bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ACHIEVEMENT PLACE: TOKEN REINFORCEMENT PROCEDURES IN A HOME‐STYLE REHABILITATION SETTING FOR “PREDELINQUENT” BOYS1
Authors: Phillips Elery L.
Published: March 2006

Token reinforcement procedures were designed to modify the behavior of “pre‐delinquent” boys residing in a community‐based, home‐style rehabilitation setting. Points (the tokens) were redeemable for various privileges such as visiting their families, watching TV, and riding bicycles. Points were given by the house‐parents contingent upon specified appropriate behavior and taken away for specified inappropriate behavior. The frequencies of aggressive statements and poor grammar decreased while tidiness, punctuality, and amount of homework completed increased. It was concluded that a token reinforcement procedure, entirely dependent upon back‐up reinforcers naturally available in a home‐style treatment setting, could contribute to an effective and economical rehabilitation program for pre‐delinquents.
SOME EXPERIMENTS ON THE ORGANIZATION OF A CLASS OF IMITATIVE BEHAVIORS1,2,3
Authors: Peterson Robert F.
Published: March 2006

A retarded child was taught to imitate diverse demonstrations made by an experimenter, until new demonstrations were imitated correctly upon first presentation without direct training. These imitations could be maintained without reinforcement, when they were distributed among other reinforced imitations. Factors responsible for the continued performance of these unreinforced imitations were examined. When subjected to massed extinction trials, unreinforced imitations eventually disappeared; they reappeared when again interspersed among reinforced imitations. In addition, the stimulus function of “similarity of response between subject and experimenter” was examined. The subject was taught a set of non‐imitative responses, through discriminative stimuli controlled by the experimenter, and a comparable imitative set. Unreinforced non‐imitations, like reinforced imitations, were maintained only when interspersed among reinforced imitations. When all reinforcement was discontinued, all responses extinguished similarly, indicating that reinforcement was necessary to maintain the response‐class organization, but not confirming an essential role for “similarity” as such.
CONTROL OF TANTRUM BEHAVIOR BY OPERANT TECHNIQUES DURING EXPERIMENTAL VERBAL TRAINING
Authors: Sailor Wayne , Guess Doug , Rutherford Gorin , Baer Donald M.
Published: March 2006

A technique of controlling undesirable or disruptive behavior during an ongoing program of verbal training with a retardate is described. The technique required that the stimulus materials of the verbal training program be graded according to difficulty, i.e., in terms of the length and complexity of the stimulus materials. (This resulted in an initial grading of the stimulus materials into different levels of probability of reinforcement.) Changes by the experimenter from high‐difficulty to low‐difficulty stimuli for two trials contingent upon disruptive behavior increased the rate of that behavior; changes from low‐difficulty to high‐difficulty stimuli for two trials contingent upon disruptive behavior decreased its rate. Thus, contingent alternation of the stimulus materials of the ongoing training program controlled the frequency of undesirable behaviors within the experimental sessions. This technique may comprise an alternative to other procedures which require punishment or timeout from the ongoing program.
A TECHNIQUE FOR CONTROLLING BEHAVIOR IN NATURAL LIFE SETTINGS1
Authors: Tighe Thomas J. , Elliott Rogers
Published: March 2006

A behavior control technique is presented, consisting primarily of having a patient give up some portion of his reinforcers (usually money) with the understanding that he must behave in therapeutically prescribed ways in his natural environment to re‐earn the reinforcers. The critical features and requirements of the technique are discussed, various applications are suggested, and implications for research are drawn.
DEVELOPING CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE NON‐VERBAL AND VERBAL BEHAVIOR OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN1
Authors: Risley Todd R. , Hart Betty
Published: March 2006

Correspondence was developed between children's non‐verbal and verbal behavior such that their non‐verbal behavior could be altered simply by reinforcing related verbal behavior. Two groups of six children each were given food snack at the end of the day: for reporting use of a specific preschool material during free play (procedure A); and then only for reports of use which corresponded to actual use of that material earlier that day (procedure B). Initially, procedure A alone had little or no effect on the children's use of materials. Procedure B resulted in all of the children in one group actually using a specific material, and after repeating procedures A and B with this group across a series of different materials, procedure A alone was sufficient to significantly increase use of a specific material. Correspondence between verbal and non‐verbal behavior was produced such that, in this group of 4‐yr‐old disadvantaged Negro children, “saying” controlled “doing” 22 or more hours later. In the second group, procedure B initially did not increase the use of a specific material; rather, the children's reports decreased so as to correspond to the intermittent use of the material. It appeared from subsequent procedures with this group that maintenance of a high level of reporting was crucial to the saying‐then‐doing correspondence seen in the first group.
A SYNCHRONIZATION EFFECT AND ITS APPLICATION TO STUTTERING BY A PORTABLE APPARATUS1
Authors: Azrin N. , Jones R. J. , Flye Barbara
Published: March 2006

