摘要:

In Experiment I, four children with asthma were taught to use the intermittent positive‐pressure breathing (IPPB) apparatus, a device that delivers bronchodilator medication to the lungs under positive pressure. Because these youngsters had not learned to use the device with repeated instructions, script with back‐up reinforcement was introduced to train sequentially three responses—eye fixation, facial posturing, and diaphragmatic breathing—according to a multiple‐baseline design. The procedures were effective in teaching appropriate use of the IPPB apparatus. Further, the children's use of the apparatus after training resulted in significantly more effective relief of asthma symptoms. In a second experiment, nurses were instructed in the application of the operant techniques used in the first study, and then served as experimenters in a partial replication of Experiment I. The data once again reflected a strong impact of the intervention program on IPPB

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1976.9-1

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1976

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This study was concerned with “peaking”, which is the tendency for electrical‐energy users to consume at high rates for brief periods during the day. Peaking results in the inefficient use of generating facilities, which may lead to unfavorable effects on the environment, such as the construction of new energy producing facilities or the activation of older, less safe, generating units. A continuous data collection system to monitor consumption of electrical energy was installed in the homes of three volunteer families. Information, feedback, and incentives were evaluated for their effects on peak energy consumption. A combination of feedback plus incentives was most effective and reduced peaking about 50%. Removal of experimental treatments resulted in a return to pre‐treatment patterns of cons

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1976.9-13

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1976

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The effect of candy reward on I.Q. scores was investigated in 72 first‐ and second‐grade children. All subjects were administered Form A of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and, based upon these scores, were divided into three blocks: low, middle, and high. From each block, subjects were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (contingent reward, noncontingent reward, or no reward) that were in effect during administration of Form B. Results showed that candy given contingent upon each correct response increased I.Q. scores for the initially low scoring subjects, but had no influence on the scores of middle and high scoring subje

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1976.9-19

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1976

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The effect of a group response‐cost procedure (accompanied by verbal and written instruction) designed to decrease cash shortages in a small business was evaluated with a reversal design. When cash shortages were subtracted from the six employees' salaries on days in which the shortage exceeded 1% of total daily sales, the magnitude of daily shortages sharply decreased. This response‐cost contingency was used only three times throughout the study, with a maximum cost of $8.70 per subject over the 41‐day period. The efficacy of the procedures may be due to either increased precision in change calculations, a decreased frequency of stealing from the cash register, increased shortchanging of customers, and/or increased incidents of register under‐ringing. Ethical questions relative to the utilization of group punishment procedures are raised, and it was concluded that the procedures used were more humane than commonly used alter

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1976.9-25

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1976

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The effects of prompting and social reinforcement directed to target subjects on their social behavior and that of peers who never received prompting and reinforcement for positive social behavior, were examined. In a combined reversal and multiple‐baseline design, three behaviorally handicapped preschool boys who exhibited divergent social behavior repertoires and varied histories with social reinforcement events, were sequentially exposed to intervention conditions in order to investigate “spillover” of treatment effects. Prompting and reinforcement increased positive social behavior and decreased negative social behavior emitted by all target subjects. The results also demonstrated a “spillover” effect on two target subjects, who at various times were not under intervention, and on the peers as well. The findings suggest that: (a) the direct and indirect effects of intervention procedures may be enhanced by designing treatment based on the social repertoire and reinforcement histories of the subjects; and (b) the treatment “spillover” effect may be increased by applying procedures to two children at once, rather than to

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1976.9-31

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1976

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Self‐recording procedures were used by four adolescent girls to increase work and comments (cues) that evoked staff praise during vocational training sessions in a maximum‐security institution for offenders. The girls were selected on the basis of their not responding to a staff‐directed token program. The self‐recording procedures were directed by a therapist who saw the girls outside the vocational training sessions. According to a multiple‐baseline design, self‐recording of work was introduced sequentially to each of the two or three settings the girls attended each day. A few days after work had increased, self‐recording of cues was introduced. Tokens were delivered by the therapist for work and cues recorded by the girls. Work and cues increased following self‐recording for three of the girls and increased cues evoked higher rates of staff praise. Girl and staff behaviors were maintained during short follow‐up periods when tokens were not given for the girls' records. The procedures failed to effect desirable changes with a fourth girl's work, and self‐recording of work was terminated without

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1976.9-41

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1976

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Since a major task of childhood is learning to get along in a group without disrupting other children's activities, caregivers need explicit guidelines for gentle but effective procedures for dealing with disruptive behaviors in child‐care settings. In a day‐care center for normal 1‐ and 2‐yr‐old children, an effort was made to develop a procedure that appeared sufficiently humane and educational to be acceptable to parents and daycare workers, and yet effective in reducing disruptive play behaviors. Caregivers used the occasion of disruptive behavior to instruct the child in appropriate alternatives, then had the child sit on the periphery and observe the appropriate social behavior of the other children, “sit and watch”, for a brief period before inviting him or her to rejoin the play activities. The effectiveness of this procedure was compared with a method commonly recommended for use with young children: instructing the child, then distracting or redirecting the child to an alternative toy or activity. Contingent observation, combining instruction with a brief timeout (from being a participant in an activity to becoming an observer of the activity), proved considerably more effective in maintaining low levels of disruptions and was considered by caregivers and parents to be an appropriate and socially acceptable method of dealing with young children's disruptive behaviors. Therefore, contingent observation can be recommended for general use in day‐care programs for

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1976.9-55

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1976

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Four handicapped children were taught four positive social‐emotional behaviors: smiling, sharing, positive physical contacting, and verbal complimenting, using instructions, modelling, and praise. Rates of these behaviors were shown to increase in four trained subjects using a within‐subject multiple‐baseline experimental design. The generality of the behavior change was investigated by integrating three untrained subjects with the trained subjects in a setting free of adult‐imposed contingencies and through a series of follow‐up observations. Three trained subjects evidenced collateral increases in the generalization setting on at least one other behavior when training in smiling was conducted. One trained subject showed generalization session increases for each behavior when training was conducted to increase that behavior. All three untrained subjects demonstrated increased rates of smiling and sharing when interventions were conducted to increase those behaviors with the trained subjects. There was no appreciable generalization of verbal complimenting by either the trained or the untrained subjects. Both trained and untrained subjects generally maintained their increased rates of smiling, sharing, and positive physical contacting across four weeks of follow‐up o

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1976.9-65

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1976

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Instructions, reinforcement (team points), and practice were applied to four behaviorally defined creative behaviors of eight fourth‐ and fifth‐grade students. All four aspects (number of different responses, fluency; number of verb forms, flexibility; number of words per response, elaboration; and statistical infrequency of response forms, originality) were demonstrated to be under experimental control. The procedures also raised students' scores on Torrance's tests of creativity. Application of the experimental procedures may well be practical for classroom teach

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1976.9-79

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1976

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Token‐mediated access to play and snacks was made contingent on completion of academic tasks in the Baseline Experiment. This contingency produced stable completion rates that were subsequently doubled, and then tripled, for four deviant children in a special preschool. A reversal design demonstrated that the contingency was functional in maintaining the children's rates of task completion. The Guidance Experiment examined the role of a social event, teacher guidance, in the acquisition of task‐completion skills, in a multiple‐baseline‐across‐tasks design (with reversals). The analysis demonstrated that teacher guidance was an important supplement to the token‐mediated contingency in establishing significant increases in task completions for a second group of three deviant children in the special class. The importance of teacher guidance was related to the difficulty level of the child

ISSN:0021-8855    

DOI:10.1901/jaba.1976.9-85

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1976

数据来源: WILEY