Joseph Lancaster and behavior modification in education.

In the early 1800s, Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838) developed an inexpensive method of education large numbers of the poor in England. Referred to as the "monitorial system," his method utilized students as monitors who performed many of the tasks normally undertaken by a teacher; it was used to teach classes that often exceeded a thousand students at one time. Student monitors were responsible for teaching and evaluating small groups of individuals in a somewhat regimented fashion. An incentive system was also used in a manner that closely resembles current applications of positive reinforcement in educational settings. Lancaster devised a token economy in which students earned tangible reinforcers for academic performance and deportment. Interestingly, the system spread quickly in the 1800s, and was implemented in many countries throughout the world. Its use declined as a result of both specific sources of dissatisfaction, such as the lack of individualization and dependence upon rote memorization, and general changes in the philosophy of education.     

Behavior modification and open education

Behavior modification and open education developed out of quite different traditions, yet both share some common grounds, particularly in their institutional context and their stress on the direct relationship of the classroom environment to a child's behavior. Behavior modification, therefore, offers some procedures and new areas of research that may be applicable to open classrooms. More important, though, is the possibility of merging the technology of behavior modification with the humanistic concerns of open education.     

Skinner and the rise of behavior modification and behavior therapy

Skinner is, without a doubt, one of the most predominant figures in the development of Behavior Modification and Behavior Therapy. Skinners' work is essential to the development of Behavior Modification and Behavior Therapy. Beginning with the social need for efficient psychotherapy, and after having generated a solid theoretical body of behavioral laws, Skinner indicated and also developed the appropriate path towards efficient interventions for unadaptive behavior. He developed a new theory regarding abnormal behavior (psychopathology), as well as a procedural model for evaluation (diagnosis) and intervention: "The functional analysis of behavior". His applications for this kind of work are pioneering and at the same time, he is the agglutinant figure of what we today call "Behavior Modification and/or Therapy". It is remarkable that a scientist could change the theories and practices of a discipline as radically as Skinner and his work did. His work, however, still has its limitations. The best way to acknowledge and pay tribute to Skinners' work is to overcome these limitations.     

Teaching behavior modification to nonprofessionals

Two instructional methods (role playing and lecture) were compared in evaluating the effectiveness of teaching behavior modification to institutional attendants. Pre- and post-test measures were obtained for two major outcome variables: (1) knowledge of behavior modification principles and (2) ratings of ability to apply behavior modification techniques. Results indicated that role playing was more effective in teaching behavior modification skills while the lectures were more effective in teaching principles of behavior modificaiton.     

black concern with behavior modification

In this article two black psychologists and a white educator explain why the black community should be concerned with and actively involved in behavior modification practices. It is pointed out by use of the Tuskegee study how blacks were used as subjects in a behavior modification study long before these practices became popularized. The concerns specified were that (a) blacks have been and are being used as subjects in behavior modification studies with and without their consent and (b) social value judgments are being made concerning behaviors of blacks without their input. Alternatives are offered for increasing the number of black professionals in the field of behavior modification to help preserve the integrity of the black community.     

Behavior modification in education: Contributions and limitations

Behavior modification has been applied widely in educational settings encompassing a wide range of student populations, ages, and areas of focus. Major contributions of behavior modification include development and evaluation of a large number of techniques with extensive classroom research. As a direct consequence of technique development, behavior modification has provided teachers with a selection of classroom practices and information regarding their use. Despite the widespread application of behavioral principles in education, several limitations can be identified including the responses that are altered, the emphasis on response consequences, the focus on child performance rather than behaviors of teachers and others, and the lack of maintenance of improvements evident in many programs. Although limitations can be identified within the field, remarkable advances have been made in identifying educational practices that can improve student and teacher behavior. A major limitation in applying behavior modification to education pertains to dissemination and extension of existing techniques to a large number of settings likely to profit their use. The present paper considers various contributions and limitations of contemporary behavior modification and suggests areas for expansion to augment the progress that has been made.     

State dependent modification of auditory brain stem potentials

It is well known, amplitudes and latencies of auditory brain stem potentials are almost independent of viligance state. Contrary to that, simple cognitive requirements effect amplitude changes (enhancement of variance, amplitude reduction) in a part 2/3) of the subjects.     

The experimental modification of teacher attending behavior

A method of observing and modifying teacher attention to appropriate child responses in preschool classrooms was developed. Two teachers with no formal training in reinforcement principles were observed for a baseline of eight days. Teacher A, who displayed a lower baseline rate of attending to appropriate child responses, was trained first. Teacher B was simply observed during the first part of the training condition for Teacher A. During training, A received feedback which included definitions of appropriate child responses, her frequency of attending to appropriate child responses, her total percentage of attending to appropriate child responses, and her frequency of failing to attend to appropriate child responses. Teacher B was then trained in a similar way. Both teachers showed an increase in attending to appropriate child responses subsequent to the onset of experimental feedback.     

Home-based reinforcement and the modification of pre-delinquents' classroom behavior

In Exp. I, five pre-delinquents from Achievement Place attended a special summer school math class where study behavior and rule violations were measured daily for each boy. The boys were required to take a "report card" for the teacher to mark. The teacher simply marked yes or no whether a boy had "studied the whole period" and "obeyed the class rules." All yeses earned privileges in the home that day but a no lost all the privileges. Using a reversal design, it was shown that privileges dispensed remotely could significantly improve classroom performance. In Exp. II and III, home-based reinforcement was also shown to be effective in improving the study behavior of two youths in public school classrooms. In addition, data from Exp. III suggest that the daily feedback and reinforcement may be faded without much loss in study behavior. Home-based reinforcement was demonstrated to be a very effective and practical classroom behavior modification technique.