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AN ELEMENTARY STUDENT AS A BEHAVIORAL ENGINEER 1
Author(s) -
Surratt Paul R.,
Ulrich Roger E.,
Hawkins Robert P.
Publication year - 1969
Publication title -
journal of applied behavior analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1938-3703
pISSN - 0021-8855
DOI - 10.1901/jaba.1969.2-85
Subject(s) - reinforcement , stimulus control , psychology , contingency management , multiple baseline design , behavior change , stimulus (psychology) , developmental psychology , behavioral analysis , differential reinforcement , discriminative model , contingency , clinical psychology , social psychology , cognitive psychology , psychiatry , artificial intelligence , intervention (counseling) , computer science , linguistics , philosophy , nicotine
Four first‐grade public school students exhibited non‐study behaviors during a period when all children were to study individually. A fifth‐grade student modified the maladaptive behaviors of the four first‐grade students. Lights on the four students' desks, which were associated with opportunity for reinforcement, rapidly brought study behavior under stimulus control. Differential reinforcement of other behaviors dramatically decreased studying. Reinforcement was reinstituted and studying returned to a high and stable rate. Surreptitious post‐experimental observation using closed‐circuit TV indicated that the behavioral changes effected during the experimental phases were partially maintained by the regular classroom environment. A replication of the baseline phase with the observer in the classroom produced an increase in the rate of study behavior, indicating that the observer's presence acted as a discriminative stimulus for studying. An additional contingency requiring improved academic behavior was imposed before the fifth grader was given the opportunity to engage in the behavior modification experiment.