The present study attempted to determine how a rhythmic beat affects ongoing behavior. A regular stimulus beat was presented to normal subjects who had been instructed to push a bar from side to side. Other subjects had been instructed to emit a vocal response. The individual vocal and motor responses became synchronized with the individual beats of the rhythm. The time between stimulus beats determined the modal interresponse time. These results indicate a synchronization effect: ongoing behavior tends to become synchronized with an ongoing stimulus rhythm. An attempt was made to apply these findings to the problem of stuttering, which can be considered as a disturbance of the natural rhythm of speech. Stutterers were instructed to synchronize their speech with a simple regular beat presented to them tactually by a portable apparatus. The result was a reduction of 90% or more of the stuttering for each subject during the period of synchronization. This effect endured for extended periods of spontaneous speech as well as for reading aloud and was found to be attributable to the rhythmic nature of the stimulus and not to other factors.
AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF LINGUISTIC DEVELOPMENT: THE PRODUCTIVE USE OF THE PLURAL MORPHEME
Authors: Guess Doug , Sailor Wayne , Rutherford Gorin , Baer Donald M.
Published: March 2006

Operant conditioning procedures were used to establish a generative use of the plural morpheme in the speech of a severely retarded girl. During training trials, reinforcement was presented contingent upon correct imitation of singular and plural verbalizations by the experimenter, in response to objects presented to the subject singly and in pairs. A generative productive plural usage resulted, the girl correctly labeling new objects in the singular or plural without further direct training relevant to those objects. After establishing the singular/plural usage, the contingencies were reversed (reinforcement of plural responses to single objects, and vice‐versa). This produced a corresponding reversal of response by the child. The original usage was then recovered by returning to the previous contingencies. A second experiment analyzed certain error responses occurring during the first experiment, and further probed the generative nature of the subject's plural usage. It was found that errors were somewhat more likely to occur in the pluralization of words ending in vowels than of words ending in consonants. Furthermore, several words whose plurals had been learned according to the reversed plural rule, when examined later during reinforcement of normal plural usage, were found then to exemplify the normal rule being reinforced, yet without direct training.
INSTRUCTING BEGINNING TEACHERS IN REINFORCEMENT PROCEDURES WHICH IMPROVE CLASSROOM CONTROL1,2
Authors: Hall R. Vance , Panyan Marion , Rabon Deloris , Broden Marcia
Published: March 2006

Systematic reinforcement procedures were used to increase study behavior in the classrooms of three beginning teachers experiencing problems of classroom control. Classroom study rates were recorded during a baseline period. During subsequent experimental periods, the teachers changed one or more reinforcement contingencies (teacher attention, length of between‐period break, a classroom game) to bring about increased study rates and concomitant reductions in disruptive behaviors. A brief reversal period, in which these contingencies were discontinued, again produced low rates of study. Reinstatement of the contingencies resulted once again in marked increases in study behaviors.
REINFORCEMENT THERAPY IN THE CLASSROOM1
Authors: Ward Michael H. , Baker Bruce L.
Published: March 2006

Teachers were trained in the systematic use of attention and praise to reduce the disruptive classroom behavior of four first‐grade children. Observation measures showed a significant improvement from baseline to treatment for these children and no significant changes for same‐class controls. While the amount of teacher attention to target children remained the same from baseline to treatment, the proportion of attention to task‐relevant behavior of these children increased. Psychological tests revealed no adverse changes after treatment.
EFFECTS OF MANIPULATING AN ANTECEDENT EVENT ON MATHEMATICS RESPONSE RATE1
Authors: Lovitt Thomas C. , Curtiss Karen A.
Published: March 2006

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the effects on performance rate of simply writing the answers to mathematics problems versus verbalizing the problems before making a written response. The subject was an 11‐yr‐old boy whose response accuracy on mathematics problems was very erratic. Three experiments were conducted, each consisting of three phases. In each first phase, the subject was requested to write the answers to sets of mathematics problems. In the second, he was required to verbalize the problem before writing the answer. In the third phase, the subject was told to write the answer again without prior verbalization. The results indicated that the subject's correct answer rate increased and his error rate decreased as a result of his verbalizing the problems before making a written response. Results further revealed that in the final phase of each experiment, the return to the original conditions, his correct answer rate continued to increase.
APPLICATION OF A SIMPLE RECORDING SYSTEM TO THE ANALYSIS OF FREE‐PLAY BEHAVIOR IN AUTISTIC CHILDREN1
Authors: Boer Arend P.
Published: March 2006

An observational system, which has been developed to facilitate recording of the total behavioral repertoire of autistic children, involves time‐sampling recording of behavior with the help of a common Stenograph machine. Categories which exhausted all behavior were defined. Each category corresponded with a designated key on the Stenograph machine. The observer depressed one key at each 1‐sec interval. The observer was paced by audible beats from a metronome. A naive observer can be used with this method. The observer is not mechanically limited and a minimum of observer training is required to obtain reliable measures. The data sampled during a five‐week observation period indicated the stability of a taxonomic instrument of behavior based upon direct, time‐sampling observations and the stability of spontaneous autistic behavior. Results showed that the behavior of the subjects was largely nonrandom and unsocialized in character.
A TOUCH‐DETECTING TEACHING MACHINE WITH AUDITORY REINFORCEMENT
Authors: Cleary Alan , Packham Derek
Published: March 2006

