Many authors recommend various praise to reprimand ratios for teachers to use to manage their classrooms (e.g., Flora, 2000; Nafpaktitis, Mayer, & Butterworth, 1985; Wheldall, 2005); however, these recommendations are based on correlational data or secondary findings from studies not directly manipulating the praise to reprimand ratio. The…

Focuses on theory and findings from three lines of research which seek to clarify differences in the subtle but powerful influence exerted by both non-reaction from an observing adult and evaluative aspects of social cues operative in a variety of interpersonal and achievement situations. (JH)

Accuracy of imitation by 60 kindergarten subjects was examined using a task in which a female modeled a series of pegboard patterns and delivered accuracy contingent feedback. Four methods of feedback and a no-feedback control were compared. (GO)

Negative reinforcement plus edibles and praise produced about 90 percent correct responding for four severely retarded/autistic children (six to eight years old), while edibles and praise alone were much less effective. Use of negative reinforcement with noncompliant or difficult- to-motivate behaviorally disordered children appeared to be an…

Explores the effects of positive and negative reinforcement in the classroom and the role of language in the "celebration of learning." (HTH)

The effects of a combination of aversive and positive contingencies on target behaviors were investigated. Results indicated that teachers were more willing to implement treatment schedules that incorporated aversive contingencies and did implement treatment effectively. (Author/GK)

This study examined the effects of three reinforcement histories on the persistence of task engagement by two students (ages 9-10) who were off task during independent seat work. Results found the reinforcement history that contained an instructional control component produced the greatest persistence in student engagement. (Author/CR)

Two studies were conducted to assess the effects of interagent, inconsistent discipline on aggression in young boys. (MP)

The present study evaluates the immediate effects of an experimentally manipulated social comparison on the subsequent behavior of lower socioeconomic status black children four to five and seven to eight years of age. The effects of four conditions of social comparison are measured with respect to the children's self-reinforcement,…

Results indicate that reward and ignore conditions were not different but both yielded higher imitative scores than the punishment condition; same-sex models yielded higher imitation scores than opposite-sex models; lowest imitation scores were obtained by children exposed to a male experimenter and a female model. (Author/BJG)

Overcorrection is a mild punishment technique that provides for logical consequences of inappropriate behaviors. The method has two components--restitution, during which a disruptive environment is reinstated to a state vastly superior to the original one, and positive practice, during which more appropriate responses are taught to replace the…

Paradoxical strategies appear to provide a change in the dynamics of the teacher-child relationship and are thus a more systemic way of viewing problem behavior than time-out procedures. Three case studies are presented in which the paradoxical strategies have varying degrees of success. (Author/ABB)

To determine whether negative or positive criticisms written on children's creative writing would affect the mean number of words and sentences produced, a study was conducted with 31 fourth grade children. The children were divided into two groups: those whose creative writing would receive negative comments and those whose writing would receive…

After a brief review of the literature the research proposal focuses on the comparative effectiveness of non-verbal positive reinforcement vs. verbal negative reinforcement in the reduction of self-inflicted injury on 23 elementary age autistic children. In the two phase study each child would be paired by age, sex, length of time in school,…

Effects on the academic and disruptive behavior of special education pupils after adding a cost contingency to a token reinforcement procedure were examined. Response rates were higher when response cost was added than during either the baseline or token reinforcement contingency. (Author/MV)