Showing papers in "Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis in 1968"

Some current dimensions of applied behavior analysis

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A method to integrate descriptive and experimental field studies at the level of data and empirical concepts.

Abstract: It is the thesis of this paper that data from descriptive and experimental field studies can be interrelated at the level of data and empirical concepts if both sets are derived from frequency-of-occurrence measures The methodology proposed for a descriptive field study is predicated on three assumptions: (1) The primary data of psychology are the observable interactions of a biological organism and environmental events, past and present (2) Theoretical concepts and laws are derived from empirical concepts and laws, which in turn are derived from the raw data (3) Descriptive field studies describe interactions between behavioral and environmental events; experimental field studies provide information on their functional relationships The ingredients of a descriptive field investigation using frequency measures consist of: (1) specifying in objective terms the situation in which the study is conducted, (2) defining and recording behavioral and environmental events in observable terms, and (3) measuring observer reliability Field descriptive studies following the procedures suggested here would reveal interesting new relationships in the usual ecological settings and would also provide provocative cues for experimental studies On the other hand, field-experimental studies using frequency measures would probably yield findings that would suggest the need for describing new interactions in specific natural situations

Rules, praise, and ignoring: elements of elementary classroom control

Abstract: An attempt was made to vary systematically the behavior of two elementary school teachers to determine the effects on classroom behavior of Rules, Ignoring Inappropriate Behaviors, and showing Approval for Appropriate Behavior. Behaviors of two children in one class and one child in the other class were recorded by observers, as were samples of the teachers' behavior. Following baseline recordings, Rules, Ignoring, and Approval conditions were introduced one at a time. In one class a reversal of conditions was carried out. The main conclusions were that: (a) Rules alone exerted little effect on classroom behavior, (b) Ignoring Inappropriate Behavior and showing Approval for Appropriate Behavior (in combination) were very effective in achieving better classroom behavior, and (c) showing Approval for Appropriate Behaviors is probably the key to effective classroom management.

Effects of teacher attention on study behavior.

Abstract: The effects of contingent teacher attention on study behavior were investigated. Individual rates of study were recorded for one first-grade and five third-grade pupils who had high rates of disruptive or dawdling behavior. A reinforcement period (in which teacher attention followed study behavior and non-study behaviors were ignored) resulted in sharply increased study rates. A brief reversal of the contingency (attention occurred only after periods of non-study behavior) again produced low rates of study. Reinstatement of teacher attention as reinforcement for study once again markedly increased study behavior. Follow-up observations indicated that the higher study rates were maintained after the formal program terminated.

The effects and side effects of punishing the autistic behaviors of a deviant child

Abstract: Timeout procedures in the home and extinction and reinforcement of incompatible behaviors in the laboratory failed to eliminate the disruptive and dangerous climbing behavior of a deviant child. Punishment with electric shock was used to eliminate this behavior in the laboratory and then in the home. The effects were reversible and were restricted to specific stimulus conditions. A less severe form of punishment was used to eliminate the child's autistic rocking. Other behaviors of the subject were continuously measured in the laboratory to determine the side effects of punishment. No suppression of other behaviors correlated with punishment was noted. However, the rate of some behaviors increased when punishment was used to eliminate deviant behaviors, but these increases were, primarily, desirable.

Production and elimination of disruptive classroom behavior by systematically varying teacher's behavior.

Abstract: The effects of teacher behaviors on the classroom behaviors of children were investigated by systematically varying approving (praise, smiles, contacts, etc.) and disapproving (verbal reprimands, physical restraint, etc.) classes of teacher behavior. Measures were taken on both teacher and child behaviors. Each day a sample of 10 children was observed. The subject pool was a class of 28 well-behaved children in a middle-primary public school class. The results demonstrated that approving teacher responses served a positive reinforcing function in maintaining appropriate classroom behaviors. Disruptive behaviors increased each time approving teacher behavior was withdrawn. When the teacher's disapproving behaviors were tripled, increases appeared most markedly in the gross motor and noise-making categories of disruptive behavior. The findings emphasize again the important role of the teacher in producing, maintaining, and eliminating disruptive as well as pro-social classroom behavior.

