Research has found that individuals present themselves in a self-enhancing fashion when audiences lack information that could contradict their claims. To examine reactions to evaluations and the potential interplay between the valence of the evaluation, the public versus private nature of the response, and the audience to whom a public response is…

Research on feedback acceptance in sensitivity groups has consistently found that subjects rate positive feedback more credible than negative, a phenomenon referred to as the "credibility gap." To assess subjective distortion versus actual differences in credibility as an alternative explanation for the different ratings given positive and…

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to determine educators' attitudes toward corporal punishment and its alternatives in a variety of school settings throughout the Southwest; and (2) to explore the relationships between respondents' attitudes and such independent variables as dogmatism, sex, experience, level of education, job description,…

This study attempts to generate hypotheses concerning teacher performance in the classroom. Seventeen teachers were videotaped while teaching a lesson. Pupils completed an achievement test and a rating scale of these teachers which placed the teacher in a high-, medium, or low-effect group. A comparison of the frequency and types of questioning…

It was hypothesized that source esteem would be effective in mediating target compliance when the source uses threats as an influence tactic, particularly if esteemed individuals maintain a facade of truthfulness, because threat credibility would then be overestimated. Threats from a low esteemed source would have lower credibility and lead to…

Compares opinions of British teachers and students toward educational incentives and deterrents. Little change has occurred in the responses of teachers and students over the 24 years. Differences of opinion are evident between pupils and teachers, especially with regard to corporal punishment as a deterrent and adult approval as an incentive.…

Experiment 1 examined the effect of negative attention and repeated demands on the noncompliant behavior of children. Experiment 2 studied the relative effectiveness of negative attention, isolation, ignoring, and a combination of procedures in reducing noncompliance in children. (GO)

Focuses on theory and findings from three lines of research which seek to clarify differences in the subtle but powerful influence exerted by both non-reaction from an observing adult and evaluative aspects of social cues operative in a variety of interpersonal and achievement situations. (JH)

Two studies were conducted to assess the effects of interagent, inconsistent discipline on aggression in young boys. (MP)

Eight behavioral management terms/concepts commonly encountered in the special education literature are defined and discussed in terms of commonly occurring confusions. They are positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, extinction, differential reinforcement of other behavior, timeout, response cost, and overcorrection. (DB)

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…

A study found verbal reprimands, delivered contingent upon eating prohibited foods, were sufficient to decease the food stealing of a girl (age 14) with Prader-Willi syndrome. Warning stimuli were then successfully used to help her discriminate between permitted/prohibited foods during sessions in which food stealing was not directly observed.…

The self-injurious escape behavior of an adult with developmental disabilities was treated with extinction. Results of a reversal design showed substantial bursts of responding when extinction was introduced and reintroduced: self-injury remained at a variable and elevated rate for some time before stable, low rates were observed. (Author/DB)