EXPERIMENTAL VARIABLES INTENDED TO REPRESENT A CONTINUUM OF REINFORCEMENT FOR SEARCHING BEHAVIOR WERE--REINFORCEMENT BY PRAISE ONLY (1), AND REINFORCEMENT BY PRAISE PLUS INDIRECT GUIDANCE ON HOW TO PROCESS INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THE LEARNER (2). A THIRD INSTRUCTIONAL CONDITION REQUIRED MINIMUM TEACHER-LEARNER INTERACTION AND DIRECT PRESENTATION…

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…

Research studies indicate that beginning teachers choose instructional procedures which conflict with their methods courses and that language is the least well-taught of the English instruction components. To deal with both problems in teacher preparation, a study was devised to analyze the effects of a reinforcing module in language instruction,…

This study investigated the relationship between visual attending and learning in a group of 16 Head Start children from low income families. Attending behavior (defined as "eyes oriented towards the teacher and/or teaching materials for a full 5-second interval") was measured for each child during a 10-minute story period on four…

Evaluated was the effectiveness of three training procedures (imitation training, imitation training with praise, and imitation training with points for an art supply contingency) in improving the oral reading accuracy and reading comprehension of a 13-year-old girl whose functional reading was at the second grade level. The procedures were…

In this book, the principles of behavior modification are presented as a set of guidelines for identifying recurrent behavior patterns and are then applied as techniques to change various undesirable behaviors. Progressively more complex steps toward behavior modification and its social influence are cited and illustrated in chapters which deal…

This paper describes a portion of the Kennedy Youth Center program concerned with motivating previously intractable sociopathic youths in the academic and industrial arts schools. Male delinquents considered uneducable in traditional education programs, have been advanced two years in the one year they spent as participants in the differential…

The goal of the investigation was to eliminate the disruptive, resistant and assaultive behaviors and increase the appropriate peer interaction of an economically disadvantaged kindergarten white boy. The treatment program involved presentation of adult (teacher) attention contingent upon desirable classroom behavior, withholding of attention…

A project sought to identify how the strategies used in training programs for the development of achievement motivation could be applied to the field of mental health. In addition to using goal planning in all its aspects, if focused on the patients' strengths rather than their problems. It also trained the staff who worked with the patients…

This document provides brief descriptions of the 20 individual programs now in effect for Follow Through research and development. Follow Through is attempting to assess the effectiveness of a variety of innovative approaches to working with young children and their families in a number of cultural and environmental settings. These approaches…

Current research indicates the possible influence of IE development on cognitive development. Efforts are being made to identify behaviors by which parents or teachers can increase development of internal control expectancies in preschool children. Studies correlating children's IE scores with various mother behaviors or mother-child interaction…

This paper explores the power of the group to influence the initiation, maintenance, and termination of a given episode of group drinking by alcoholics. The study was undertaken to establish the parameters, within a controlled laboratory setting, of the various effects of group decision making on the social, affective, and drinking behavior of the…

The paper presents two experiments which test the "change in feelings of competence and self-determination" proposition of cognitive evaluation theory. This proposition states that when a person receives feedback about his performance on an intrinsically motivated activity this information will affect his sense of competence and…

Four combinations of teacher verbal and nonverbal evaluative behavior were studied within a controlled microlesson. Two male and two female teachers presented each of the four combinations--(a) verbally and nonverbally positive; (b) verbally positive and nonverbally negative; (c) verbally negative and nonverbally positive; or (d) verbally and…

Presents practical techniques teachers can use for classroom management: (1) teach specific directions, (2) look for good behavior, (3) praise effectively, (4) model good behavior, (5) use nonverbal reinforcement, (6) establish token economies, (7) "premack" (students determine reinforcers for appropriate behavior), (8) teach kids to…