Establishing use of descriptive adjectives in the spontaneous speech of disadvantaged preschool children

Abstract: From observer records, a count was made for each child, in a group of disadvantaged children in an experimental preschool, of usage and acquisition of descriptive adjectives, with and without noun referents. Procedures were sought which would effectively modify the low rates of adjective-noun combinations in the everyday language of all the children. Time in school, intermittent teacher praise, and social and intellectual stimulation were not effective in changing the low rates of using adjectives of size and shape. Group teaching effectively increased rates of using color- and number-noun combinations in the group-teaching situation, but was ineffective in changing rates of usage in the children's “spontaneous” vocabularies. By operating directly on the children's language in the free-play situation, making access to preschool materials contingent upon use of a color-noun combination, significant increases in such usage were effected in the spontaneous vocabularies of all the children. Preschool materials apparently functioned as powerful reinforcers. Though traditional teaching procedures were effective in generating adjective-noun combinations in that restricted situation, it was only through application of environmental contingencies that color names as descriptive adjectives were effectively and durably established in all the children's spontaneous vocabularies.

Achievement Place: token reinforcement procedures in a home-style rehabilitation setting for “pre-delinquent” boys

Abstract: Token reinforcement procedures were designed to modify the behavior of “pre-delinquent” boys residing in a community-based, home-style rehabilitation setting. Points (the tokens) were redeemable for various privileges such as visiting their families, watching TV, and riding bicycles. Points were given by the house-parents contingent upon specified appropriate behavior and taken away for specified inappropriate behavior. The frequencies of aggressive statements and poor grammar decreased while tidiness, punctuality, and amount of homework completed increased. It was concluded that a token reinforcement procedure, entirely dependent upon back-up reinforcers naturally available in a home-style treatment setting, could contribute to an effective and economical rehabilitation program for pre-delinquents.

Developing correspondence between the non-verbal and verbal behavior of preschool children.

Abstract: Correspondence was developed between children's non-verbal and verbal behavior such that their non-verbal behavior could be altered simply by reinforcing related verbal behavior. Two groups of six children each were given food snack at the end of the day: for reporting use of a specific preschool material during free play (procedure A); and then only for reports of use which corresponded to actual use of that material earlier that day (procedure B). Initially, procedure A alone had little or no effect on the children's use of materials. Procedure B resulted in all of the children in one group actually using a specific material, and after repeating procedures A and B with this group across a series of different materials, procedure A alone was sufficient to significantly increase use of a specific material. Correspondence between verbal and non-verbal behavior was produced such that, in this group of 4-yr-old disadvantaged Negro children, "saying" controlled "doing" 22 or more hours later. In the second group, procedure B initially did not increase the use of a specific material; rather, the children's reports decreased so as to correspond to the intermittent use of the material. It appeared from subsequent procedures with this group that maintenance of a high level of reporting was crucial to the saying-then-doing correspondence seen in the first group.

Modification of a child's problem behaviors in the home with the mother as therapist.

Abstract: Differential consequences were used to increase obedience and decrease aggressive behavior in a four-and-one-half year old boy. Treatment was conducted in the child's home by his mother.

An experimental analysis of linguistic development: the productive use of the plural morpheme

Abstract: Operant conditioning procedures were used to establish a generative use of the plural morpheme in the speech of a severely retarded girl During training trials, reinforcement was presented contingent upon correct imitation of singular and plural verbalizations by the experimenter, in response to objects presented to the subject singly and in pairs A generative productive plural usage resulted, the girl correctly labeling new objects in the singular or plural without further direct training relevant to those objects After establishing the singular/plural usage, the contingencies were reversed (reinforcement of plural responses to single objects, and vice-versa) This produced a corresponding reversal of response by the child The original usage was then recovered by returning to the previous contingencies A second experiment analyzed certain error responses occurring during the first experiment, and further probed the generative nature of the subject's plural usage It was found that errors were somewhat more likely to occur in the pluralization of words ending in vowels than of words ending in consonants Furthermore, several words whose plurals had been learned according to the reversed plural rule, when examined later during reinforcement of normal plural usage, were found then to exemplify the normal rule being reinforced, yet without direct training

Instructing beginning teachers in reinforcement procedures which improve classroom control.

Abstract: Systematic reinforcement procedures were used to increase study behavior in the classrooms of three beginning teachers experiencing problems of classroom control. Classroom study rates were recorded during a baseline period. During subsequent experimental periods, the teachers changed one or more reinforcement contingencies (teacher attention, length of between-period break, a classroom game) to bring about increased study rates and concomitant reductions in disruptive behaviors. A brief reversal period, in which these contingencies were discontinued, again produced low rates of study. Reinstatement of the contingencies resulted once again in marked increases in study behaviors.

