THE USE OF POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT IN CONDITIONING ATTENDING BEHAVIOR¹

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.

The Effects of a Self‐instructional Package on Overactive Preschool Boys

“…Aversive stimulation (Hall, Axelrod, Foundopoulos, Shellman, Campbell, and Cranston, 1971;Risley, 1968), response cost (Wolf, King, Lachowicz, and Giles, 1970), timeout (Carlson, Arnold, Becker, and Madsen, 1968; Kubany, Weiss, and Sloggett, 1971;Wahler, 1969), group contingencies (Barrish, Saunders, and Wolf, 1969;Harris and Sherman, 1973), and contingency management approaches (Hall, Lund, and Jackson, 1968;O'Leary and Drabman, 1971;Walker and Buckley, 1968) are among the procedures that have been shown to improve the behavior of "hyperactive" and disruptive children. However, these effects have been limited in two areas.…”

PROGRAMMING GENERALIZATION AND MAINTENANCE OF TREATMENT EFFECTS ACROSS TIME AND ACROSS SETTINGS1

“…The amount of research data on this question is limited. However, the available evidence indicates that effective generalization and maintenance of modified behavior does not naturally occur when treatment procedures are abruptly withdrawn (Walker, Mattson, and Buckley, 1971;Walker and Buckley, 1968;Birnbrauer, Wolf, Kidder, and Tague, 1965;Kuypers, Becker, and O'Leary, 1968;Patterson, Shaw and Ebner, unpub-' (Walker, Mattson, and Buckley, 1971; Walker, Fiegenbaum, and Hops, 1971) the probability is substantially reduced that the modified behavior will be maintained automatically or naturally.…”

Informal Assessment for the Classroom

“…It is important that generalization be assessed so that program modifications can be made as needed. Research has indicated that stimulus generalization is more likely to occur if the new situation or setting is similar to the one in which the desired behavior was first learned (Kennedy & Thompson, 1967;Patterson, 1965;Walker & Buckley, 1968). Therefore, if generalization has not occurred, you need only restructure the situation to reinforce the new behavior in the present situation.…”