We investigated the effects of prompts on the recycling behavior of approximately 217 faculty, staff, and graduate students in two academic departments of a large university. During the intervention, two signs were posted in each department. One sign prompted recyding (posted above the recyding receptade), and the other sign prompted proper disposal of trash (posted above the trash receptade). Results of a multiple baseline design across the two departments indicated that the sign prompt increased recycling behavior. Installation of the sign prompts in dose proximity to receptacles in Department A resulted in a 54% improvement over baseline. Posting of sign prompts over containers 4 m apart in Department B resulted in a 17% improvement, whereas positioning the signs and receptacles in dose proximity resulted in a 29% improvement over baseline.

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An extended series of functional analysis conditions were conducted to assess the operant function of aggressive behaviors emitted by a 33‐year‐old female with diagnoses of severe mental retardation and organic psychosis. Results from the primary test conditions were fairly undifferentiated, but response rates were elevated in the control condition. Independent‐variable integrity data from the control condition indicated that aggressive behaviors were nearly always contiguous with the fixed‐time delivery of experimenter attention. These results are discussed in the context of the current control condition functioning as a possible test for escape from social interaction. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The terms successive approximation and shaping are shorthand for the phrase “successive reinforcement of closer and closer approximations to the target behavior” (Skinner, 1953). This procedure is distinct from other operant reinforcement methods (e.g., chaining), in that it relies on both reinforcement and extinction applied to a changing set of criteria responses (Galbicka, 1994). The target, or terminal response, is either infrequent or novel to the organism (i.e., has never been performed), limiting the utility of direct reinforcement of the response. Shaping, as the name implies, involves slow transformations of the topography (or shape) of the organism's behavior over time, much like the process of shaping clay into a fine piece of pottery. Initially, a gross or distal response approximating the terminal behavior is sufficient for the delivery of reinforcement. In time, a closer approximation to the terminal response is required for reinforcement. This process continues until only the terminal response elicits reinforcement.

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