Research has demonstrated the efficacy and effectiveness of using high preferred stimuli as reinforcers to change individual behavior. However, these high preferred reinforcers are not always readily available or it may not be in the individual's best interest to use them (i.e., high calorie edibles). Previous research has demonstrated that…

Objective: Contingency management (CM) is efficacious in reducing drug use. Typically, reinforcers are provided on an individual basis to patients for submitting drug-negative samples. However, most treatment is provided in a group context, and poor attendance is a substantial concern. This study evaluated whether adding CM to group-based…

Recent mandates related to the implementation of evidence-based practices for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) require that autism professionals both understand and are able to implement practices based on the science of applied behavior analysis (ABA). The use of the term "applied behavior analysis" and its related concepts…

Contingency management (CM) treatments have been shown to be effective in reducing substance use. This manuscript illustrates how the experience sampling method (ESM) can depict behavior and behavior change and can be used to explore CM treatment mechanisms. ESM characterizes idiosyncratic patterns of behavior and offers the potential to determine…

Fifty-eight smokers received abstinence-contingent monetary payments for 1 (n = 15) or 14 (n = 43) days. Those who received contingent payments for 14 days also received 0, 1, or 8 experimenter-delivered cigarette puffs on 5 evenings. The relative reinforcing effects of smoking were assessed in a 3-hr session on the final study day, when…

Control by the use of behavior modification procedures is examined with regard to principles of reinforcement ordinarily in operation in daily living. Ethics of interpersonal control, particularly in the therapeutic relationship, is shown to be a pseudo issue and becomes, rather a question of purposes, methods, and materials. (Author/NQ)

The paper presents guidelines for training staff to implement positive reductive procedures to decrease undesirable behaviors of their retarded students and clients. Considerations relevant to all reductive procedures are briefly discussed in the first portion of the paper, while guidelines indigenous to positive reductive procedures are discussed…

The author explains behavior in terms of reinforcement and provides some suggestions and guidelines for teachers in setting goals for students and influencing student behavior. (IM)

Basic ideas of reinforcement may be more easily applied in the classroom if three common teacher errors: noncontingent reinforcement, ambiguity of rules, and restriction of earnings, are avoided. (Author/SDH)

Discussed are some techniques available to the parent trainer that utilize behavioral principles to teach behavioral principles. (SBH)

A six-week contingency management program to improve classroom behavior of learning disabled high school students climaxed in a two-day camping field trip. (A detailed trip log is included.) (PHR)

A 13-year-old learning-disabled subject received a daily amount of trading stamps contingent on school attendance. Results showed a significant decrease in truancy from three to four days per week to less than one. A reversal design indicated that truancy could be controlled by the contingency procedure. (Author/GDC)

Two paradigms (rewards and verbal prompts, and timeout procedures), both making social consequences contingent upon the S's behavior and both requiring the S to practice the desired response, were used to reduce inappropriate language in a 33 year old resident of a center for the developmentally disabled. Data from the morning and afternoon…

Reward contingencies and other extrinsic constraints on behavior can lead to reduced levels of interest in and/or decreased engagement in a target activity in a subsequent noncontingent situation. It has been hypothesized that this effect is caused by a change in the self-perceived locus of motivation from intrinsic to extrinsic. It follows from…