Effect of contingent and non-contingent social reinforcement on the cooperative play of a preschool child.

Abstract: The effect of adult social reinforcement on the cooperative play of a five-year old girl in a preschool setting was assessed under two conditions: (1) presented randomly throughout the school day, and (2) presented contingent on cooperative play. Only in the latter condition was a significant change in cooperative play observed.

Collateral social development accompanying reinforcement of outdoor play in a preschool child

Abstract: A 3-yr-old preschool girl with deficits in both motor and social repertoires was socially reinforced by teachers for use of outdoor play equipment, as a contribution to her motor skills and as a tactic to produce increased social contact with other children. Her use of outdoor play equipment, and various examples of her social interaction with both teachers and children were scored in the course of experimental development and analysis of her rate of equipment use. Equipment use increased greatly under the social reinforcement contingency; certain desirable examples of social interaction with other children showed a collateral development; other examples of adult-oriented development remained constant; and one class of undesirable baby-like behavior decreased markedly. Thus, the study provided a picture of what other behavior changes may take place in the course of behavior modification aimed at a single response class.

Applying “grouf” contingencies to the classroom study behavior of preschool children1

Abstract: A group of 12 children were enrolled in a preschool class. During the first experimental stage they participated in special events contingent on token earning. Tokens were acquired by engaging in a variety of study behaviors. After a level of study behavior was established under this contingency, the special events were provided noncontingently. Study behavior declined throughout the noncontingent stage. Reestablishing the original contingencies produced an immediate return to the initial level of study behavior. Noncontingent special events reduced the amount of independent study, group participation, and cooperative study. The study behavior of each child was altered in the same direction, though differences in the magnitude of effects from child to child were observed.

The use of positive reinforcement in conditioning attending behavior.

Abstract: Individual conditioning techniques were applied in a controlled setting to increase attending behavior of an underachieving 9-yr-old male subject. The procedure involved: (1) determining a stable response pattern, (2) introducing a treatment variable to establish a high rate of task-attending behavior, (3) measuring the effect of withdrawal of the treatment variable after attaining criterion performance, and (4) transferring control to the classroom. The interval of attending behavior required for reinforcement was systematically increased from 30 sec to 600 sec as the behavior came under experimental control. Manipulating the reinforcing contingencies measurably changed the proportion of attending behavior and the frequency and duration of non-attending events. Once the behaviors were under experimental control, procedures were established to program generalization and to maintain the behavior outside the experimental setting.

Reinforcer sampling: a technique for increasing the behavior of mental patients.

Abstract: Mental hospital patients in a motivating ward environment were using the available reinforcers less than was desired. A procedure for increasing the frequency of using reinforcers was developed: all patients were required to engage in the reinforcing event each time it was available but the duration of this required participation was limited so that the event was merely sampled. The effect of this required sampling was experimentally evaluated for three different reinforcers: going for a walk, watching a movie, and attending a music session. More patients used each of the three reinforcers and to a greater extent when the sampling procedure was used. Participation was increased even for those patients who had already been using the reinforcers, demonstrating that the technique did more than provide simple familiarization. Some familiarization was involved since the participation was slightly increased even after the sampling procedure was discontinued. The technique appears to be especially applicable when reinforcers are being delivered infrequently.

Reinforcement therapy in the classroom.

Abstract: Teachers were trained in the systematic use of attention and praise to reduce the disruptive classroom behavior of four first-grade children. Observation measures showed a significant improvement from baseline to treatment for these children and no significant changes for same-class controls. While the amount of teacher attention to target children remained the same from baseline to treatment, the proportion of attention to task-relevant behavior of these children increased. Psychological tests revealed no adverse changes after treatment.

Generalization of punishment effects—a case study

Abstract: Response-contingent electric shock was evaluated in a laboratory and criterion situation before using it to eliminate infrequent and unpredictable biting and destructive acts from the repertoire of a retarded adolescent. Although the initial results were dramatic, the effects of shock were highly discriminated and the therapeutic objectives were not accomplished. The study demonstrates the power and some limitations of shock punishment and is presented so that others will be better prepared for problems that may arise before the goals of a program involving shock punishment will be realized.

