This paper provides the teacher with a brief introduction to the principles of behavior modification. Major areas of concern deal with the history of behavior modification, implications for the concept of mental health, the teacher's role, the difference between behavior modification and other forms of control, reinforcement, the role of…

The project taught mothers to apply behavior modification techniques to their mentally retarded children's behaviors. Subjects were 16 trainable retarded children (mean MA 4.3 years, mean CA 5 years), living at home, and their mothers, who were randomly assigned to experimental (E) or control (C) groups. C mothers were told to ask their children…

Two groups of five preschool children were trained to press a key for marbles for four sessions of variable ratio reinforcement (VR6). Subsequently, response decrement for the groups was compared during conditions of fixed and variable differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO and VDRO). Fixed DRO was more effective for decreasing response…

The author describes his "Target Approach" to counseling depressed and/or suicidal patients. By tailoring a technique to selected characteristics ("targets") of the depression as well as to the personality of the patient, more effective counseling is achieved. This target approach involves 3 steps: (1) breaking the problem of…

This paper deals with two problems confronting the applied researcher using a behavior analysis approach. The first is concerned with the need for independence of behaviors, subjects and settings. The effectiveness with which the researcher can solve this type of problem depends on the researcher's emphasis on the examination of procedures, and…

The purpose of this article is to bring together the work of Jurgen Ruesch, Gregory Bateson, Paul Watzlawick, and Jay Haley in order to reveal their combined contribution to a systemic understanding of communicative behavior. Emphasis is upon the interactional and circular pattern of human communication, rather than on the linear, or cause/effect,…

An active five-session, individualized treatment approach to the stopping of smoking is described. This approach emphasized the following: (a) the feedback, in and out of hypnosis, of the client's own reasons for quitting, (b) the visualization of both positive and negative smoking experiences meaningful to the client, (c) maintaining contact with…

This paper reviews case reports of parents as behavior therapists for their children. The studies are summarized by presenting problems; the subject's age, sex and birth order; and modification technique, number of sessions, setting, outcome, and followup, and in particular, erroneously identifying the child's behavior rather than the parental…

The thesis presented in this paper is that elementary counselors can become the most important behavioral change agents in the school. The following discussion will support this proposition. First, certain aspects of behavior modification will be discussed. Second, trends in elementary school counseling will be reviewed and finally, a synthesis…

From 300 introductory psychology students, 40 female "snake phobics" were selected to test the hypothesis that distraction paired with fearful imagery is effective in alleviating the "phobia." Subjects were divided into three treatment groups and a control group: H+PI (fear hierarchy plus pleasant imagery as distraction), H+P…

Article provided a summary of three effective techniques for developing better classroom discipline. (Author/RK)

The article describes a program which decreased waste of food by giving elementary school children tokens good for special activities if they finished their lunches. (CD)

The Marcus School staff feels that the best approach to discipline is a preventive one--the provision of a variety of educational and environmental alternatives that will interest, challenge, and motivate the pupil. (Author)