Study demonstrates that performance of imitative acts may be highly related to a complex interaction between the child's reinforcement history and current reinforcement inputs. (Author)

Described is a multi-faceted money system which utilizes positive and negative reinforcement while at the same time incorporating peer pressure and reinforcement for behavior modification. The system uses such items as money, checks, deposit slips, and bank books. Children have jobs such as pencil sellers, banker, or door monitor, and receive pay…

To differentiate behaviorally, success-strivers and failure-avoiders within a group of educable mentally handicapped, two experiments were conducted. The effects of learning potential status (gainers, nongainers, high scorers) and motivational style (success strivers, failure avoiders) on discrimination learning when reinforcement was varied was…

Designed primarily for elementary and secondary school teachers, the book presents one approach to the systematic and effective use of positive reinforcement to motivate better learning in normal or disturbed children. In Part 1, describing how contingency contracting works, each chapter contains a self-diagnostic pretest, narrative summary and…

On a simple motor task the performance of 32 4-year-old children of each sex increased under both adult praise and adult presence with the effects being additive. (WY)

Recent studies have demonstrated that external rewards can affect intrinsic motivation to perform an activity. Money tends to decrease intrinsic motivation, whereas positive verbal reinforcements tend to increase intrinsic motivation. This paper presents evidence that negative feedback and threats of punishment also decrease intrinsic motivation.…

This study evaluated the use of three systematic reinforcement techniques and measures (a carrel, teacher attention, and a contingency contract) to increase the on-task and task completion behaviors of a first-grade child. The carrel and teacher attention increased on-task behavior (from a mean of 27.6 percent to 45.0 percent) but did not affect…

An annotated bibliography of studies dealing with social reinforcement in diverse psychological and educational contexts is given. The research reviewed covers the period from 1964 to 1972, and individual studies are classified according to classes of variables which have been found to moderate the effectiveness of social reinforcement. All told,…

Major studies and theoretical positions within the incentive motivation field are reviewed in order to present an integrated picture of past and present research. Special emphasis is placed on delineating social reinforcement variables in an attempt to explicate their relative importance within the context of social reinforcement theory; however,…

Recognizing that punishment for aggression often is noneffective or inadvertently reinforces the aggressive act, the authors discuss an alternative approach and provide an explanation of the exchange theory of aggression. Three classroom experiments, operated with children chosen as the most severe behavior problems in a local school system, are…

A description of the Social Exchange Laboratory's work with autistic children is presented. The laboratory's philosophy of the exchange theory of autism, seen as a set of habitual response patterns maintained and intensified by exchanges which are inadvertantly structured by others in the child's environment, is set forth with characteristics,…

Previous research in a water-reinforced instrumental training situation with toads ("Bufo arenarum") has shown that performance in both acquisition and extinction is poorer after partial, rather than continuous reinforcement training. In Experiment 1, the performance of a group receiving 24 trials on a 50% partial reinforcement schedule was poorer…

Taking children off reinforcement programs apparently does not have the detrimental effects that many believe it to have. In this study, students who had been removed from a reinforcement program two years earlier made significantly greater gains in reading achievement than students who had not been involved in any reinforcement program.…

On the college level controllable consequences that are likely to improve achievement are scarce and often unimaginatively used. Student assessment and grades have typically been emphasized. The purpose of this study was to determine if achievement could be improved by providing an increase and choice of contingencies following academic…