Naturalistic assessment of children's compliance to teachers' requests and consequences for compliance

Naturally occurring levels of teacher commands, child compliance to those commands, and positive and negative teacher feedback were studied in 19 teachers and 130 children in kindergarten through third grade. Seventy-five of the children had been identified as "making a good social adjustment" to school (high-rated) and 55 children were identified as "not making a good social adjustment" to school (low-rated). Results of intensive observation over a 4-wk period showed that: (a) individual teachers differed significantly in their overall use of commands; however, they did not differentially respond to high- versus low-rated children; (b) high-rated children were more likely to comply with commands than were low-rated children; (c) although the overall level of positive social consequences was extremely low, there was some indication that high-rated children were more likely to receive positive feedback for compliance than were low-rated children; (d) low-rated children received significantly more positive feedback than high-rated children for noncompliance; (e) teachers gave negative feedback for noncompliance at an equal level to both groups of children; and (f) although repeated teacher commands following noncompliance were equal across groups, low-rated children were exposed to significantly higher levels of repeated commands following compliance than were high-rated youngsters.     

Empathy and generalized reciprocity in compliance with requests for help

This study examined empathy and reciprocity as explanations for why people comply with requests for help. Participants (35 male and 62 female) imagined being asked for money by a person who had locked keys in a car and then reported how likely they would he to comply with such a request, whether they had previously locked their keys in their car (empathy), and, if so, whether they had been helped (reciprocity). In support of the explanation based on empathy, people who reported previously locking their keys in their cars indicated being more likely to comply.     

Increasing compliance with medical examination requests directed to children with autism: effects of a high-probability request procedure

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a high-probability (high-p) request sequence as a means of increasing compliance with medical examination tasks. Participants were children who had been diagnosed with autism and who exhibited noncompliance during general medical examinations. The inclusion of the high-p request sequence effectively increased compliance with medical examination tasks. In addition, the procedure was efficient, could be implemented by parents and medical professionals, and did not involve aversive procedures.     

Forced compliance: Commitment to compliance and commitment to activity

It is argued that the standard manipulation of free choice in a forced compliance situation has fostered confusion between the two different types of choices offered to subjects, namely commitment or non-commitment to compliance with the experimenter and choice of counter-attitudinal activity per se. From a theoretical viewpoint, the two choices have very different implications. The former is a prerequisite to dissonance arousal; the latter may bring about consonant cognitions which reduce the dissonance ratio. Two experiments which separated these two choices confirmed the above predictions, derived from a radical conception of the dissonance theory (Beauvois and Joule, 1981, 1994). The results are inconsistent with the reinterpretation of dissonance effects in self-perception terms.     

If you need help, just ask: underestimating compliance with direct requests for help

A series of studies tested whether people underestimate the likelihood that others will comply with their direct requests for help. In the first 3 studies, people underestimated by as much as 50% the likelihood that others would agree to a direct request for help, across a range of requests occurring in both experimental and natural field settings. Studies 4 and 5 demonstrated that experimentally manipulating a person's perspective (as help seeker or potential helper) could elicit this underestimation effect. Finally, in Study 6, the authors explored the source of the bias, finding that help seekers were less willing than potential helpers were to appreciate the social costs of refusing a direct request for help (the costs of saying "no"), attending instead to the instrumental costs of helping (the costs of saying "yes").     

Comparing interspersed requests and social comments as antecedents for increasing student compliance

Two students were alternately presented with interspersed high-compliance requests and social comments as antecedents to low-compliance requests. An initial comparison demonstrated similar positive effects on compliance for interspersed requests and social comments. A second analysis indicated that the effectiveness of social comments for increasing compliance was related to the time interval between social comments and low-compliance requests.     

Polite responses to polite requests

Indirect requests vary in politeness; for example, Can you tell me where Jordan Hall is? is more polite than Shouldn't you tell me where Jordan Hall is? By one theory, the more the literal meaning of a request implies personal benefits for the listener, within reason, the more polite is the request. This prediction was confirmed in Experiment 1. Responses to indirect requests also vary in politeness. For Can you tell me where Jordan Hall is?, the response Yes, I can — it's up the street is more polite than It's up the street. By an extension of that theory, the more attentive the responder is to all of the requester's meaning, the more polite is the response. This prediction was confirmed in Experiments 2, 3 and 4. From this evidence, we argued that people ordinarily compute both the literal and the indirect meanings of indirect requests. They must if they are to recognize when the speaker is and isn't being polite, and if they are to respond politely, impolitely, or even neutrally.     

