Rapid educational rehabilitation for prison inmates

One of the major goals of prisons has been the educational rehabilitation of inmates. Studies have shown that predelinquents as well as delinquents could be motivated to achieve in academic areas through the use of an incentive system. The present study attempted to extend the behavioral yield of such a system with prison inmates. The academic performance of two inmates in math and English were compared when two levels of incentives were made contingent on that performance. The results showed that the two inmates passed academic tests as much as nine times faster under an enriched schedule of incentives than under a standard one. This increase in rate of performance was translated into actual academic achievement as one of the inmates passed 9th through 12th grade algebra in only 14 days. A standardized test confirmed this academic advancement for both inmates. These high rates of performance and academic achievement are even more dramatic in view of the fact that five months prior to this procedure, both inmates had been tested as being below average in intelligence.     

Individual differences in self-reinforcement style and performance in self-and therapist-controlled weight reduction programs

Thirty-seven overweight subjects were recruited from the staff of a V. A. Hospital for a weight reduction program. A self-reinforcement (SR) test was administered prior to treatment and subjects were classified as high or low self-reinforcers. Subjects were then exposed to one of two behavioral weight-reduction programs or a minimal treatment control condition. One treatment program emphasized self-control (SC) and the other incorporated a therapist controlled financial contingency for weight loss (EC). A significant interaction was found between SR group and treatment condition. High SR subjects lost weight at the rate of 1.49 pounds per week in the SC condition and only 0.37 pounds per week in EC. Low SR subjects lost at the rate of 1.06 and 1.01 pounds per week respectively in SC and EC. Implications for treatment and future research were discussed. The financial contingency had either neutral or negative effects. Caution was advised for any future use of that procedure.     

Effects of two teacher-presentation rates on off-task behavior, answering correctly, and participation

Off-task behavior, correct answering, and participation during beginning reading instruction were recorded for two low-achieving first-grade children during two different rates of teacher presentation. A slow-rate presentation (A) was compared with a fast-rate presentation (B) in an ABABAB design. In slow-rate presentation, there was a delay between the children's response and introduction of the next task. In fast-rate presentation, there was no delay. A new teacher taught during the final AB phases, which allowed for a brief replication. Both teachers were reminded on a fixed-interval 90-sec schedule throughout all phases of the experiment to praise the subjects, thus preventing a confounding of social praise and rate of teacher presentation. Fast-rate presentation was accompanied by a lower per cent occurrence of off-task behavior for both Subjects 1 and 2. For Subject 1, correct answering and participation were more frequent during all three fast-rate phases. For Subject 2, correct answering and participation were more frequent during the fast-rate phases after the first reversal.     

Situational factors affecting the weighting of predictor components in the Fishbein model

The Fishbein regression model (B ≈ BI ≈ (Aact)w₀ + (NBs)w₁) is designed to predict behavior (B) from attitudes (Aact) and normative beliefs (NBs). Using a variation of theAjzen and Fishbein (Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1970,6, 466–487) method, potential limitations of the model were investigated. It was found that certain situational factors were capable of altering the nature of the model significantly. Aact carried a nonsignificant regression weight when the participant had had no prior direct experience with the act and carried a significant weight when the participant had had experience with the act. NB carried a nonsignificant weight under competitive motivational set conditions and a significant weight under cooperative set conditions. These findings raise the question of the generality of the Fishbein model, since different prediction models were required by different situational conditions. The hypothesized association between attitude and behavior appears to be dependent on prior experience with the behavior, while the association between norms and behavior seems to be dependent on consistency between personal motivation and perceived social expectations.     

Verbal rehearsal and selective attention in children with learning disabilities: A developmental lag

To investigate the development of verbal rehearsal strategies and selective attention in learning disabled children, Hagen's Central-Incidental task was administered to younger learning disabled (M CA = 8.68 years) and normal (M CA = 8.62 years) boys in Experiment 1 and to intermediate (M CA = 10.18 years) and older (M CA = 13.48 years) learning disabled boys in Experiment 2. Also, in Experiment 2, an experimentally induced verbal rehearsal condition was included to determine its effects on serial recall and selective attention performance. In Experiment 1, the serial postion curve of the normals revealed both a primacy and a recency effect, whereas that of the learning disabled revealed a recency effect only. In Experiment 2, both the intermediate and the older learning disabled exhibited both primacy and recency effects under both standard and rehearsal conditions. A developmental analysis of central recall for the three learning disabled groups revealed constant age-related increases in overall central recall and in primacy recall. That the normals recalled more central, but not more incidental, information than the learning disabled in Experiment 1 suggests that the learning disabled are deficient in selective attention. Correlational findings suggest that the selective attention of the learning disabled improves with age. The results were interpreted as support for the hypothesis of a developmental lag in the learning disabled population.     

Blocking of incidental information in young children

Methods of increasing learning efficiency through a blocking technique were examined in young children. An experimental group of children was trained on an initial task with one relevant dimension, followed by redundancy training in which an incidental dimension also became relevant. A control group given only redundancy training was compared to this group to test how much the experimental subjects blocked or screened out the incidental dimension. In order to increase blocking, three methods were used: a preset transfer problem, an overtraining on the initial task, and a delay following training. The most important finding was increased blocking through the Preset Condition. Overtraining and Delay Conditions had no effect. In addition, more slow learners on the initial task learned about the incidental dimension than fast or intermediate learners. Also, fewer subjects given form on the initial task learned about the incidental dimension than those given color. The Combined Blocking, Delay, and Overtraining group showed partial blocking, while the Preset group demonstrated complete blocking. No developmental differences occurred. The results were interpreted using a modification of Trabasso and Bower's attention model (Attention in learning: Theory and research. New York: Wiley, 1968).     

Anorexia and conditioned taste aversions in the rat

The present study examined whether or not certain anorexic agents produced flavor aversions. Rats showed comparable anorexia when injected with lithium chloride, ammonium sulfate, arginine·HCl, and d-glucose. Only lithium chloride produced a flavor aversion to either a novel liquid or food. Only arginine was found to interfere with the formation or recall of an association. The effects of the other chemicals were discussed in terms of the relationship between anorexia and induced sickness.     

Fixed-interval punishment of running in hamsters

Four hamsters received brief electric shocks contingent upon running in a wheel. The fixed interval between shocks was varied systematically from 0 to 60 sec. Time spent running was directly related to the length of the fixed interval, while running speed remained roughly constant. Running depended on the fixed interval between shocks in the same way as bar-pressing maintained by food reinforcement, despite the fact that running was not established with nor maintained by explicit reinforcement.