This teaching machine has been designed and used to train reading and other visual discrimination skills with normal and retarded children. On each frame the subject responds by touching one of three response panels on which are projected the multiple‐choice alternatives. The response panels are coated with a transparent conducting film which allows electronic detection of this simple and direct response. Correct responses are reinforced by the machine naming the stimulus, while auditory reinforcement is absent for an incorrect response. The subject's performance level is continuously computed as an exponentially weighted moving average. The measure is weighted so that it rapidly follows recent changes in performance.
PRODUCTION AND ELIMINATION OF DISRUPTIVE CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR BY SYSTEMATICALLY VARYING TEACHER'S BEHAVIOR1
Authors: Thomas Don R. , Becker Wesley C. , Armstrong Marianne
Published: March 2006

The effects of teacher behaviors on the classroom behaviors of children were investigated by systematically varying approving (praise, smiles, contacts, etc.) and disapproving (verbal reprimands, physical restraint, etc.) classes of teacher behavior. Measures were taken on both teacher and child behaviors. Each day a sample of 10 children was observed. The subject pool was a class of 28 well‐behaved children in a middle‐primary public school class. The results demonstrated that approving teacher responses served a positive reinforcing function in maintaining appropriate classroom behaviors. Disruptive behaviors increased each time approving teacher behavior was withdrawn. When the teacher's disapproving behaviors were tripled, increases appeared most markedly in the gross motor and noise‐making categories of disruptive behavior. The findings emphasize again the important role of the teacher in producing, maintaining, and eliminating disruptive as well as pro‐social classroom behavior.
EFFECT OF CONTINGENT AND NON‐CONTINGENT SOCIAL REINFORCEMENT ON THE COOPERATIVE PLAY OF A PRESCHOOL CHILD1
Authors: Hart Betty M. , Reynolds Nancy J. , Baer Donald M. , Brawley Eleanor R. , Harris Florence R.
Published: March 2006

The effect of adult social reinforcement on the cooperative play of a five‐year old girl in a preschool setting was assessed under two conditions: (1) presented randomly throughout the school day, and (2) presented contingent on cooperative play. Only in the latter condition was a significant change in cooperative play observed.
BEHAVIORAL ENGINEERING: POSTURAL CONTROL BY A PORTABLE OPERANT APPARATUS1
Authors: Azrin N. , Rubin H. , O'Brien F. , Ayllon T. , Roll D.
Published: March 2006

Recent studies suggested a general behavioral engineering approach to behavioral disorders by portable operant treatment instruments. The approach was applied to the problem of poor posture, specifically rounding of the back or slouching. An apparatus was developed that provided a warning stimulus followed by an aversive tone for the duration of slouching. Slouching was thereby punished by onset of the tone, and non‐slouching was reinforced by tone termination and postponement. Twenty‐five adults wore the apparatus during their normal working day during alternate periods in which the aversive tone was connected and disconnected experimentally. A miniature time‐meter recorded the duration of slouching. The results showed that slouching decreased for each subject during each period in which slouching produced the aversive tone. For two subjects, a second control procedure was applied in which slouching terminated the tone. The result was an increase of slouching, demonstrating that the postural changes were controlled by the scheduled relation between the aversive tone and the response, and not by other factors such as simple response feedback. The substantial changes in posture indicate that the present procedure may prove to be an effective treatment alternative and suggests the general value of the behavioral engineering approach.
DIFFERENTIAL EFFECTS OF TOKEN REINFORCEMENT ON INSTRUCTION‐FOLLOWING BEHAVIOR IN RETARDED STUDENTS INSTRUCTED AS A GROUP
Authors: Zimmerman Elaine H. , Zimmerman J. , Russell C. D.
Published: March 2006

This study was addressed to the problem of applying behavior modification techniques on a group basis to a class of retarded students with “attentional deficits”. Seven boys, age 8 to 15 yr, characterized as showing severe “attentional” problems or disruptive behavior in their respective classrooms, participated daily for 30‐min sessions in a special class over a 1.5‐month period. In each session, verbal instructions were given to the class as a whole. In control sessions, each appropriate instruction‐following response by a child produced praise for that child. In experimental sessions, appropriate responses also produced tokens exchangeable for tangible reinforcers after the session. Token reinforcement differentially maintained instruction‐following behavior in four children while one responded appropriately to most instructions and a second improved continuously during the study. While the data suggest that the present approach can be successfully applied to the alteration of instruction‐following behavior in retarded children, its major contribution may be that of providing objective quantitative information about such behavior.
MODIFICATION OF SOCIAL WITHDRAWAL THROUGH SYMBOLIC MODELING1
Authors: O'Connor Robert D.
Published: March 2006

The present experiment was designed to test the efficacy of symbolic modeling as a treatment to enhance social behavior in preschool isolates. Nursery school children who displayed marked social withdrawal were assigned to one of two conditions. One group observed a film depicting increasingly more active social interactions between children with positive consequences ensuing in each scene, while a narrative soundtrack emphasized the appropriate behavior of the models. A control group observed a film that contained no social interaction. Control children displayed no change in withdrawal behavior, whereas those who had the benefit of symbolic modeling increased their level of social interaction to that of non‐isolate nursery school children.
BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION WITH CULTURALLY DEPRIVED SCHOOL CHILDREN: TWO CASE STUDIES1
Authors: Wasik Barbara H. , Senn Kathryn , Welch Roberta H. , Cooper Barbara R.
Published: March 2006

