This study investigated the effects of availability of a familiar human attachment object (the mother) and familiar inanimate attachment object (the child's blanket) on a child's emotionality and learning of a discrimination task. A total of 64, 2- and 3-year-old children were assigned to groups (nonattached, mother-attached, or blanket-attached),…

Examined with five preschool male children (1 year, 11 months to 2 years, 6 months old) was the effectiveness of a behaviorally oriented treatment program to reduce hyperactivity. Ss were enrolled in a behavior modification class which met for 2 hours per day, 3 days per week, and parents were enrolled in a parent training program. Among findings…

Given research findings that women have a strong tendency to describe the ideal man as androgynous, perhaps social interaction with an androgynous male could be seen as a social reward, whereas interaction with a masculine male may be less rewarding or aversive for women. A study was conducted to determine the functional properties of androgyny as…

A study involving four boys (9 to 14 years old) labeled as emotionally handicapped was conducted to examine the effect of a verbal cueing technique (involving an illogical statement which evokes psychological reactance) on behaviorally disordered children. Illogical statements made by the teacher produced positive change in target behaviors (such…

Phenomenology is an important force in the development of psychological theory, rather than a variant type of counseling method. A distinction must be drawn between the sensory phenomenology in which gestaltists focus on sensory receptors, and logical pheomenology in which the grounding of belief or self-identity is viewed as a prediction or…

A developmental model for an empathy-based prosocial motive is presented. The framework of the model is presented in terms of three components of empathy. The first component, empathic affective arousal, is discussed and six involuntary psychological mechanisms which underlie it are described briefly. These mechanisms, in the order in which they…

Guidelines (established at the Syracuse Development Center) for conducting human research with institutionalized mentally retarded persons are discussed, particularly in relation to research in behavior modification. After a literature review, the five step procedure suggested by the Center is listed with such steps as submitting a proposal which…

Operant conditioning procedures were used in four studies to establish instruction following skills in severely and profoundly retarded children. In the first study, a combination of physical guidance, fading, and reinforcement procedures were used to train an 11-year-old boy to follow 25 verbal instructions. In the second study, a transfer of…

This paper introduces seven principles of learning, enduring over the last five centuries of psychological thought, to discuss the evolution of the "Biophyche" (the brain in action) in the development of humans and other large organisms. It describes the conditioning theories of Darwin, Pavlov, and Thorndike and critically reviews the…

The Talk-Write method of teaching college composition, developed by Robert Zoellner, can be adapted for use in secondary and upper elementary classrooms. The method, which focuses on the process of writing, involves teaming students in pairs. One student then talks out a composition, sentence by sentence, while the partner asks questions to draw…

The author argues the value of using both standardized tests and behavioral principles for the indepth diagnosis and remediation of reading disabilities. An illustrative case study is given in which analysis of test results was used to resolve conflicting appraisals of an 11-year-old girl's reading abilities, and behavioral management methods were…

This study was designed to determine if the failure of previous investigations to find habituation and response to novelty in infants younger than 2 months of age was because the stimuli used were too complex or because a constant number of trials rather than an individual criterion of habituation was used. A total of 24 infants between 5 and 6…

This paper examines the relationship between educational theorist Edward L. Thorndike's psychology and his social viewpoint. Many of the revisionists in educational history have oversimplified Thorndike's thought by not examining his views from this perspective. Thorndike's educational ideas and practices are reflections of certain fundamental…

A self-administered rating scale and an observational schedule were developed to assess the beliefs and behaviors of early childhood teachers in relation to constructs derived from Piagetian cognitive developmental theory and operant learning theory. Application was made to existent Piegetian and operant model early education programs. The results…

Criticizes the operant approach to the study of life span development from a theoretical behaviorism view. It is argued that the operant approach is too limited in its scope to enhance significantly the conceptualization and understanding of life span development. (Author/DB)