Using a deliberately confusing and frustrating game exercise, the author attempts to present the student's perception of the conflicting demands that the school system places upon him. Despite the dearth of literature on behavior therapy as it relates to the adolescent, the author believes that the behavior therapist can help the adolescent. After…

The paper identified some of the major elements of political learning and suggests some of the conceptual links among these. The basic assumption of this paper is that the several existing approaches to learning and development can account for a significant portion of political learning. A selective picture of concepts and empirical knowledge…

Affect arousing and energizing properties of positive and negative reinforcing stimuli were investigated. Subjects received positive evaluations (PE), similar attitudes (SA), dissimilar attitudes (DA) or negative evaluations (NE) presented on slides. Pre- and post-slide semantic differentials were filled out by each subject. All subjects then…

The report is the third in a six part research report. The construction and evaluation of a treatment model using short term placement in a token economy to modify deviant behavior is described. Between 1968 and 1970 the treatment model was replicated on a total of 44 subjects ranging in age from 8 to 12 years. Eight groups of six subjects each…

Four seventh grade life science classes, given curriculum materials based upon Piagetian theories of intellectual development and Skinner's theories of secondary reinforcement, were compared with four control classes from the same school districts. Nine students from each class, who(at the pretest) were at the concrete operations stage of…

Student performance in a self-paced personalized system of instruction course is varied in rates and patterns of work. Using 118 students in a college level introductory psychology course the investigators found 1) students worked at a variety of rates and patterns; 2) students who started to work early had a much greater chance of finishing the…

Delay of feedback studies with animals or with tasks which are simple for human subjects have led to the common assertion that computer-assisted-instruction (CAI) systems should incorporate immediate feedback in order to maximize learning. However, studies using more complex learning tasks have suggested that delays of up to at least a day…

A study involving 7 multiply handicapped students (6-13 years old) was conducted to shape appropriate classroom social behaviors and to maintain them with little social approval, to examine what effects reprimands had on student behavior, and to see if combination of reprimands and praise could result in good classroom behavior when reprimands…

A general hypothesis of associative learning should be based on the broadest possible foundation of empirical evidence, including confirmation in both aversive and appetitive situations. For this reason the present experiment was designed to test the surprise hypothesis using a procedure in which the unconditioned stimulus was the presentation of…

The ability of aversive conditioning and contingency management to control smoking was compared. Although contingency management was more effective in the short run, at a six-month follow-up treatment effects were no longer evident. (SE)

This study evaluated the effects of covert positive reinforcement (CPR) on a nine-year old, third-grade student who was causing a classroom disturbance. There was an immediate improvement in three target behaviors following the implementation of CPR by the school psychologist. (Author)

The importance of fostering and encouraging a child's natural sense of play is pointed out as a means of helping individual growth toward future happiness and positive attitudes in later life. (JD)

There has been considerable interest lately in cases where instrumental conditionability appears to depend on the reinforcer used. Here the effects of Pavlovian conditioned stimuli (CSs)on golden hamster behaviors was observed. The intent was to see whether previously reported differences among the behaviors produced by food reinforcement and…

The relative effects of positive reinforcement, response cost, and the two contingencies combined when used as contingencies for correct academic responses were compared on the dependent measures of accuracy of academic performance and level of on-task behavior. All three contingency systems increased academic performance and on-task behavior.…

This study was designed to analyze the extent to which different observers coded examples of communication positiveness in couple interactions. Husband's communication positiveness, wife's communication positiveness, and relationship adjustment were the multiple targets of observation. The data were collected from 27 couples who sought marital…