The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of manual sign mand training combined with prompt delay and vocal prompting on the production of vocal responses in nonvocal children with developmental disabilities. A multiple baseline design across participants verified the effectiveness of this intervention. All participants showed…

Amid the novel terms and original analyses in Skinner's "Verbal Behavior", the importance of his discussion of multiple control is easily missed, but multiple control of verbal responses is the rule rather than the exception. In this paper we summarize and illustrate Skinner's analysis of multiple control and introduce the terms "convergent…

Few studies have made use of B. F. Skinner's (1957) behavioral analysis of language and precise taxonomy of verbal behavior when describing the controlling variables for the mand relation. Consequently, the motivating operation (MO) has not typically been identified as an independent variable and the nature of a spontaneous mand has been…

Mice from replicate lines, selectively bred based on high daily wheel-running rates, run more total revolutions and at higher average speeds than do mice from nonselected control lines. Based on this difference it was assumed that selected mice would find the opportunity to run in a wheel a more efficacious consequence. To assess this assumption…

Response to article in previous issue by Max Bruck (April 1968). Argues that behavioral approach has been empirically demonstrated to be effective in altering problem behavior, and offers advantages over more traditional approaches. Proposes that behavioral psychology can deal with all important aspects of complex human behavior. (Author)

It is suggested that the theory of behavior based on conditioning processes can be reconciled with new data, but only by revising certain tacit behaviorist assumptions about the parameters of the conditioning process. (Author/AM)

The study compared the efficacy of proclamation, contracting, and contingent teacher approval in modifying the classroom behavior of 5 Negro adolescents. Proclamation consisted of a written statement of reward and punishment contingencies (points gained or lost) under which the class was operating, whereas the contracting phase permitted students…

Shows that subjects who receive the impression that psychology experiments are worthless exert less time and effort in task performance than subjects who believe in favorable comments, although both groups indicate similar amounts of effort on self-rating scales. Bibliography and table. (RW)