Techniques of behavior modification were employed with two second‐grade Negro girls in a demonstration school for culturally deprived children to increase the girls' appropriate classroom behaviors. A classification system that provided for continuous categorization of behavior was used to code the children's behavior in two classroom situations. Data were also taken on the type, duration, and frequency of the teachers' verbal interactions. The study included four conditions: Baseline, Modification I, Postmodification, and Modification II. The treatment variable was positive social reinforcement—attention and approval contingent upon desirable classroom behaviors—which was presented, withheld, or withdrawn (timeout from social reinforcement). Withholding of social reinforcement was contingent upon inappropriate attention‐getting behaviors. Timeout from social reinforcement was contingent upon behaviors classified as aggressive and resistive. After 25 days of Modification I, desirable behavior increased markedly for each girl. The teachers were then asked to return to their Baseline level of performance. The resultant behaviors demonstrated that for one girl, behavior was still primarily under the control of the treatment contingencies. For the second child, many desirable behaviors that had increased in frequency during Modification I remained high, but inappropriate behaviors increased. When treatment was reinstated, the amount of time spent in desirable behaviors increased and remained high for both girls. Three checks during the three months following data collection showed that these behaviors continued to remain high.
APPLICATION OF TIMEOUT FROM POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT FOR INCREASING THE EFFICIENCY OF SPEECH TRAINING1
Authors: McReynolds Leija V.
Published: March 2006

Language training procedures, which involved positive reinforcement for verbal imitation, were applied to increase the appropriate verbal behavior of an almost non‐verbal, brain damaged, 5‐yr‐old boy. Two experiments assessed the effectiveness of timeout from positive reinforcement as a training procedure viewed as having potential punishing and negatively reinforcing functions. In both experiments, timein, termination of timeout and resumption of training, was arranged to have reinforcing properties in that it presented an opportunity to receive positive reinforcers. In Exp. I, the procedure consisted of temporarily halting language training (timeout) following verbal jargon and resuming it (timein) contingent upon the boy sitting quietly in his chair for approximately 30 sec. The jargon declined to almost zero for an extended period each time the procedure was employed. In Exp. II, the procedure consisted of halting language training (timeout) after emission of undesired verbal responses which previously had been reinforced as the desired approximation to the target verbal behavior. Resumption of training (timein) was made contingent upon the emission of the then‐desired approximation of the target verbal behavior. In each experiment, the contingent timeout and timein of the language training that involved positive reinforcement effectively reduced the undesired and increased the desired responses.
CONTINGENCY CONTRACTING WITH SCHOOL PROBLEMS
Authors: Cantrell Robert P. , Cantrell Mary Lynn , Huddleston Clifton M. , Wooldridge Ralph L.
Published: March 2006

Contingency contracting procedures used in managing problems with school‐age children involved analyzing teacher and/or parental reports of behavior problem situations, isolating the most probable contingencies then in effect, the range of reinforcers presently available, and the ways in which they were obtained. The authors prepared written contracts delineating remediative changes in reinforcement contingencies. These contracts specified ways in which the child could obtain existing individualized reinforcers contingent upon approximations to desired appropriate behaviors chosen as incompatible with the referral problem behaviors. Contract procedures were administered by the natural contingency managers, parents and/or teachers, who kept daily records of contracted behaviors and reinforcers. These records were sent to the authors and provided feedback on the progress of the case. Initial results of this procedure have been sufficiently encouraging to warrant recommending an experimental analysis of contingency contracting as a clinical method.
BEHAVIORAL ENGINEERING: STUTTERING AS A FUNCTION OF STIMULUS DURATION DURING SPEECH SYNCHRONIZATION1
Authors: Jones R. J. , Azrin N. H.
Published: March 2006

Past studies have shown that stuttering is eliminated when speech is synchronized with a metronomic beat, but the speech sounds artificial. The present study investigated the effect of increasing the duration of these individual stimulus beats with the stimulus‐off period constant at 1 sec. When subjects were instructed to speak during the stimulus‐on period, stuttering was an inverse function of stimulus duration, indicating that the known metronome effect on stuttering is one point on a continuum of effective rhythm procedures. The “naturalness” of speech increased as the stimulus duration increased up to durations of about 2 sec, and then decreased. At optimal values, stuttering was greatly reduced and naturalness and rapidity of speech were retained. These optimal values effectively controlled stuttering in a field test that used two types of specially designed portable instruments, one of which produced a tactual stimulus and the other an auditory stimulus.
INCREASED COMMUNICATIONS OF CHRONIC MENTAL PATIENTS BY REINFORCEMENT AND BY RESPONSE PRIMING1
Authors: O'Brien F. , Azrin N. H. , Henson K.
Published: March 2006

