational psychology were used as the target population to study the effect of two factors, degree of effort exerted studying a subject, and written feedback from the instructor, on the cognitive and affective attitudes these students formed toward the subject and their assignments. The students, unaware…

An intervention program for the modification of classroom aggressive behavior is outlined. The primary components of this program are positive reinforcement, behavior rehearsal and modeling, and group activity procedures. (Author)