Interventions that are based on scientific principles of applied behaviour analysis (ABA) are recognised as effective treatments for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by many governments and professionals (Office of the Surgeon General, 2000; Ontario IBI Initiative, 2002). However, many still view ABA as one of many treatments for…

A modification of covert sensitization is described wherein a malodorous substance, valeric acid, is presented at critical points during scene presentations. This "assisted" technique was applied to 10 successive exhibitionist patients with excellent results. Not only was overt exposing behavior eliminated, but exhibitionist fantasies,…

Discusses the question of whether overactive youngsters should receive medication for their condition. (GB)

Although both genetic and situational factors are implicated in criminality, the thesis here is that the latter may well be more important and more frequently encountered than many criminologists have acknowledged to date. (JB)

This study demonstrated reinforcement control over pronounced feminine behaviors in a male child. The clinical history of S paralleled the retrospective reports of adult transsexuals, including (a) cross-gender clothing preferences, (b) actual or imaginal use of cosmetic articles, (c) feminine behavior mannerisms, (d) aversion to masculine…

Four different observational systems and two time sequences were employed to determine the extent to which they would yield different incidences of anti-social behavior. Two videotapes, randomly chosen from a pool of 30 tapes, were utilized. These illustrated the behaviors of anti-social children in a natural setting. Six observers were reliably…

Single-subject experimental methodology was used to evaluate the relationship between distinct patterns of deviant sexual arousal and heterosexual arousal. The theoretical and clinical implications of a functional independence among various patterns of sexual arousal are discussed. (Author)

Studies reviewed in this report suggest that an instructional approach -- namely, direct reinforcement, contingency contracting, and social modeling -- has great promise for rehabilitating juvenile delinquents. (Author/SM)

Female subjects in this study were induced to harm another person in an alleged "learning" study by administering aversive noise to a confederate-victim as she performed a problem-solving task. The subjects consisted of forty-six female undergraduates enrolled in Introductory Psychology at the University of Toronto. They were randomly assigned to…

Response-cost refers to a procedure whereby a positive reinforcer is lost or some penalty is invoked following a specific misbehavior. In an alternate procedure called Differential Reinforcement of Other Responses (DRO), a reinforcing stimulus is delivered when a particular response is not emitted for a specific interval of time. This study…

The authors review and discuss the applied behavior analysis procedures that have been found to be effective in controlling severe forms of maladaptive behavior and outline several considerations that may influence the success with which severe forms of maladaptive behavior are controlled in a classroom setting. (SBH)

The purpose of this article is to develop a preliminary comprehensive model of antisocial development based on dynamic systems principles. The model is built on the foundations of behavioral research on coercion theory. First, the authors focus on the principles of multistability, feedback, and nonlinear causality to reconceptualize real-time…

Asserting that educators need to be aware, when they are judging student behaviors, of the behavior norms of different ethnic groups, the author proposes a research framework which would impart greater cultural sensitivity to the schools' processes of socialization and modification of deviant behaviors. (SJL)