The problem of this study is to determine the feasibility of using an operant treatment procedure to ameliorate several manifestations of depression. The purpose is to apply contingent positive reinforcement to the detection of nondepressive thoughts and to examine the effects of this procedure upon the frequency of nondepressive thoughts, idiosyncratic depressive manifestations, and scores on the Depression Inventory.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of parent delivered non-contingent reinforcement (NCR) on decreasing throwing behavior exhibited by a young child with autism. During the pretreatment phase of the experiment the participant went a functional analysis to determine the target behavior of throwing. Baseline data was collected followed by the intervention phase. During the intervention phase, the non-contingent reinforcement (NCR) procedures were conducted. Attention was given to the participant on a fixed-time schedule and was influenced based on the participant’s behavior. The schedule of reinforcement was slowly increase with the decrease or lack of throwing attempts. Furthermore, this study aimed to determine whether parent delivered fixed-time schedules of non-contingent reinforcement decrease the non-preferred activities of throwing objects.

Abstract Previous research has demonstrated that non-contingent reinforcement (NCR) and differential reinforcement of other behaviors (DRO) are effective procedures in reducing problem behavior of children both in and out of the classroom. However, few studies have assessed which procedure is most socially acceptable among teachers. In addition, studies have not recorded data on fidelity of implementation among teachers. A non-concurrent multiple baseline across teachers design was used to (a) demonstrate the effect of NCR and DRO on the problem behaviors of school aged children with no identified developmental disability, and (b) assess implementation fidelity of each procedure by the teacher. This study further assessed which procedure was preferred by teachers by the addition of questionnaires and a choice phase in which teachers ultimately chose which procedure to implement. Results showed that both procedures significantly reduced problem behavior across all participants, with the DRO procedure having the greatest effect. The procedure that was preferred most by teachers varied across participants. One of the three participants preferred the NCR procedure, one preferred the DRO procedure and the last participant gave mixed results between the procedure she said she preferred in the surveys and the procedure she chose to implement in the final choice phase.

Ten experimentally naive children between the ages of six and eight served in three generalized imitation experiments using symbolic models. Subjects were presented videotaped behaviors to imitate via closed circuit television, and their responses were mechanically defined, recorded, and reinforced in an effort to control social influences from the presence of the experimenter. In Experiment 1, imitation of three behaviors was reinforced and imitation of a fourth behavior was never reinforced for four subjects. Two other subjects received noncontingent reinforcement. The following independent variables were tested: (1) the presence and absence of an experimenter, (2) instructions to "Do that," and (3) contingent and noncontingent reinforcement. Results of Experiment 1 demonstrated the apparatus could be used to produce and maintain generalized imitation, even in the absence of the experimenter, so long as differential reinforcement was available. ''Do that'' instructions were not necessary, and the presence of the experimenter served to maintain imitation when contingent reinforcement was not available. In Experiment 2, four subjects produced generalized imitation in the absence of both a n experimenter and any instructions with two reinforced and two nonreinforced imitations. Using the same four subjects in Experiment 3, congruent, incongruent, and "Do what you want" instructions given before sessions demonstrated that instructions could override the effect of reinforcers or produce differential responding in most subjects. When given a choice to imitate or not imitate, subjects continued generalized imitation. The data tend to support the theory that imitation is itself a response class, and the effect of instructions is to divide that response class into a class of imitated responses and a class of instruction-following responses. The influence of instructions, even in the absence of an adult experimenter, was obvious.

Fifteen hospitalized adolescents were used as subjects. An individually consequated token economy was in effect during baseline. Measures were taken of work output, attending behavior, and disruptive behavior. During the treatment phase, reinforcement was contingent upon the performance of a randomly selected subgroup. Following the treatment phase, the individual token system was reinstated for baseline-2 measures. The mean performance of the group during baseline was compared to performance under treatment conditions for work output and attending behaviors. In addition, performance of the contingent subgroup was compared to performance of the non-contingent group. No significant t values were obtained. With failure to obtain significant t values, the null hypothesis was not rejected, i.e., the two conditions were not proven significantly different.

