A simple stimulus cue for controlling disruptive classroom behavior

In two separate classrooms, a red light which had no specific consequences attached was used to reduce the talking-out and out-of-seat behavior of elementary school subjects. Following baseline phases, the light was introduced for a one-week period. An observer activated the light whenever the targeted behaviors occurred. Following a return to baseline, the light was reintroduced for a second one-week period. Results indicated that for both subjects a 95% or greater reduction in targeted behaviors occurred during the red-light phases. The results demonstrated the short-term effectiveness of a simple procedure which does not require specific back-up consequences for the reduction of disruptive behavior. The author concluded that studies using stimulus cues as part of reward or punishment procedures should employ a baseline procedure which controls for the effect of the stimulus cue without specific back-up consequences.This work was supported by Grant No. MH-18966 from the National Institute of Mental Health to Roberta Ray, Oregon Research Institute. The author is indebted to Roberta Ray, Oregon Research Institute, for her advice and support and to Paul Randall, Eugene Public Schools, for his assistance in conducting this research. Data reported in this article were collected as part of a study examining the effect of observer- and self-operated discriminative stimuli in the control of disruptive behavior. A complete copy of the report is available from the author.     

Noncontingent peer attention as treatment for disruptive classroom behavior

A functional analysis isolated peer attention as the primary maintaining variable for disruptive behavior displayed by a student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Using a brief reversal design, noncontingent reinforcement was then shown to reduce disruptive behavior relative to the peer attention condition. Implications for assessing behavior disorders in mainstream school settings are discussed.     

Production and elimination of disruptive classroom behavior by systematically varying teacher's behavior

The effects of teacher behaviors on the classroom behaviors of children were investigated by systematically varying approving (praise, smiles, contacts, etc.) and disapproving (verbal reprimands, physical restraint, etc.) classes of teacher behavior. Measures were taken on both teacher and child behaviors. Each day a sample of 10 children was observed. The subject pool was a class of 28 well-behaved children in a middle-primary public school class. The results demonstrated that approving teacher responses served a positive reinforcing function in maintaining appropriate classroom behaviors. Disruptive behaviors increased each time approving teacher behavior was withdrawn. When the teacher's disapproving behaviors were tripled, increases appeared most markedly in the gross motor and noise-making categories of disruptive behavior. The findings emphasize again the important role of the teacher in producing, maintaining, and eliminating disruptive as well as pro-social classroom behavior.     

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.     

Follow-up in classroom behavior modification: Survey and discussion

A survey of several behavior modification journals showed that only 28% of the studies conducted in educational settings reported any follow-up data. Of those studies including follow-up data, 86% reported that therapeutic gains were completely or partially maintained. Follow-up was more often reported and was longer when the subject was an individual or small group than when an entire class served as the subject. More follow-up data were based on direct observation than on anecdotal verbal reports, but the follow-up period was longer when verbal reports were obtained than when direct observation was used. A greater percentage of studies published prior to 1971 than of those published since 1971 included follow-up data. Problems in the methodology and design of follow-up research are discussed.     

Effectiveness of DRO tokens in decreasing disruptive behavior in the classroom with five multiply handicapped children

In this study the effectiveness of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) with tokens was assessed in the treatment of various topographies of disruptive behavior in the classroom with five children who were multiply handicapped. Prior to implementation of the treatment, reinforcer assessment was conducted to identify items to be used as back-up reinforcers. Data were analyzed using time-series analysis. Results show that DRO tokens were highly effective in decreasing disruptive behavior of all participants. ©1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Good behavior game: effects of individual contingencies for group consequences on disruptive behavior in a classroom

Out-of-seat and talking-out behaviors were studied in a regular fourth-grade class that included several "problem children". After baseline rates of the inappropriate behaviors were obtained, the class was divided into two teams "to play a game". Each out-of-seat and talking-out response by an individual child resulted in a mark being placed on the chalkboard, which meant a possible loss of privileges by all members of the student's team. In this manner a contingency was arranged for the inappropriate behavior of each child while the consequence (possible loss of privileges) of the child's behavior was shared by all members of this team as a group. The privileges were events which are available in almost every classroom, such as extra recess, first to line up for lunch, time for special projects, stars and name tags, as well as winning the game. The individual contingencies for the group consequences were successfully applied first during math period and then during reading period. The experimental analysis involved elements of both reversal and multiple baseline designs.     

Use and analysis of the "Good Behavior Game" to reduce disruptive classroom behavior

A recent study reported procedures (the "good behavior game") for reducing disruptive classroom behavior. Replication of the procedures of the "good behavior game" in two classrooms showed it to be an effective technique for reducing disruptive talking and out-of-seat behavior. Further experimental analysis indicated that the effective components of the game were division of the class into teams, consequences for a team winning the game, and criteria set for winning the game. Although disruptive behavior was markedly reduced by the game, the reductions were correlated with only slightly improved accuracy of academic performance in the one classroom where academic performance was measured.     

