This paper reviews three studies which illustrate the use of two different techniques of behavior modification to control aggression in preschool children in classroom situations. The first technique demonstrated the use of "time-out" as a mild punishment procedure. The teacher changed events following aggression by briefly removing the child from…

A series of four studies (employing combinations of multiple baseline and reversal designs) examined the effects of both antecedent and consequent events on the social interactions of four primary grade withdrawn children. These four experiments were conducted during the first year of pilot-testing a program aimed at increasing the social…

The use of a forced-contact procedure to increase the rate of interaction between a socially withdrawn 3 1/2-year-old boy and his peers is described in this paper. A play group, consisting of four 3- to 5-year-old children, met three times a week for approximately 45 minutes in the isolate child's home. Each session consisted of a structured…

This study attempted to identify factors associated with smoking onset among teens. It was hypothesized that initial cigarette smoking is largely prompted by peers, and that these prompts and subsequent social reinforcement may account for smoking participation. An in-depth structured interview investigating the first three smoking or smoking…

Play intervention as an adjunct treatment for accelerating peer social interaction of a preschool isolate was examined. Teacher reinforcement of indoor play equipment utilization was employed as a procedure to increase an asocial four-year-old female subject's social interaction with peers. Touching peers, using peer names, verbalizations,…

A project was undertaken to investigate the effects of tootling on social skills, self-concept, interpersonal relations, and classroom environment. The tootling intervention reinforces students for engaging in acts of kindness. Two fifth-grade classes participated in the study over a seven-week period. The Social Skills Rating System, the…

This study analyzed the effect of (1) teacher priming and (2) the presence of novel gross motor play equipment on peer interaction. The subject was a 2 1/2-year-old boy who seldom interacted with his classmates in a toddler class. In the teacher priming condition, teachers verbally and nonverbally prompted the subject to interact with peers, while…

Teacher reinforcement of indoor play equipment utilization was employed as a procedure to increase the peer social interaction of an asocial four-year-old female child. Touching peers, using peers' names, verbalizations, solitary or parallel manipulation, cooperative construction, and cooperative thematic play were dependent variables. Treatment…

The use of prompting to increase peer-tutoring skills in an entire third grade classroom was investigated. A multiple baseline design was used in establishing three tutoring components: praise corrective feedback, and re-presenting the question. Results indicated that all three tutoring behaviors increased after prompting. During the last…

The present study was a cross-sectional examination of the causes of adolescent participation in risky behaviors, using a diverse sample of adolescents from a Midwestern state. This research compared the relative effects of a traditional explanation of deviant behavior, differential association theory, with a modern derivative, nonsocial…

This paper describes a series of experiments which indicate how different reinforcement systems affect cooperative, competitive, and individualized learning structures. Following a brief literature review of prior research, the experiments investigated (1) individual reinforcement for peer tutoring and (2) shared-group reinforcement for peer…