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The effects of teacher‐delivered social reinforcement on the task persistent behavior of educable mentally retarded children
Author(s) -
Hill Ada D.,
Strain Phillip S.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
psychology in the schools
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.738
H-Index - 75
eISSN - 1520-6807
pISSN - 0033-3085
DOI - 10.1002/1520-6807(197704)14:2<207::aid-pits2310140216>3.0.co;2-z
Subject(s) - reinforcement , psychology , mentally retarded , task (project management) , developmental psychology , social psychology , management , economics
The effects of teacher‐delivered social reinforcers on the task persistent behavior of children enrolled in an intermediate class for the educable mentally retarded were studied. These children were grouped with a regular fourth grade class during a social studies period in which the study was conducted. The special education children were randomly divided into two groups, with seven children in each group. Using a reversal design, social reinforcers were delivered contingent upon the task persistent behavior of the seven target children. The seven youngsters in the control, or nonreinforcement, group were essentially ignored as they engaged in appropriate task‐related behaviors. The results clearly show that increases in the level of task persistent behavior and the administration of social reinforcement were functionally related. The level of task persistent behavior emitted by the control children was not affected by reinforcement delivered to their peers.