This experiment involved training students in self-instruction (specifically, teaching them to verbally cue and instruct themselves through given assignments), as an alternative to the direct intervention method for increasing on-task behavior and decreasing disruptive behavior in the elementary school classroom. Assignment completion rather than…

Where verbal deficits exist in children, one method of exceptional promise uses operant conditioning techniques to establish and modify verbal behavior. Modifications and extensions take place as the function of direct interaction between an experimenter and the child. Assuming that ideal teachers for such children, given the availability of…

The ability to anticipate elements in sequence is the foundation of all language skills. Because of its naturally high redundancy, it is almost always possible in the normal use of language to partially predict what will come next in a sequence of elements. The central feature of language processing is expectancy for successive elements. A very…

Using a conformity research methodology, the authors investigated the questions of whether (a) the Asch-type conformity setting produces greater yielding than variant settings where subjects are screened from one another and (b) the nonverbal element of contradictory or inconsistent nonverbal communications significantly alters response to the…

Following nine hours of training in behavioral psychology, the faculty members of an 800 pupil elementary school were applying operant techniques with no further apparent need of consultation with the instructors. Twenty-two teachers were enrolled in an inservice training course entitled "Behavior Modification Procedures for the Elementary…

This case study of a kindergarten boy in the Kamehameha Early Education Program (KEEP) suggests that specific operant training in school-relevant behaviors can facilitate classroom adjustment if the training is coordinated with the regular classroom teacher. The subject, considered unmanageable, hyperactive, and aggressive by the staff at his…

Seven 18- to 32-month-old children received from seven to 26 experimental sessions each between October 1966 and April 1967. A session lasted from 5 to 15 minutes and concerned control over the verbal responses of the children with token-operated reinforcement devices. In order to make the results of the experimental sessions meaningful, an…

One control group and eight experimental groups, each composed of 12 first grade children, participated in this experiment. It was designed to investigate the effects of frequency of reinforcement and repeated evaluation of stimuli on the conditioning of preferences. Each child participated in the experiment for seven consecutive school days. The…

In an attempt to develop an instrument to screen emotionally disturbed children, a study was designed to verify and extend previous research findings. These findings indicated that adjusted children in kindergarten exhibited greater conditionality on a simple discrimination learning task than maladjusted pupils under a process of continuous mild…

Two counseling approaches, which differ on how to help a client make a realistic decision, are evaluated for their relative effectiveness. Fifty subjects, randomly selected from a population of students which expressed a need for educational/vocational counseling were assigned to either the reinforcement or the persuasive advice-giving treatment…

This is a report on the application of operant condition methods to classroom discipline problems. The setting was Clara Tagg Brewer Elementary School in CLEVELAND, Ohio. The school is located in a community consisting mostly of lower-middle class black families. A few children come from a "run down" section of the community, including…

THE STUDY INVESTIGATED SOME OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN A CHILD'S VERBAL BEHAVIOR AND ENVIRONMENTAL EVENTS NECESSARY IN ACQUIRING LANGUAGE. TWO TRAINABLE RETARDATES (FROM A GROUP OF SIX, AGED 3-6 TO 5) WITH A FUNCTIONAL VOCABULARY OF NO MORE THAN TWO OR THREE WORDS WERE SEEN INDIVIDUALLY IN 20- TO 30-MINUTE SESSIONS TWICE A WEEK DURING A 4-MONTH…

Implications of the behaviorist and cognitive theories in language instruction are discussed in this article. Some contributions of Skinner, Politzer, Valette, Morton, Lane, and Mueller and Niedzielski clarify the behaviorists' view of language as a myriad of conditioned responses. In turn, the cognitive viewpoint, seen as the acquisiton and…

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the racial attitudes of black preschool children can be modified using different treatment methods. The hypotheses were as follows: (1) Racial attitudes will be modified, using operant learning procedures and a black consciousness curriculum; (2) A black consciousness curriculum will result in…

Fifteen articles by different authors discuss behavior modification in terms of research, training, and social application. Topics considered include the classification of behavioral pathology, the extension of learning principles to human behavior, studies of normal and deviant child behavior, operant conditioning of two speech-deficient boys,…