Previous research shows that classroom management is a major concern of pre-service and novice teachers. This study examined the management strategies pre-service teachers suggested across a variety of classroom situations and their rationales. Findings shows that preservice teachers are most comfortable addressing management scenarios with…

Criteria for applying aversive stimulation with severely handicapped children are examined, and practical and ethical issues are considered. Factors seen to influence punishment outcomes include timing, intensity, and schedule of reinforcement. Suggested is the need for further research on the comparative effectiveness of positive and negative…

This paper examines the problems in definition of punishment at the construct level, comparing the common use meaning of the term with a behavioral definition and contrasting two definitions used within the field of psychology. The paper discusses whether punishing stimuli must be physically painful, the appropriate use of painful stimuli, and…

In an experiment designed to explore the immediate disconfirming effects of strong and mild incongruent messages and the impact of certain contextual constraints on disconfirming effects, 192 male undergraduates evaluated videotaped examples of strong and mild sarcasm and joking and the complementary congruent forms of straightforward positive and…

Research has demonstrated that a person's attraction to a stranger is influenced by experimental manipulations suggested by general behavior theory. To examine whether a neutral observer, listening to a conversation between two strangers, could be influenced by the manipulation of several learning variables, 80 female undergraduates listened to a…

The paper looks at philosophical, heuristic, and practical reasons why behavior management approaches have failed to positively impact on the lives of exceptional Black children. Critiqued are behavior modification techniques, contingency management strategies, suspensions, expulsions, and positive and negative reinforcement. Noted among the…

This investigation was concerned with the effects of negative evaluations by an adult on elementary school children's social interactions and performance. A two-component theory of evaluation called for experimental creation of evaluative comments which involved two degrees of strength of criticism and two degrees of helpful information provided…

This report defines school refusal behavior as the refusal to attend school or difficulties going to school or remaining in school for the entire day, and sees school refusal as a significant problem that may occur in 8% of all school-aged children. It discusses difficulties of previous classification and assessment strategies for students who…

Caregivers and professional staff (N=223) in two institutions for severely mentally retarded individuals of all ages were administered the Critical Behavioral Incidents Questionnaire. They rated 44 common misbehaviors that occur in institutional settings in the following areas: (1) how often the misbehavior occurred; (2) perceived seriousness by…

Research regarding the use of aversive conditioning is reviewed, ethical questions are considered, and the proper use of the procedure with the severly handicapped is examined. Cited are studies on the use of shock therapy, mild aversive, timeout procedures, overcorrection, and restraint. The importance of pairing positive with aversive stimuli is…

Research has found that individuals present themselves in a self-enhancing fashion when audiences lack information that could contradict their claims. To examine reactions to evaluations and the potential interplay between the valence of the evaluation, the public versus private nature of the response, and the audience to whom a public response is…

Research on feedback acceptance in sensitivity groups has consistently found that subjects rate positive feedback more credible than negative, a phenomenon referred to as the "credibility gap." To assess subjective distortion versus actual differences in credibility as an alternative explanation for the different ratings given positive and…

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to determine educators' attitudes toward corporal punishment and its alternatives in a variety of school settings throughout the Southwest; and (2) to explore the relationships between respondents' attitudes and such independent variables as dogmatism, sex, experience, level of education, job description,…

Of the four simple consequences for behavior, none is more misunderstood than negative reinforcement. A Negative Reinforcement Quiz administered to 233 student teachers from two universities revealed that the vast majority of respondents mistakenly viewed negative reinforcement as a synonym for punishment, and believe that negative reinforcement…

A literature review of communications, psychological, physiological and other sociobehavioral research literature reveals a number of paradoxes regarding the emphasis by information gatekeepers, media, and audiences on messages that are negative, critical, pessimistic, conflict-and-tension-producing, skeptical, punitive, threatening,…