Exploring the reinforcement of compliance with "do" and "don't" requests and the side effects: a partial replication and extension

The side effects of reinforcing compliance to "do" and "don't" requests were examined in this study. The study was designed to do two things: (1) further establish that "do" and "don't" requests are functionally distinct and (2) determine which "don't" requests will show the same ability as "do" requests in effecting a change in topographically different inappropriate behaviors. Three children (2 boys and 1 girl), ages 5 yr. 2 mo. to 6 yr. 7 mo., participated. The design of the study was ABAC counterbalanced across subjects. With all three children reinforcement of "do" requests led to increased compliance with "do" requests without concurrent increase in compliance to "don't" requests. Also, reinforcing compliance to "don't" requests resulted in increased compliance to "don't" requests without concurrent increase in compliance to "do" requests. An undesirable side effect to the treatment was also noted. Two children showed a tendency to increase their rates of inappropriate behavior concurrent with increases in compliance to "don't" requests. Probable causes for this effect and concerns about the reinforcement of "don't" requests were discussed.     

Teaching spontaneous requests to children with autism using a time delay procedure with multi-component toys

Children with autism were taught spontaneous requests through a time delay procedure. Unlike previous research, which usually employed food as the target stimuli to be requested, the present study used toy pieces from multi-component toys. The procedure involved presenting a child with the target stimulus, with the trainer prompting the child by immediately modeling the request response. When the response was imitated without error, prompting was delayed with the time interval gradually being increased over trials. A spontaneous or imitated response was reinforced by giving the child the requested object. As the stimulus/model interval increased, children with autism were expected to initiate the request by themselves prior to the prompt. The efficacy of the time delay procedure was assessed using a multiple baseline across subject design with three Chinese boys with autism. Results showed that the three children acquired a 100% performance within five to nine sessions of training and the skill was maintained at the one-month and three-month followups. Furthermore, the learned response transferred to various conditions when tested across setting, person, toy, and food items. These results suggest that toys, the multi-component ones in particular, served well as reinforcers for language training. Furthermore these findings confirmed the practical utility of the time delay procedure for promoting spontaneous communication skills in children with autism.     

Interpolating physical exercise between instigation to aggress and aggression: The role of irritability and emotional susceptibility

Two studies were conducted using the Buss aggression machine paradigm to investigate the mediational role of physical exercise with respect to subsequent aggression in relation to the presence or absence of previous instigation. The irritability level of subjects was taken into account in the first study, and the subject' emotional susceptibility level in the second study. In both studies sex differences were also considered so that each study resulted in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 design with ten subjects in each cell. As far as irritability is concerned, experimental subjects (pedaling on a bicycle ergonometer) delivered higher shocks than controls (who just waited out the 10 min the experimental subjects were pedaling), independent of irritability level or of the presence or absence of previous instigation. When emotional susceptibility was taken into consideration, physical exercise associated with high level of emotional susceptibility and previous instigation resulted in increased intensity of the shocks subsequently delivered. These findings are discussed in terms of the importance of stable personality characteristics that may differentially mediate aggression.     

Altering contingencies to facilitate compliance with traffic light systems

The effects of altering light pattern sequences on driver compliance at a busy, urban intersection were explored. The baseline light timing sequences resulted in only 46.8% of drivers stopping at the yellow or red lights. Using an A-B-C design, we altered light pattern sequences that increased the probability of drivers stopping at the signals to 88.8% and 98.8%. These findings indicate that traffic light contingencies have potent effects in influencing driver behaviors at busy intersections. Following completion of the study, the traffic engineer approved the permanence of the light timing pattern that increased traffic rule compliance. Accident data collected before and after the light timing changes indicated a reduction in automobile accidents.     

Comprehension of indirect requests by persons with fluent aphasia

This study examined the judgments and response latencies of 10 participants with aphasia and 10 participants without aphasia for responses to indirect requests. Modals such as can and should were drawn from 5 indirect request categories. There was a significant difference in judgment errors and response latency between participants with and without aphasia. There were no significant differences between aphasic participants' judgments for literal versus nonliteral contrasts. There was a significant effect among the modals and among the categories of indirect requests. Response latency reflected aphasic participants' understanding of these indirect requests.     

Brief report: Compliance in the classroom: Using the „thumbs up”︁ procedure to increase student compliance to teacher requests

This study assessed the effectiveness of a program designed to increase compliance with teacher commands in a regular 5th grade math class. A reversal design (A-B-B'-A-B') was employed. The teacher used a discriminative stimulus to signal the students as to the availability of an opportunity to earn a point towards a reinforcer. To receive the point the students were required to return the signal and initiate compliance. The entire class was involved in the program; however, data were recorded on two students, one identified by the teacher as noncompliant; the other served as a control. The results indicated that the program was effective in increasing initiation of compliance to teacher commands. However, serious questions were raised about the generalizability of such a program.     

Clinical strategies to promote compliance

Abstract

This article focuses on the need for effective client management throughout the therapeutic process. The appropriate and astute use of clinical strategies can promote client compliance with treatment and counteract the possibility of client dissatisfactions and ethical/legal complaints. This article offers a systemic explanation of compliance, identifies five major clinical strategies to foster treatment adherence, and discusses the need for clinical judgments that fulfill ethical/legal obligations while promoting quality care.