The "pre-delinquent" behaviors of six boys at Achievement Place, a community based family style behavior modification center for delinquents, were modified using token (points) reinforcement procedures. In Exp. I, point losses contingent on each minute late were effective in producing promptness at the evening meal. During the reversal phase, threats (which were not backed up with point losses) to reinstate the point consequences initially improved promptness but the last two of five threats were ineffective. In Exp. II, point consequences effectively maintained the boys' room-cleaning behavior and, during a fading condition where the percentage of days when the contingency occurred was decreased, the point consequences remained effective for over six months, even when they were delivered on only 8% of the days. Experiment III showed that the boys saved considerable amounts of money when point consequences were available for deposits but saved little money when no points were available. Also, when points were given only for deposits that occurred on specific days the boys deposited their money almost exclusively on those days. In Exp. IV, point consequences contingent on the number of correct answers on a news quiz produced the greatest increase in the percentage of boys who watched the news and, to a lesser extent, increased the percentage of correct answers for the boys who watched the news. The results indicate that "pre-delinquent" behaviors are amenable to modification procedures and that a token reinforcement system provides a practical means of modifying these behaviors.

A series of experiments was carried out to compare several administrative systems at Achievement Place, a family style behavior modification program for pre-delinquent boys. One aspect of the motivation system at Achievement Place was the token economy in which the youths could earn or lose points that could be exchanged for privileges. Several arrangements for assigning routine tasks and for providing token consequences for task performance were compared for their effectiveness in accomplishing the tasks and for their preference by the boys. The independent variables studied included: (1) individually assigned tasks versus group assigned tasks; (2) consequences for individual performance versus consequences for group performance; (3) a peer managership that could be earned by the highest bidder versus a peer managership that could be determined democratically by the peers. The results suggested that among those systems studied the system that best met the criteria of effectiveness and preference involved a democratically elected peer manager who had the authority both to give and to take away points for his peers' performances.In many behavior modification and traditional residential treatment programs there are a number of routine maintenance and self-care tasks that the clients are expected to carry out each day. The supervision of these routine tasks appears to involve three administrative functions: (1) the tasks are assigned, (2) the performances are evaluated, and (3) the consequences are given. These administrative functions can be arranged in a variety of ways. The most common system of administering routine tasks in programs based on a token economy seems to involve a staff member (1) assigning each task to an individual, (2) evaluating each individual's performance, and (3) presenting 'These experiments were

One of the critical challenges of the book of Job lies in the apparent discord between the strident declarations of Job in the course of the poetic dialogues and God's affirmation of Job's words at the end of the book. Equally puzzling is the precise nature of God's stinging rebuke of the three friends. A resolution to these conundrums might rest in an alternative interpretation of the Hebrew in Job 42:7,8.