Degree of transfer and fear change associated with four levels of desensitization, pseudodesensitization, and no treatment were assessed in snakephobic students. Desensitization subjects reported significantly less anxiety than no-treatment controls when repeating their highest pretreatment responses, but were no different from either control…

The paper outlines the operative principles for understanding learning and discusses how these principles can help in planning a functional program for a severely or profoundly brain-damaged child. Discussed are: (1) the role of memory in learning; (2) simple associative learning (Pavlovian Conditioning and Operant Conditioning); (3) Piaget's…

Studied the relationship between the tendency to hold certain irrational beliefs and the likelihood of becoming emotionally aroused in various types of situations. (Author)

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the PhD degree at the University of Connecticut and supported by Grant M-1099 from the National Institute of Mental Health.

TWO EXPERIMENTS WERE CONDUCTED TO CLASSIFY AND TO CONDITION REWARD RESPONSIVENESS IN KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN. IN THE FIRST EXPERIMENT, 207 CHILDREN WITH A MEDIAN AGE OF 6.0 WERE CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THEIR RESPONSIVENESS TO A HIERARCHY OF REWARDS. AFTER TWO SESSIONS INVOLVING TWO-CHOICE INSTRUMENTAL CONDITIONING TASKS, 60 PERCENT OF THE CHILDREN…

The nature and significance of the conditioning of fetal and neonatal response systems for later learning was not clearly understood. Therefore, subjects chosen for this research project were people who had been trained in experiential recall. During recall the subjects spontaneously reported what appeared to be auditory components of a complex…

Several 3- to 5-year-old children participated in this study designed to discover the necessary procedures to establish nonresponding in preschool children during delay of reinforcement. The children were divided into two groups: (1) the programed group (PG), to which a 60-second delay period was introduced gradually and (2) the baseline group…

Two 4-year-old children were shown the use of an apparatus whereby they could obtain toys and candy by making certain responses. The apparatus was a matching-to-sample device on which were arranged five response buttons in a circle and one in the middle. Each response button had a display window for the stimulus. Four of the five windows on the…

This experiment sought to determine if the extinction of anti Afro-American attitudes in Euro-American kindergarten children was possible. Also investigated was whether or not these conditioning procedures were equally effective regardless of the sex of Ss. A total of 37 Euro-American children were randomly selected from kindergarten classes and…

Western psychologists define "set" as a group of items, a disposition toward certain stimuli or certain responses, and the establishment of habitual actions. D. N. Uznadze explains "set" by postulating a general tendency toward habitual action, but qualifies this by stating that the tendency is governed by special factors…

The present studies tested the hypothesis that a social supporter with negative task related characteristics would be less effective in reducing conformity in a group pressure situation than a social supporter without such negative traits. The subjects consisted of 77 undergraduates at the University of Wisconsin and the hypothesis was tested in a…

This study investigates the effects of management expectations on the occupational success of disadvantaged workers. In five organizational experiments, supervisors were informed that certain workers out of groups of disadvantaged workers had superior abilities. However, these workers were chosen randomly, so that any differences in performance…

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…