An attempt was made to increase the frequency with which chronic schizophrenic patients suggested feasible improvements in their treatment. A response priming procedure was devised that was comparable to a previously developed reinforcer exposure procedure. The patients were required to attend a structured meeting during which they were prompted to make suggestions. This priming procedure was compared with the more usual procedure of “welcoming” attendance and suggestions. It was found that more suggestions were made when attendance was required, rather than optional. This increase occurred during a group as well as a private meeting. An attempt was then made to analyze the probable reinforcer for the suggestions by experimentally varying the percentage of suggestions followed. Different staff members served as the discriminative stimuli within a multiple schedule. It was found that the number of suggestions was a direct function of the percentage followed. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the priming procedure as an adjunct to reinforcement procedures for increasing desired behaviors of mental patients. Few suggestions were made when reinforcement or priming were used alone.
EFFECTS OF MIXED REINFORCEMENT CONTINGENCIES ON ADULTS' CONTROL OF CHILDREN'S BEHAVIOR1
Authors: Redd William H.
Published: March 2006

Two severely retarded boys, each a member of a different play group, experienced three regimes of reinforcement from adults [contingent, noncontingent, and mixed (contingent and noncontingent)]. The agent of contingent reinforcement acquired stimulus control of the subjects' behavior; the noncontingent agent did not. The agent of the mixed schedule of reinforcement did not gain control, but aspects of his behavior came to function as cues. The mixed adult's withholding reinforcement in the absence of the target behavior (cooperative play) evoked cooperative play, whereas his presenting free reinforcement resulted in the subjects' remaining in their inactive, baseline positions.
PERFORMANCE DETERMINED INSTRUCTION FOR TRAINING IN REMEDIAL READING
Authors: Gray Burl B. , Baker Richard D. , Stancyk Susan E.
Published: March 2006

A system called Performance Determined Instruction (PDI) is presented as a methodological tactic for training in remedial reading. The system incorporates aspects of binary logic, instrumental conditioning, and programmed instruction. Results suggest that PDI is a high‐precision instructional procedure effective in obtaining desired changes in reading‐task performance.
SUPPRESSION OF NORMAL SPEECH DISFLUENCIES THROUGH RESPONSE COST1
Authors: Siegel Gerald M. , Lenske Joanne , Broen Patricia
Published: March 2006

The speech disfluencies of five normal‐speaking college students were modified in a series of 10 to 17 sessions by means of response cost. During Point‐loss, each disfluency (repetition or interjection of a sound, syllable, word, etc.) resulted in the loss of a penny, as indicated on a screen in front of the subject. Disfluencies were suppressed and kept at very low levels for four of the subjects during the punishment procedures, and there was general resistance to extinction. Even though points were subtracted only during speech, there was a tendency for disfluencies to decrease, though not as markedly, during reading probes as well.
A TOKEN REINFORCEMENT PROGRAM IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL: A REPLICATION AND SYSTEMATIC ANALYSIS1
Authors: O'Leary K. D. , Becker W. C. , Evans M. B. , Saudargas R. A.
Published: March 2006

A base rate of disruptive behavior was obtained for seven children in a second‐grade class of 21 children. Rules, Educational Structure, and Praising Appropriate Behavior while Ignoring Disruptive Behavior were introduced successively; none of these procedures consistently reduced disruptive behavior. However, a combination of Rules, Educational Structure, and Praise and Ignoring nearly eliminated disruptive behavior of one child. When the Token Reinforcement Program was introduced, the frequency of disruptive behavior declined in five of the six remaining children. Withdrawal of the Token Reinforcement Program increased disruptive behavior in these five children, and reinstatement of the Token Reinforcement Program reduced disruptive behavior in four of these five. Follow‐up data indicated that the teacher was able to transfer control from the token and back‐up reinforcers to the reinforcers existing within the educational setting, such as stars and occasional pieces of candy. Improvements in academic achievement during the year may have been related to the Token Program, and attendance records appeared to be enhanced during the Token phases. The Token Program was utilized only in the afternoon, and the data did not indicate any generalization of appropriate behavior from the afternoon to the morning.
MODIFICATION OF SEVERE DISRUPTIVE AND AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR USING BRIEF TIMEOUT AND REINFORCEMENT PROCEDURES
Authors: Bostow Darrel E. , Bailey J. B.
Published: March 2006

Brief timeout for disruptive and aggressive behaviors and reinforcement for appropriate behaviors were used with two retarded patients in a state hospital ward setting. The procedures reduced loud vocal behavior in one patient and aggressive behavior in another to near‐zero levels when first applied. The behaviors returned to previous levels when the procedures were removed and were again greatly reduced when timeout and reinforcement were reapplied. The results were significant because the behavior problems were severe and long‐standing and the procedures were instituted without greatly disturbing normal ward routine.
BEHAVIORAL ENGINEERING: THE USE OF RESPONSE PRIMING TO IMPROVE PRESCRIBED SELF‐MEDICATION1
Authors: Azrin N. H. , Powell J.
Published: March 2006

