Two treatment components were manipulated in this study: (a) contingency contracting with parents and (b) the order in which problems of varying difficulty were treated. The meaning of convergence and discrepancy among data sources is discussed with regard to individual cases and the sample as a whole. (Author)

Results were interpreted as supporting Spielberger's notion that trait anxiety reflects a dispositional tendency to respond with anxiety in ego-threat situations and as suggesting that personality trait measures may be more relevant outcome indicators than measures of transitory mood states in marathon therapy research. (Author)

Of 50 students enrolled in an introductory group-counseling course, 19 chose to participate in a laboratory experience focusing on weight loss, in addition to other course objectives. Six weeks of comprehensive behavior programming produced a mean loss of 6.54 pounds. (Author)

Two adolescent boys with a history of rapidly increasing obesity participated in a behavioral weight reduction program. The multi-dimensional treatment package consisted of those behavioral techniques most often shown to be effective in treating obese adults (programed behavior management and stimulus control instructions, self monitoring of daily…

This monograph examines the component parts of behavior modification, initially defining the problem behavior and drawing a difference between specific observable behaviors (the focus of behavior modification), and the interest of Freudian and similar psychologies in unobservable internal processes. Instrumental learning related to shaping in…

The relative effectiveness of real news violence and fictional entertainment violence was assessed in an experiment with pre-adolescents. One group saw a brief fight scene portrayed as a news story in a simulated TV newscast, while a second group saw the same scene presented as a movie preview during a commercial break. The primary dependent…

The presentation was given at a Pupil Personnel Service seminar to familiarize the conference participants with the techniques used by a behaviorist when he consults with a teacher using a classroom observational schedule. The report is divided into three parts: (1) method employed (subjects and setting apparatus, training children, instruction to…

This report describes two studies in which 48 male college students and 144 male high school students, respectively, were assigned to high or low spatial density conditions and instructed to construct, as a team, an erector set model within a 40-minute period. High school students were assigned to high, middle, and low attraction groups on the…

In an attempt to move the principles and technology of the therapeutic community into the college classroom, the author used mutual interviews and first-name group discussion among his students to build group rapport. Once group leaders were assigned, the students again used interviewing techniques to admit members to the groups. Other features of…

The five papers which comprise this volume share a common interest in the relationship of the problems of instructional technology to the insights of the behavioral sciences. The first chapter is concerned with the applications of present knowledge and empirical methodology to the solution of particular behavioral problems, an activity that…

This study, which used systematic desensitization (SD) behavior therapy to reduce anxieties associated with giving speeches, was based on the hypothesis that subjects given SD therapy five times in 1 week (massed training) would achieve greater reduction of communication anxiety than would subjects treated once a week for 5 weeks (spaced…

This study explored two group treatments, humanistic and social modeling, in helping teachers to be more open and helpful in the classroom. Subjects were 42 volunteers from elementary schools who indicated a desire to become more open and helpful. Each of four groups met four times over a 9 day period for 1 1/2 hours. The modeling groups viewed a…

Female subjects in this study were induced to harm another person in an alleged "learning" study by administering aversive noise to a confederate-victim as she performed a problem-solving task. The subjects consisted of forty-six female undergraduates enrolled in Introductory Psychology at the University of Toronto. They were randomly assigned to…

Recently, behavioral researchers have extended the application of operant conditioning techniques from the behavior management of individual students to the behavior management of entire classes of students. This extension has been facilitated through the utilization of such contingencies as the interdependent group-oriented contingency. The…

The possibility of alleviating migraine headaches by autogenic relaxation training, with or without hand temperature biofeedback, was assessed. The study examined five independent groups in a bi-directional control group design. Volunteer migraine sufferers served as subjects, each participating for 12 weeks. The first four weeks of the study were…