The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is an effective intervention to reduce disruptive behavior. The GBG typically involves immediate stimulus presentation (e.g., delivery of a token) following disruptions; however, experimenters have also removed tokens contingent upon disruptions. In the present study, we compared the effects of the GBG-stimulus…

The therapeutic workplace is an employment-based abstinence reinforcement intervention for unemployed drug users where trainees receive on-the-job employment skills training in a classroom setting. The study is an extension of prior therapeutic workplace research, which suggested that trainees frequently violated noise standards. Participants…

This study evaluated a contingency management (CM) program in a drug court. Gift certificates for compliance were delivered at 4- to 6-week intervals (total value = $390.00). Participants in one condition earned gift certificates that escalated by $5.00 increments. Participants in a second condition began earning higher magnitude gift…

We investigated the extent to which a contingency management (CM) procedure that deducted money from a grand total available at the end of the study compared to a procedure in which money accumulated with continued abstinence from cigarette smoking. Results suggested that the procedure in which money increased contingent on abstinence resulted in…

A positive reinforcement contingency increased opioid abstinence during outpatient dose tapering (4, 2, then 0 mg/day during Weeks 1 through 3) in non-treatment-seeking heroin-dependent volunteers who had been maintained on buprenorphine (8 mg/day) during an inpatient research protocol. The control group (n = 12) received $4.00 for completing…

The study found that in the absence of a history of negative consequences, an all-positive management system for eight first- through third-grade children with academic and/or classroom behavioral problems was not sufficient to maintain on-task rates of academic accuracy. The addition of negative consequences immediately improved on-task behavior…

Previous studies have shown that presession attention for problem behavior can serve as an abolishing operation when attention functions as a positive reinforcer. In the current study, we show that the stereotypy of a child with severe disabilities was undifferentiated during standard analogue functional analysis conditions. However, when…

A contingency management procedure using both positive and negative reinforcement was used to strengthen cooperative behavior in five children (ages 3-6) during a series of restorative dental treatment sessions lasting from 15-60 minutes. Baseline levels of disruptive behavior as high as 90 percent were reduced to less than 15 percent. (JW)

The efficacy of different schedules of reinforcement (progressive and fixed) for promoting and sustaining cigarette abstinence was compared using 60 cigarette smokers. Results found that the progressive and fixed groups achieved greater levels of abstinence than controls and that the progressive group was less likely to resume smoking. (Author/CR)

Three studies investigated environmental correlates of self-injurious behavior in seven developmentally disabled children and adolescents which were then later used for treatment. Correlates investigated included positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, automatic reinforcement, and control. "Escape extinction" was successfully…

The study evaluated the effects of a time-efficient reinforcer assessment package with three preschoolers with autism. Systematic assessment of children's reinforcers for correct responding virtually eliminated nontargeted maladaptive behaviors, and yielded expected improvements in accuracy. (Author/DB)

Two functional communication training (FCT) conditions were compared to treat behavior problems of a child with mental retardation. The child was taught to emit a single FCT response to obtain one of six items or multiple FCT responses that specified the exact item. Only the FCT-multiple conditions reduced problem behavior. (Contains four…

Analysis of the effects of a short break contingent on completed work with a 10-year-old boy with autism and profound mental retardation found the 20-second break increased responding more than a positive reinforcer did, and the reinforcing effects of a 20-second break were affected by the availability of positive reinforcers during the break. (DB)

Safety belt use with and without addition of an incentive strategy was observed among 8,635 drivers at a drive-through restaurant. During the promotional campaign, average rate of belt use tripled compared to baseline following the introduction of a contingent reward (a large soft drink), and declined during followup. (JW)

This study compared rates of self-injurious behavior (SIB) exhibited by a 32-year-old woman with profound mental retardation across conditions in which access to restraint was either continuously available, presented as a consequence for SIB, or unavailable. Rates of SIB increased when access to restraint was contingent upon SIB, suggesting that…