Relative efficacy of two token economy procedures for decreasing the disruptive classroom behavior of retarded children

Numerous studies have demonstrated that disruptive classroom behavior can be decreased by delivering tokens contingent upon periods of time during which children do not engage in it or by removing tokens contingent upon its occurrence. To date, the best controlled of these studies have consistently reported the two procedures to be equally effective. However, in these studies, token contingencies have been combined with instructions regarding the contingencies. The present study compared these two procedures when no instructions were given regarding the token contingencies. Token delivery was not effective in decreasing disruptive behavior in any of the children, while a combination of token delivery and removal was effective for three of four children. The results suggest that the combined procedure may be effective with certain populations that are not readily controlled by instructions.     

A comparison of response cost and differential reinforcement of other behavior to reduce disruptive behavior in a preschool classroom

This study investigated the effectiveness of response cost and differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) in reducing the disruptive behaviors of 25 children in a preschool classroom. Using an alternating treatments design, disruptive behavior was reduced when the participants earned tokens for the absence of disruptive behavior (DRO) or lost tokens for the occurrence of disruptive behavior (response cost). Initially, DRO was more successful in reducing the number of disruptive behaviors; however, over time, response cost proved to be more effective.     

A portable device for group modification of classroom attending behavior

There is a need for a portable means of signalling appropriate classroom behavior that the teacher can carry with her as she moves about the room. An inexpensive wireless switch, adapted for classroom use, was used to turn on a clock when all children were attending to their work. When a movie was made contingent on accumulating a specific number of minutes on the clock, class-attending increased. Throughout these conditions, the records of class attending made by an independent observer with a stopwatch correlated highly with the remote controlled clock.     

Delayed timeout as a procedure for reducing disruptive classroom behavior: a case study

The disruptive behavior of a 9-yr-old boy was eliminated by the illumination of a light on the subject's desk, which represented the loss of free time later in the day. Instructions alone failed to reduce the frequency of disruptive behavior. When the light was removed and disruptive behavior no longer resulted in a loss of free time, disruptive behavior returned to its previous level.     

Ways by which outcome measures influence outcomes in classroom behavior modification research

Three ways were identified by which outcome measures influence outcomes in classroom behavior modification studies. Inadequacies in selecting a dependent variable were attributed to the lack of fit between the conceptual category system used by the behavior modifier and that used by the referral agent in the classroom. Recommendations for modifying the selection process were made which included the use of a reciprocal target behavior, the incorporation of special control subjects for whom the response is not problematical, and the simultaneous assessment of attitude and behavior change responses. Reliability characteristics of the dependent varible were examined from the point of view of demand characteristics operating within the recording situation and statistical efforts peculiar to the analysis of recorded data. Finally, the utility of outcome measures was examined from the point of view of their impact on influencing others in the applied research environment.     

Social status and aggressive and disruptive behavior in girls: Individual, group, and classroom influences

Recent studies have found distinct subtypes of aggressive youth, marked by either high social status or social marginalization, and that various measures of status differentially associate with aggression. The majority of these studies, however, focused on boys, adolescents, and/or relational aggression in girls. The current research examined how the kind of status measured and the social ecology affect the association between overt aggression and social status in a sample of 187 3rd grade girls. Cluster analysis uncovered aggressive-popular, aggressive-unpopular, and prosocial-popular configurations. Although likeability was related solely to prosocial behavior, other measures of status co-occurred with both prosocial and aggressive behavior. Peer-group behavior complemented that of individuals, though peer-group and classroom acceptance of aggression were not related to cluster prevalence.     

Self-regulation of priming effects on behavior

In three experiments, we tested whether people can protect their ongoing goal pursuits from antagonistic priming effects by using if-then plans (i.e., implementation intentions). In Experiment 1, concept priming did not influence lexical decision time for a critical stimulus when participants had formed if-then plans to make fast responses to that stimulus. In Experiment 2, participants who were primed with a prosocial goal allowed a confederate who asked for help to interrupt their work on a focal task for a longer time if they had merely formed goal intentions to perform well than if they had also formed implementation intentions for concentrating on the task. In Experiment 3, priming the goal of being fast increased driving speed and errors for participants who had formed mere goal intentions to drive only as fast as safety allowed or who had formed no goal intentions, whereas the driving of participants who had formed such goal intentions as well as implementation intentions showed no such priming effects. Our findings indicate that implementation intentions are an effective self-regulatory tool for shielding actions from disruptive concept- or goal-priming effects.     

Current behavior modification in the classroom: be still, be quiet, be docile

Classrooms have recently been criticized as total institutions where there is a rigid preoccupation with order and control, and where children are required to be still, to be silent, and to obey. Behavior modification has been described as a major source of change in the classroom. A review of this journal's papers on behavior modification in the classroom indicated that inappropriate behavior has been consistently defined as behavior that interferes with order, quiet, and stillness. It is argued therefore, that behavior modification has supported rather than changed the questionable status quo. Alternative areas for behavior modification in traditional classrooms and the role of behavior modification in the development of open classrooms are discussed.