Findings from a randomized controlled design study of an ability-based versus needs-based approach to response-contingent learning among children with significant developmental delays and disabilities who did not use instrumental behavior to produce reinforcing consequences are reported. The ability-based intervention and needs-based intervention…

Background: Changes in reward processing are thought to be involved in the etiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as other developmental disorders. In addition, different forms of therapy for ADHD rely on reinforcement principles. As such, improved understanding of reward processing in ADHD could eventually lead to…

The authors examined the effects of randomized and delayed credit on the percentage of college students participating at four pre-defined levels on each class discussion day: non-participation, credit-level participation, frequent participation, and dominant participation. Although the same amount of participation credit was available to students…

We conducted three experiments to reproduce and extend Perone and Courtney's (1992) study of pausing at the beginning of fixed-ratio schedules. In a multiple schedule with unequal amounts of food across two components, they found that pigeons paused longest in the component associated with the smaller amount of food (the lean component), but only…

Compared the reinforcement expectancies of adult alcoholics with beliefs of men and women in alcohol treatment programs, hospitalized medical patients, and college students through the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire (AEQ). Results indicated the previously defined AEQ beliefs apply to the alcoholic population and these populations significantly…

MANY OF THE REPORTED BEHAVIORAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FAMILIAL RETARDATES AND NORMAL CHILDREN OF THE SAME MOTOR ABILITY ARE PRODUCTS OF A VARIETY OF DIFFERENCES IN MOTIVATION RATHER THAN PERMANENT EFFECTS OF MENTAL RETARDATION ITSELF. MANY RESEARCHERS, HOWEVER, HAVE TAKEN THE POSITION THAT MENTAL RETARDATES ARE INHERENTLY "DIFFERENT." THIS…

The relative effects of imagerial covert rehearsal with attentional shifts and the use of an independent reinforcing agent in a covert reinforcement therapy were compared. A 17-year-old female student, requesting treatment for a snake phobia, served as the subject. The phobia was measured along four dimensions: behavioral approaches to a live…

Examined whether a measure of self-reported, task-specific, efficacy expectations would correspond more with persistence or locus of control. Results indicated that beliefs in locus of control were strongly related to persistence and that efficacy expectations were not as significant. (RC)

Subjects either punished incorrect or rewarded correct responses made by a confederate on a learning task. In three experiments subjects were, interrupted midway through the learning trials. Half were individuated and half were deindividuated; they were provided a "hot-line" to summon the experimenter. Found no reliable methods for inhibiting…