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Paradox, reprimand and extinction in adults with mental handicap
Author(s) -
WOOD V. E.,
CHAMOVE A. S.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
journal of intellectual disability research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1365-2788
pISSN - 0964-2633
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2788.1991.tb00409.x
Subject(s) - extinction (optical mineralogy) , psychology , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , paleontology , biology
. To assess the efficacy of paradoxical directives, levels of challenging behaviour during 2 weeks of paradox, reprimand and extinction were compared with baseline levels in four adults with mental handicaps attending a day centre. Paradox was the most effective procedure for reducing the frequency and severity of challenging behaviour by an average of over 70% by the end of 2 weeks and up lo 90% m certain subjects; extinction was least effective. Paradox was most effective with more defiant subjects, when staff rated treatment success as low., when improvement using extinction and reprimand was poorest, and in reducing aggressive behaviour. The present authors suggest the overjustification effect offers an explsnation for the effects of paradox.