Feedback in behavior modification: an experimental analysis in two phobic cases.

Abstract: Two illustrations of single-case research are described in which an isolated therapeutic variable was sequentially introduced, withdrawn, and reintroduced while changes in a clinically relevant behavior were measured. A claustrophobic patient and a knife-phobic patient received graduated practice in facing their phobic stimuli; length of time the claustrophobic patient stayed in a small dark room per trial, and length of time the knife-phobic patient kept knife exposed per trial were measured. In both experiments, when feedback of these time scores was withdrawn, ongoing progress was retarded. Reinstatement of feedback led to renewed improvement. In Experiment 2, adding and removing contingent verbal praise against a constant background of precise feedback did not significantly alter rate of progress.

Some experiments on the organization of a class of imitative behaviors.

Abstract: A retarded child was taught to imitate diverse demonstrations made by an experimenter, until new demonstrations were imitated correctly upon first presentation without direct training. These imitations could be maintained without reinforcement, when they were distributed among other reinforced imitations. Factors responsible for the continued performance of these unreinforced imitations were examined. When subjected to massed extinction trials, unreinforced imitations eventually disappeared; they reappeared when again interspersed among reinforced imitations. In addition, the stimulus function of “similarity of response between subject and experimenter” was examined. The subject was taught a set of non-imitative responses, through discriminative stimuli controlled by the experimenter, and a comparable imitative set. Unreinforced non-imitations, like reinforced imitations, were maintained only when interspersed among reinforced imitations. When all reinforcement was discontinued, all responses extinguished similarly, indicating that reinforcement was necessary to maintain the response-class organization, but not confirming an essential role for “similarity” as such.

Control of tantrum behavior by operant techniques during experimental verbal training.

Abstract: A technique of controlling undesirable or disruptive behavior during an ongoing program of verbal training with a retardate is described. The technique required that the stimulus materials of the verbal training program be graded according to difficulty, i.e., in terms of the length and complexity of the stimulus materials. (This resulted in an initial grading of the stimulus materials into different levels of probability of reinforcement.) Changes by the experimenter from high-difficulty to low-difficulty stimuli for two trials contingent upon disruptive behavior increased the rate of that behavior; changes from low-difficulty to high-difficulty stimuli for two trials contingent upon disruptive behavior decreased its rate. Thus, contingent alternation of the stimulus materials of the ongoing training program controlled the frequency of undesirable behaviors within the experimental sessions. This technique may comprise an alternative to other procedures which require punishment or timeout from the ongoing program.

An experimental analysis of verbal imitation in preschool children

Abstract: A model presented English words to three preschool children and reinforced accurate imitation of these words. The model also presented novel Russian words but the subjects' imitation of these words was never reinforced. As long as the subjects' imitation of English words was reinforced, their accuracy of imitating non-reinforced Russian words increased. When reinforcement was not contingent upon imitation of English words, accuracy of imitating both the English and the Russian words decreased. These results support and extend previous work on imitation.

The effects of shock as a punisher for cigarette smoking

Abstract: An attempt was made to reduce the cigarette smoking of three subjects by means of a special cigarette case that delivered aversive shock when opened. The number of cigarettes smoked was recorded by a counter in the cigarette case. The validity of the counter readings as a measure of smoking was obtained by a specially designed participant-observer technique. It was found that the rate of smoking decreased as a function of the intensity of the shock. Also, the smoking returned to its previously unpunished level after the shock punisher was discontinued. Both of these findings confirm the results of laboratory studies of punishment of simpler responses and extends them to more complex responses in a naturalistic situation. Surprisingly, the duration for which the apparatus was worn also decreased as a function of the intensity of the shock. This finding reveals that this aversive shock technique produced avoidance behavior that prevents the technique from having extensive applicability for eliminating smoking. The same limitation may apply to the use of aversive shock for eliminating other undesirable behaviors.

Effects of manipulating an antecedent event on mathematics response rate1

Abstract: The purpose of this investigation was to assess the effects on performance rate of simply writing the answers to mathematics problems versus verbalizing the problems before making a written response. The subject was an 11-yr-old boy whose response accuracy on mathematics problems was very erratic. Three experiments were conducted, each consisting of three phases. In each first phase, the subject was requested to write the answers to sets of mathematics problems. In the second, he was required to verbalize the problem before writing the answer. In the third phase, the subject was told to write the answer again without prior verbalization. The results indicated that the subject's correct answer rate increased and his error rate decreased as a result of his verbalizing the problems before making a written response. Results further revealed that in the final phase of each experiment, the return to the original conditions, his correct answer rate continued to increase.