A major problem in outpatient treatment has been the extreme irregularity with which patients use medication prescribed for them. As a new approach to resolving this problem, a portable operant apparatus was developed based on response priming and escape reinforcement. The apparatus sounded a tone at the time that a pill was to be taken. When the user turned a knob to terminate the tone, the apparatus delivered the pill into the user's hand. The apparatus was evaluated with six normal adults using a medically inert pill. A greater proportion of the pills were taken by each subject when using the special apparatus as compared with the use of a portable alarm timer or the usual wristwatch. These results demonstrate a new approach for increasing the regularity of self‐administration of medicines.
SWITCHING REQUIREMENTS IN A HEAD START CLASSROOM1
Authors: Jacobson Joan M. , Bushell Don , Risley Todd
Published: March 2006

Two experiments were conducted by the mothers of the children in a Head Start classroom. Both examined the effects of a switching task on the frequency with which children moved from one activity area of the classroom to another. The results indicated that the rate at which the children changed activities could be adjusted by varying the difficulty or magnitude of the switching task and that the task itself could be used to introduce academic subjects which would be poorly attended if initially presented in an activity area.
ACADEMIC RESPONSE RATE AS A FUNCTION OF TEACHER‐ AND SELF‐IMPOSED CONTINGENCIES
Authors: Lovitt Thomas C. , Curtiss Karen A.
Published: March 2006

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of the contingency manager (teacher or pupil) on a pupil's academic response rate. The results of two such experiments disclosed that higher academic rates occurred when the pupil arranged the contingency requirements than when the teacher specified them. A third study manipulated only reinforcement magnitude to ascertain whether amount of reinforcement had interacted with pupil‐specified contingencies to produce the increase in academic response rate. The latter findings revealed that the contingency manager, not reinforcement magnitude, accounted for this subject's gain in performance.
VISUALLY DISCRIMINATED BEHAVIOR IN A “BLIND” ADOLESCENT RETARDATE1
Authors: Stolz Stephanie B. , Wolf Montrose M.
Published: March 2006

A 16‐yr‐old retarded male, diagnosed organically blind and treated by those around him as a blind person, was given practice in discriminating visual stimuli. After training, he responded with significantly better than chance accuracy in a choice situation in which stimuli were as small as 18 pt Futura Medium type. In addition, he was trained to look at the experimenter's eyes when instructed to do so. Control procedures revealed that it was the reinforcement contingency that functioned to establish and maintain eye contact. Eye contact with the experimenter generalized in a limited way to situations in which this behavior was not reinforced, though not to a neutral individual. When the boy was required to use visual cues to help himself in a cafeteria line, he soon emitted the necessary behaviors, where formerly he had been assisted by others. Resumption of assistance markedly decreased self‐help, suggesting that continued use of any newly learned skills would depend on the response of the individuals in his environment. The boy also learned eating behavior that appeared to require the use of visual cues.
CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT IN AN INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY COURSE PRODUCES BETTER LEARNING1
Authors: McMichael James S. , Corey Jeffrey R.
Published: March 2006

For the contingency management techniques first devised by Keller (1966, 1968) to become a widely accepted teaching method, it is necessary that they be shown (1) to be applicable to general subject matter and (2) to be superior to traditional lecture methods. The present study demonstrated (1) by successfully teaching the material from a standard psychology text. The superiority of contingency management was established by direct comparison of final examination scores from comparable groups taught the same subject matter by either Keller's method or traditional methods. Students taught by Keller's method also rated the course more favorably.
SELF‐INJURIOUS BEHAVIOR: SHAPING “HEAD‐BANGING” IN MONKEYS1
Authors: Schaefer H. H.
Published: March 2006

Head‐banging, a common phenomenon among the mentally retarded, was shaped, brought under stimulus control, extinguished, and re‐established in two monkeys through reinforcement and discrimination procedures of operant conditioning. The behavior was stable and led to lacerations, a condition that qualifies head‐banging as self‐injurious. The principles of the analysis of behavior used here may well be of value in the etiology and treatment of some human head‐banging.
THE EFFECTS OF TEACHER ATTENTION ON FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS IN A KINDERGARTEN CLASS1
Authors: Schutte R. C. , Hopkins B. L.
Published: March 2006

A kindergarten class, composed of five girls ages 4.8 to 6 yr, participated in the study. In each of 20 daily sessions a sequence of 10 simple instructions was given to the class, In baseline sessions, the teacher did not interact with the students, other than to give instructions. During these sessions, the children followed the teacher's instructions 60% of the time. When the teacher began attending to each child if she followed an instruction, the mean percentage of instructions followed increased to 78%. Subsequently, the teacher again employed the baseline procedures and the percentage of instructions followed decreased to 68.7%. When the teacher again provided attention dependent on the children's following the instructions, the percentage of instructions followed increased to 83.7%. The results are consistent with research that has treated instructions as discriminative stimuli. The general findings are that consequences of instructed behavior determine the extent to which the instructions are followed.
THE CONTROL OF “CLASSROOM ATTENTION”: A GROUP CONTINGENCY FOR COMPLEX BEHAVIOR1
Authors: Packard Robert G.
Published: March 2006

