This series of papers was presented in a symposium on behavior therapy. Each paper represents a separate study focusing on one aspect of behavior modification. The issue of reinforcement is prominant with regard to its type and source. Methods of self-reinforcement and older-peer modeling are studied. The suggestion that subjects who reinforce…

A covert self-instructional program was used to reduce the frequency of a hospitalized chronic schizophrenic's inappropriate verbalizations. A marked reduction in the frequency of the target behavior accompanied the treatment intervention, and improved verbal behavior was directly responsible for the decision to discharge the subject from the…

A description is given of quasi-automated techniques used to increase students' motivation to improve reading rate and study skills in a University of Minnesota adult extension course for study improvement. Essentially the students are taught techniques of self-applied reward and punishment of their own choosing. The reinforcer is some stimulus…

Fourteen mentally retarded boys (9-13 years old) were given opportunities to monitor and record their own behavior as on-task or off-task, and then to receive consumption and access to consequence reinforcers. (Author/CL)

College students, 48 males and 48 females, were interviewed about attempts to self-control overeating, smoking, studying, or dating. Results indicated successful self-controllers used more techniques for longer periods of time, use of self-reinforcement procedures was an important discriminant of successful self-management, and methods varied…

Modeling, self-verbalization, and self-reinforcement techniques were used to train 18 hyperactive children (6-10 years old) in more effective and less impulsive strategies for approaching cognitive tasks, academic problems, and social situations. (Author/SBH)

Continuous self-monitoring (CSM) was compared with a demand characteristics control condition (non self-monitoring), with intermittent self-monitoring (ISM) and with another control condition. It was predicted that both self-monitoring conditions would produce effects over and above the demand characteristics inherent in the self-monitoring…

A nursery school teacher received three types of training in self-observation skills, which were compared with regard to their effects on the accuracy of the self-observations. Minimal training consisted of a brief description of the behaviors to be recorded. The feedback condition incorporated daily information about the accuracy of the…

The notion that certain systems of reward may inhibit children's desire to participate in educational activities was investigated by reviewing recent research on intrinsic motivation. This research was critiqued from four theoretical perspectives: self-perception theory, personal causation, the overjustification hypothesis, and behavioral…

Designed for both parents and teachers, the handbook presents methods for educating the moderately and severely retarded child. Those methods include measuring progress, rewarding and punishing, ways of using rewards and punishers, ways of giving positive reinforcers and punishers, withholding reinforcers (extinction), letting the child reward…