Conditioning of verbal behavior as a function of age, social class, and type of reinforcement.

Abstract

Employing a 2 X 2 X 3 factorial design, 144 children participated in an investigation of the independent and interactive effects of three types of reinforcement, two age levels, and two social classes on the conditioning of the use of one of four pronouns in the construction of sentences. Awareness of the reinforcement contingency was determined by an interview. A three-way interaction between age level, social class, and type of reinforcement was not significant. However, two significant two-way interactions were obtained. In addition, awareness of reinforcement contingencies significantly facilitated conditioning.'This article is based on a thesis submitted by the first author, under the second author's supervision, to San Jose State College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the master's degree.a Requests for reprints should be sent to Dwight

Reinforcement practices of black and white teachers in integrated classrooms.

“…Yet, when teacher reinforcement practices are viewed as a whole, there are some disheartening findings. Despite repeated evidence that many children, particularly those of low socioeconomic status, perform better when given material rewards (e.g., Benowitz & Busse, 1970;Cradler & Goodwin, 1971;Terrell, Durkin, & Wiesley, 1959;Zigler & Kanzer, 1962), both black and white teachers in this study gave very few concrete reinforcements. Only 28 CRD or CRT were emitted of over 2,400 observed Positive Reinforcement Observation Schedule events.…”

“…It is now well established that contingent reinforcement by teachers has direct effects on both academic and nonacademic behavior of students. The interaction of variables such as age (Cradler & Goodwin, 1971;Rosenhan & Greenwald, 1965), sex (Rosenhan & Greenwald, 1965;Rucinski, 1968) intelligence (Wolfensberger, 1960), and social class (Cradler & Goodwin, 1971;Shores, 1969;Zigler & Kanzer, 1962) as they influence reinforcement effectiveness has also been widely studied (though with few findings that are either clear or consistent). Yet, Staats' (1968) indictment that systems of reinforcement in school situations have never been subjected to systematic study and research remains correct.…”

Classroom Reinforcement and Learning: A Quantitative Synthesis

“…There comes an age or a developmental stage, wherein students can no longer be influenced or motivated by tokens such as paper (silver-or gold-colored) stars, candies, or even material trinkets. Then social approval or verbal praise is more effective than material rewards or even money (Gregory, 1976 ;Cradler , 1971). Finally, the intrinsic or "competence" level is reached by those students who are intellectually most developed , and most gifted, for whom mere awareness of being right is sufficient reinforcement, as they feel compelled by the pleasure of solving a problem or the sheer satisfaction of acquiring a skill .…”

Re-Examining the Socioeconomic Factors Affecting Technology Use in Mathematics Classroom Practices

“…Resent research in educational technology (Boster, Meyer, Roberto, & Inge, 2002;Bracewell & Laferriere, 1996;Coley, Cradler, & Engel, 1997;Cradler & Cradler, 1999;Koedinger & Anderson, 1999;Kulik, 2003;White & Frederiksen, 1998) Some examples of the strategies that have proved successful in influencing student academic performance include students working in pairs on lessons at the computer assisted instruction through social interactions and teamwork (Bracewell & Laferriere, 1996); digital video clips, audio, and graphics to supplement instruction (Boster, Meyer, Roberto & Inge, 2002); mathematics curricula focusing on mathematical analysis of real-world situations supported by computer assisted instructional software program (Koedinger & Anderson, 1999); multimedia creation involving research skills to locate content resources, capability to apply learning to real world situations, organizational skills, and interest in content (Cradler & Cradler, 1999); software programs that allow students to be aware where they are in the inquiry process and to reflect upon their own and other students' inquiries (White & Frederiksen, 1998); word processing software that utilizes writing prompts (Kulik, 2003); and online feedback among peers who know one another allows learners to feel more comfortable with and adept at critiquing and editing written work (Coley, Cradler, & Engel, 1997).…”