Cumulative time measures of classroom attention, as delineated by the teacher, were taken of four elementary classes (kindergarten, third, fifth, and sixth grades) and of 16 randomly chosen students in these same classes. Each class of students was viewed as an individual responding organism. Base rates showed considerable variability. Explicit instructions alone concerning student attention produced temporary increase for some students and for some grades. Adding group contingencies (i.e., contingencies dependent on the attention of every student in the class) and token‐mediated reinforcement to class achievement of a gradually increasing attention criterion raised group measures to a consistent 70 to 85% level of time attending to task as instructed, and raised individual student measures to a stable 90 to 100% level. Reversals and other data indicate that the elementary teacher can, by herself and with little effort, maximize what she considers the “paying‐attention behavior” of all her students by her less‐than‐precise measure and consequation of the attention of the class as a whole.
MODIFICATION OF EXTREME SOCIAL ISOLATION BY CONTINGENT SOCIAL REINFORCEMENT
Authors: Milby Jesse B.
Published: March 2006

Two socially isolated patients were placed on a program where social reinforcement from staff members was made dependent on social interaction with other patients or staff members. This procedure was imposed in a setting where only limited control was possible. The level of social interaction and a concomitant alternate behavior in each patient was increased when the contingency for social reinforcement was imposed. The study provides another example of the efficacy of social reinforcement where there is little control over other reinforcers. Implications for use of similar procedures to increase generalization in the community are discussed.
THE SOCIAL CONTROL OF GENERALIZED IMITATION1
Authors: Steinman Warren M.
Published: March 2006

Instructions, discrimination procedures, and sources of reinforcement were manipulated in order to determine the bases for the maintained “non‐reinforced” imitations observed in generalized imitation research. Six girls received imitation training from two exprimenters, One experimenter modelled only reinforced responses; the other modelled only non‐reinforced responses. The children imitated all responses when no reinforced alternative was available, even though results of choice procedures and special instructions clearly demonstrated that they discriminated reinforced from non‐reinforced responses. Instructions not to perform non‐reinforced imitations immediately eliminated these behaviors. It is suggested that social setting events may be largely responsible for generalized imitation.
CONTINGENCY COUNSELING BY SCHOOL PERSONNEL: AN ECONOMICAL MODEL OF INTERVENTION1
Authors: MacDonald W. Scott , Gallimore Ronald , MacDonald Gwen
Published: March 2006

An Attendance Counselor contacted adults (mediators) who controlled reinforcers for six chronic nonattenders (targets); agreements (deals) were made between mediators and targets that reinforcers would be provided, contingent on school attendance. Absence of the Attendance Counselor from school for a two‐week period constituted a reversal condition, after which the “deals” were reinstituted. Results showed a significant increase over baseline in school attendance during the time in which deals were in effect. A second study involved 20 chronic nonattenders for whom deals were arranged as in Study One (contingency counseling), and 15 nonattenders provided more traditional attendance counseling (contact counseling). Contingency Counselors achieved results with the 20 nonattenders similar to those achieved in Study One. An experienced Contact Counselor did not achieve improved school attendance among her group of 15 nonattenders.
EMPHASIS AS A PROMPT FOR VERBAL IMITATION1
Authors: Risley Todd R. , Reynolds Nancy J.
Published: March 2006

Four‐ and five‐yr‐old disadvantaged children were read sentences composed of varying numbers of short phrases. The children were asked to repeat each sentence, but the accuracy of their imitations was not differentially reinforced. The teacher stressed (emphasized) certain words as she read each sentence. The proportion of words that were stressed was systematically varied. In general, the children imitated only parts of most sentences. Stress was effective in influencing which parts of a sentence the children would imitate, but only when relatively few words were stressed. Stressing a word increased the probability of a child's imitating that word (and, to a large extent, the entire phrase containing that word) as an inverse function of the proportion of the words that were stressed.
GENERALIZATION OF AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN ADOLESCENT DELINQUENT BOYS1
Authors: Horton Lois E.
Published: March 2006

The generalization of conditioned aggressive and nonaggressive responses in a group of six adolescent delinquent boys was investigated. Responses were reinforced in card games where a token reinforcement system with money as a back‐up rinforcer was used. Conditioning of responses was rapid. Generalization, measured in terms of frequency of physical contact, was tested in a group game for which no reinforcement was given. Generalization occurred during aggressive contingencies. During nonaggressive contingencies, responses did not return completely to the baseline level.
OPERANT LEARNING PRINCIPLES APPLIED TO TEACHING INTRODUCTORY STATISTICS1
Authors: Myers William A.
Published: March 2006

A grade of A was given in an introductory statistics course for meeting a set of contingencies that included no work outside of class (except by request), near‐perfect performance on exams following each unit of work in a programmed text, correction of all exam errors, self pacing of work, and the chance to finish the course early. A grade of incomplete was given otherwise. Correlations among performance measures failed to show any meaningful relationships between time taken to finish the course, errors made on exams, and errors made in the programmed text. Responses to a five‐part questionnaire were overwhelmingly favorable to the course, but did not vary as a function of grade point average, time taken to finish the course, or number of errors made on exams. The uniformly high level of performance, the students' lack of interest in social contact with the instructor during class, and the absence of drop‐outs are all attributed to the contingencies employed, chief among which, according to the instructor's judgment and student rankings, were self‐pacing, frequent non‐punitive exams and a guaranteed grade of A for near‐perfect work at every stage.
HOME‐BASED REINFORCEMENT AND THE MODIFICATION OF PRE‐DELINQUENTS' CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR1
Authors: Bailey Jon S. , Wolf Montrose M. , Phillips Elery L.
Published: March 2006

