Identified are misconceptions of behavior modification procedures according to which behavior modification is connected mistakenly with noncontingent reinforcement, partial change of a teacher's behavior, decelerations of inappropriate behaviors only, dependency producing technology, teacher dominated activity, a single type of classroom…

A 10-year-old boy with inappropriate social behavior was placed in a program of positive reinforcement and response cost. The boy earned plastic coins for good behavior and lost coins for inappropriate behavior. Rewards for given levels of earnings included extra recess time and field trips. Inappropriate behaviors decreased from a mean of 6.8…

Discussed briefly are techniques of behavior change used in behavioral programing for emotionally disturbed elementary school children with behavior problems. The author considers the child's ecology as a significant influence on the child's behavior, by which he means all the experiences and relationships that a child encounters in his…

The effectiveness of the reinforcing of low rates of responding (DRL) in the reduction of unacceptable behaviors was demonstrated with two students in regular first and second grade classes. Ss were given play-time reinforcement when the total number of disruptions (such as fighting with other students) during a session were below the DRL limit.…

A contract and point system were used to decrease the pilfering behavior of an 11-year-old boy. Under the contract system, the boy kept a daily record of his progress and earned points toward a trip to the planetarium. After introduction of the contract the pilfering dropped from at least two times a week to none at all. (LS)

To establish diagnostic criteria, 12 fire-raising or pyromaniac children (7-15 years old) were compared with 12 control students matched for age, sex, and intellect. Six diagnostic procedures, including the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, the Lowenstein Fire Raising Diagnostic Test, and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire, were used to…

Reproduced here are symposia papers dealing with behavior theory and therapy. Behavior therapy attempts to apply the findings of experimental psychology and the laboratory to the clinic. It takes the principles of learning and scientific psychology and makes them useful therapeutically. The two orientations in this area are operant and classical…

Peer reinforcement, modeling, and cooperative programing arrangements are among the strategies described which involve peers in modifying the behavior problems of classmates. (CL)