With recent advances in the behavioral treatment of depression and growing dissatisfaction with medical and cognitive interventions, a resurgence of interest in behavior analytic treatment of depression has occurred. Currently, several behavioral and cognitive behavioral models of depression exist. In reviewing these models, certain agreed upon…

The choice-making behavior of 2 typically developing children who engaged in problem behavior maintained by negative reinforcement was evaluated within a concurrent-operants assessment that varied the quality of attention across free-play and demand conditions. The results demonstrated that it was possible to bias responding towards academic…

This paper reviews the functional properties and procedural variations of differential reinforcement for the reduction of behavior disorders in individuals with developmental disabilities. The paper proposes that limited success may be a result of the arbitrary relationship that exists between reinforcers and target behaviors when behavioral…

Two studies involving five students (ages 9-17) with autism found that stereotypy was multiply determined or occurred across all assessment conditions (attention, demand, no-attention, and recreation conditions) and that the presumed association between response topography and behavioral function may be less important than previously realized.…

Effects of extinction and negative reinforcement on latency of responses (including aggression and self-injurious behavior) following activity requests to an adolescent girl with mental retardation and autism were evaluated. Results showed that latencies occurred in a predictable order. The response class was expanded to include an appropriate…

Seven adults with severe to profound mental retardation participated in match-to-sample discrimination training under three conditions. Results indicated that error-correction procedures improve performance through negative reinforcement; that error correction may serve multiple functions; and that, for some subjects, trial repetition enhances…

Examination of staff responses to problem behaviors in three community-based group homes found that staff tended to rely heavily on verbal approaches to address problem behavior of people with intellectual disability, using other strategies only when the initial response failed. Findings suggest that staff behavior is negatively reinforced by the…

Findings showed an interaction between mands (instructional directions) and response type. Only when a mand was given during performance of the sorting task did the frequency of SIB increase. The contingent application of verbal praise had a minor, though systematic, effect in reducing the frequency of SIB. (PHR)