The effectiveness of the reinforcing of low rates of responding (DRL) in the reduction of unacceptable behaviors was demonstrated with two students in regular first and second grade classes. Ss were given play-time reinforcement when the total number of disruptions (such as fighting with other students) during a session were below the DRL limit.…

A contract and point system were used to decrease the pilfering behavior of an 11-year-old boy. Under the contract system, the boy kept a daily record of his progress and earned points toward a trip to the planetarium. After introduction of the contract the pilfering dropped from at least two times a week to none at all. (LS)

An interpretive studies project on applying reinforcement principles in the classroom was conducted by Dr. Edward M. Glaser of the Human Interaction Research Institute, Los Angeles, California and Dr. Irwin G. Sarason of the University of Washington, Seattle. PREP kit No. 18 has been adapted from the teacher's guide to behavioral modification…

This study was designed to determine whether student response to supervision would be affected by the reinforcement of positive (or negative) attitudes toward five patterns of supervisory behavior as shown in motion pictures. For one group of vocational high school students, attitudes toward the supervisory roles "Consideration" and "Tolerance of…

This booklet discusses the Community Cooperative Nursery School, a program of preschool education for children from a wide range of socioeconomic levels. The involvement of mothers in the classroom, in special classes, and in decision-making, is an integral part of the program. Sources of more detailed information are provided for this program,…

A behavior modification program in toilet training, utilizing reinforcing properties of music, candy, cold drinks, and television was instigated with institutionalized (nontoilet trained) males, ages 15-20 , who were profoundly, severely and moderately mentally handicapped. Eleven experimental and 11 control subjects were involved. A Toileting…

Twenty mildly and moderately retarded boys (age 12 to 18 years) participated in a behavior modification program in which adaptive behavior was rewarded through tokens or privileges, while maladaptive behavior was controlled through the use of fines and removal from the situation. The preliminary results (based on four months of operation) showed…

In a Behavior Analysis classroom the first step is to define instructional objectives for academic or social skills. The second step is to determine how much the child already knows about what is to be taught. An Entry Behavior Inventory and diagnostic tests help teachers decide where each child needs to begin working in the sequence leading to…

Based on a theoretical rationale derived from dissonance theory, this study investigated the effects of 80%/20% ratios of positive/negative and negative/positive audience feedback on perceptual, attitudinal, and behavioral responses of normal speaking college students. Twenty-six skilled speakers and 30 unskilled speakers were randomly assigned to…

The effects of fixed-ratio and variable-ratio reinforcement classroom reading performance was investigated. Subjects were 50 boys and 50 girls from four grade-2 classrooms of one elementary school. The subjects were divided into three reading levels, above-average, average, and below-average, and were randomly assigned to (1) a no-reinforcement…

The highly successful Project Success Environment, a three-year project in Atlanta, Georgia, was directed toward the problem of academic underachievement in inner-city schools. The main thrust of the program was the construction of a positive learning environment--a restructuring of the classroom that replaces the failure environment with a…

Student teachers trained in a competency based teacher education program were compared to student teachers trained in a traditional lecture-discussion program with respect to their use of positive reinforcement and aversive stimuli and the incidence of student talk. Analyses indicated that student teachers trained in a competency based program…

Six studies relevant to the analysis of generalized imitative behavior are described. The first examined the role of verbal instructions in generalized imitation by comparing the use of a "do this" instruction with no such instruction and the use of positive reinforcement with no reinforcement. The tenacity of generalized imitation in this study…

In view of the hypothesis that motivational deficits are basic to learning problems, this study investigated the effectiveness of tangible reinforcers as an additional motivator to improve the reading competence of urban, retarded readers compared to the same instructional procedures without reinforcements in natural, small group settings for…

Eighty-four nine year old children, twelve in each of seven experimental groups, learned a two-choice successive discrimination problem. The parameters that were systematically manipulated included: (1) immediate versus delayed reinforcement; and (2) forced preresponse stimulus exposure versus stimulus exposure during the delay interval,…