In Exp. I, five pre‐delinquents from Achievement Place attended a special summer school math class where study behavior and rule violations were measured daily for each boy. The boys were required to take a “report card” for the teacher to mark. The teacher simply marked yes or no whether a boy had “studied the whole period” and “obeyed the class rules.” All yeses earned privileges in the home that day but a no lost all the privileges. Using a reversal design, it was shown that privileges dispensed remotely could significantly improve classroom performance. In Exp. II and III, home‐based reinforcement was also shown to be effective in improving the study behavior of two youths in public school classrooms. In addition, data from Exp. III suggest that the daily feedback and reinforcement may be faded without much loss in study behavior. Home‐based reinforcement was demonstrated to be a very effective and practical classroom behavior modification technique.
THE PUNISHMENT OF PERSISTENT VOMITING: A CASE STUDY1
Authors: Kohlenberg Robert J.
Published: March 2006

In an attempt to control severe vomiting in a mentally retarded patient, shock was delivered after each stomach tension, a pre‐vomiting response that consisted of an overt abdominal movement. Contingent shock resulted in an initial transitory increase followed by a decrease in rate of stomach tensions. There was a decrease in emitted vomitus, which resulted in a weight gain of the patient.
TEACHERS AND PARENTS AS RESEARCHERS USING MULTIPLE BASELINE DESIGNS1
Authors: Hall R. Vance , Cristler Connie , Cranston Sharon S. , Tucker Bonnie
Published: March 2006

Two teachers and a parent used three basic multiple baseline designs to investigate the effects of systematic reinforcement and punishment procedures in the classroom and at home. (1) A fifth‐grade teacher concurrently measured the same behavior (tardiness) in three stimulus situations (after morning, noon, and afternoon recesses). Posting the names of pupils on a chart titled “Today's Patriots” was made contingent on being on time after the noon recess, then successively also the morning and afternoon recesses. Tardiness was reduced to near zero rates at the points where contingencies were applied. (2) A highschool teacher recorded the same behavior (daily French‐quiz grades) of three students. She then successively applied the same consequences (staying after school for individual tutoring for D and F grades) for each student. At the points where the contingency was applied, D and F grades were eliminated. (3) A mother concurrently measured three different behaviors (clarinet practice, Campfire project work, reading) of her 10‐yr‐old daughter. She successively applied the same contingency (going to bed early) for less than 30 min spent engaged in one after another of the behaviors. Marked increases in the behaviors were observed at the points where the contingency was applied.
THE RELATIVE EFFECTS ON MATH PERFORMANCE OF SINGLE‐ VERSUS MULTIPLE‐RATIO SCHEDULES: A CASE STUDY
Authors: Lovitt Tom C. , Esveldt Karen A.
Published: March 2006

This series of four experiments sought to assess the comparative effects of multiple‐ versus single‐ratio schedules on a pupil's responding to mathematics materials. Experiment I, which alternated between single‐ and multiple‐ratio contingencies, revealed that during the latter phase the subject responded at a higher rate. Similar findings were revealed by Exp. II. The third experiment, which manipulated frequency of reinforcement rather than multiple ratios, revealed that the alteration had a minimal effect on the subject's response rate. A final experiment, conducted to assess further the effects of multiple ratios, provided data similar to those of Exp. I and II.
SOME EXPERIMENTS ON REINFORCEMENT PRINCIPLES WITHIN A PSYCHIATRIC WARD FOR DELINQUENT SOLDIERS1
Authors: Boren John J. , Colman Arthur D.
Published: March 2006

Several experiments exploring the effects of certain behavioral procedures were performed on a psychiatric ward for delinquent soldiers. Within the context of a point economy, the behavioral procedures were examined for their applicability to this patient group in a hospital‐ward setting. The following procedures were studied: (1) use of points as consequences for specific behaviors compared with demonstration of “model” behavior by a ward officer; (2) punishment by a point‐fine to control undesired behavior; (3) use of a chaining‐type reinforcement contingency to increase desired behavior; (4) differential reinforcement of the individual versus the group to increase the frequency of a verbal performance; and (5) reinforcement of reports of personal problems versus impersonal problems.
A CONDITIONING TECHNIQUE APPLICABLE TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLASSROOMS
Authors: Coleman Richard
Published: March 2006

A procedure was developed for use in a public school classroom where only one of the children needed treatment, sophisticated apparatus was not feasible, personnel were untrained in conditioning techniques, and where disruption had to be minimized. Candy reinforcers were contingent upon working behavior. The total candy earned in the session was divided equally among the class. Portable radio control apparatus was adopted to give feedback to the child when he was displaying the desired working behavior. An increase in working behavior and a decrease in talking aloud and out‐of‐seat behavior was observed for each of the four subjects. When the feedback apparatus was removed, the desired behavior was maintained through candy reinforcement alone in all four subjects.