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BEHAVIORAL SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY GOES OUTDOORS: THE EFFECT OF ORGANIZED GAMES ON PLAYGOUND AGGRESSION
Author(s) -
Murphy H. Allen,
Hutchison J. Michael,
Bailey Jon S.
Publication year - 1983
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.1983.16-29
Subject(s) - aggression , psychology , observational study , jumping , antecedent (behavioral psychology) , applied psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology , medicine , physiology , pathology , biology
This research focuses on the inappropriate, largely aggressive, behaviors of 344 K‐2 children assigned to a playground prior to the beginning of the school day. Initially, a system for observing large numbers of children freely roaming over a large, open area was developed. This observational method was then used to determine the effectiveness of providing organized games for reducing potentially dangerous playground behaviors. Using a reversal (ABAB) design, it was found that the games, rope jumping, and foot racing, along with an infrequently used time‐out procedure, significantly reduced the frequency of inappropriate incidents. It is suggested that when dealing with large groups, antecedent environmental manipulations may be more practical than providing consequences for the behaviors exhibited by identified individuals.