The role of social and material reinforcers in increasing talking of a disadvantaged preschool child.

Abstract: Adult social reinforcement and access to materials in the preschool were made contingent on the verbalizations of a 4-yr-old Negro girl with an extremely low frequency of talking. Though the teachers' social attention was always given immediately for all spontaneous speech, if the child's spontaneous verbalizations were requests for materials, those materials were withheld until she had responded to the teachers' questions about those materials. When she was silent, the teachers withheld their attention and the materials. A high frequency of verbal behavior was quickly established. When both teacher attention and materials were provided only when the child was not verbalizing, the child's frequency of talking immediately decreased. When social attention and materials were again made contingent upon spontaneous speech and answering questions, the child's frequency of talking quickly increased to its previous high level. The content of the child's verbal behavior which increased was primarily a repetition of requests to the teachers with little change noted in the non-request verbalizations, or verbalizations to other children. A further experimental analysis demonstrated that social interaction per se was not the reinforcer which maintained the increased verbalization; rather, for this child, the material reinforcers which accompanied the social interaction appeared to be the effective components of teacher attention.

The effects of reinforcement on the modification, maintenance, and generalization of social responses of mental patients.

Abstract: Social greeting responses of three withdrawn, chronic schizophrenics were experimentally modified. Initially, none of the subjects spoke to an experimenter. Prompts and cigarette reinforcement were employed to produce increases in the rates of greetings. Then, the prompts were faded so that the greetings came under the control of the presence of the experimenter. Reversal and subsequent reinforcement procedures were employed to demonstrate that the responses were controlled by their consequences. Next, the schedule of cigarette reinforcement was leaned out so that greetings continued to occur in the absence of cigarette reinforcement. However, low or zero rates of greetings occurred in the presence of a second experimenter. Five new experimenters employed the prompting, fading, reinforcement, and schedule-leaning procedures. Subsequently, all subjects emitted appropriately high rates of greetings in the presence of the second experimenter. Without further application of the experimental procedures, greetings were still occurring in the presence of both the first and second experimenters almost three months later.

Effects of candy and social reinforcement, instructions, and reinforcement schedule leaning on the modification and maintenance of smiling.

Abstract: Two retarded boys exhibited abnormally low rates of smiling. In Exp. I, the frequency of a boy's smiling was first increased with candy reinforcement, but the frequency of the response did not decrease when candy reinforcement was terminated. When the subject wore a sign designed to make social interactions contingent on not-smiling, the frequency of smiling decreased. The sign was then changed to make social interactions contingent on smiling and the rate of smiling increased. In Exp. II, a second boy initially never smiled. Establishment of a contingency for candy reinforcement did not increase this zero response rate. Instructing the child to smile initially increased smiling, but the instructions then became progressively more ineffective. Candy reinforcement increased the rate of smiling to a normal range, but the rate of the response promptly decreased when this reinforcement was discontinued. Continuous candy reinforcement was again employed to increase the response rate and then progressively leaner schedules of variable-ratio candy reinforcement were employed. Consequently, the rate of smiling did not decrease when candy reinforcement was again eliminated. Subsequently, signs were employed to regulate social interactions and the rate of smiling was shown to be controlled by these interactions serving as reinforcers.

Behavioral engineering: the reduction of smoking behavior by a conditioning apparatus and procedure.

Abstract: Recent findings from animal conditioning studies have revealed methods of reducing responses to a very low level with a minimum of aversive by-products. These findings were incorporated into the design of a cigarette case that automatically locked itself for a period of time after a cigarette was removed from it. The next cigarette could be taken at the end of the interval, which was signalled by distinctive stimuli. Five heavy smokers were allowed to become accustomed to using the case. Then, the duration for which the case was locked was gradually increased over a period of weeks to about 1 hr. Smoking gradually decreased to the target level of about one-half of a package of cigarettes per day. Control procedures showed that specific features of the apparatus were responsible for the reduction of smoking. The results indicated that this apparatus was sufficiently effective, convenient, and acceptable to smokers to constitute a practical procedure for reducing smoking to the level considered medically safe. The procedure may also have potential for reducing other habit-forming or addictive behaviors.