Two groups of eleven retarded adults each were used as subjects. An individually consequated token economy was in effect during baseline-1 for both groups. The treatment phase of the experiment consisted of group consequation, the first group receiving a high rate of reinforcement and the second group receiving a low rate. The individual token system was reinstated for both groups during baseline-2 measures. Attending behavior and work output were measured during each phase of the experiment. Significant differences were found between group versus individually contingent reinforcement treatments on attending behaviors, and between high and low contingency groups on performance behaviors. Differences between the high contingency and low contingency groups were found to be non-significant in regard to attending behaviors.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2016-12-01T12:12:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Letícia Tiemi Monteiro.pdf: 2518636 bytes, checksum: 24dd5320ac32618273982d7d8e641fd2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-01T12:12:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Letícia Tiemi Monteiro.pdf: 2518636 bytes, checksum: 24dd5320ac32618273982d7d8e641fd2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-23 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The present research aimed to investigate if different kinds of instructions in a task in which the interruption of aversive stimuli did not depend on the response occurrence interferes with the non-verbal performance. Furthermore, it was investigated whether such exposure interferes on the acquisition of motor responses in a subsequent phase, in which it presented a problem-solving task. College students (80) were equally distributed in four conditions (n=20), named instruction that describes a relationship of dependency (RD), instruction that does not describe a relationship of dependency (NRD), minimal instruction (MIN) and control (C). On phase 1, with the exception of the participants in control condition, the other ones were exposed to aversive stimuli (sound) that lasted no more than 10 seconds, which were interrupted regardless of their responses and received instruction that described a relationship of dependency between the response and the environmental change; the instruction that did not describe a relationship of dependency between the response and the environmental change; requiring that the participant assessed if it was possible to solve the task; and the minimal instruction did not give information about the relationship response /environmental change. On phase 2, all of them, including Control group, did the maze-solving task. On phase 1, the participants that received the NRD instruction were the ones who received a bigger number of responses followed by the ones who received RD instruction. The major part of participants that received the MIN instruction emitted few responses. 38 of 60 participants presented responses pattern classified as superstitious. The 22 participants that did not present the superstitious pattern received, in its major part, MIN instruction. On phase 2, the control participants spent, in general, less time to go through the first maze followed by the participants that received the MIN and NRD instruction. The participants that received the RD instruction were the ones who spent more time to go through the first maze. Those participants who spent less time to go through the maze, most of them showed, on the first phase, low response rate compared to the other participants. The results suggest, on the first phase, a relationship between high/low frequency of responses and the kind of instruction received, and it seems that this frequency can influence on the following phase, because the participants that showed, emitted a smaller number of answers spent less time to go through the first maze / O presente trabalho teve como objetivo investigar se a utilização de diferentes tipos de instruções em uma tarefa em que a interrupção dos estímulos aversivos não dependeu da ocorrência da resposta interfere no desempenho não verbal. Além disso, foi investigado se essa exposição interfere na aquisição de respostas motoras em uma fase subsequente, na qual foi apresentada uma tarefa de resolução de problema. Estudantes universitários (80) foram distribuídos igualmente em quatro condições (n=20), denominadas instrução que descreve uma relação de dependência (RD), instrução que não descreve relação de dependência (NRD), instrução mínima (MIN) e controle (C). Na Fase 1, com exceção dos participantes da condição controle, os demais foram expostos a estímulos aversivos (som), com duração máxima de 10 segundos, que eram interrompidos independentemente de suas respostas e receberam instrução que descreveu uma relação de dependência entre a resposta e a alteração ambiental; a instrução que não descreveu uma relação de dependência entre resposta e alteração ambiental, solicitando que o participante avaliasse se era possível resolver a tarefa; e a instrução mínima não forneceu informação sobre a relação resposta/alteração ambiental. Na Fase 2, todos realizaram uma tarefa de resolução de labirintos. Na Fase 1, os participantes que receberam a instrução NRD foram os participantes que emitiram um maior número de respostas seguido dos que receberam instrução RD. A maior parte dos participantes que receberam instrução MIN emitiu poucas respostas. 38 dos 60 participantes apresentaram padrões de respostas classificadas como supersticiosas. Os 22 participantes que não apresentaram padrão supersticioso receberam em sua maioria instrução MIN. Na Fase 2, os participantes controle levaram, em geral, menos tempo para percorrer o primeiro labirinto seguido dos participantes que receberam a instrução MIN e NRD. Os participantes que receberam a instrução RD foram os participantes que levaram mais tempo para percorrer o primeiro labirinto. Dos participantes que levaram menos tempo para percorrer o labirinto, a maioria deles emitiu, na primeira fase, frequência baixa de respostas em comparação com os outros participantes. Os resultados sugerem, na primeira fase, uma relação entre alta/baixa frequência de respostas e o tipo de instrução recebida, e parece que essa frequência pode influenciar na fase subsequente, pois participantes que emitiram um número menor de respostas levaram menos tempo para percorrer o primeiro labirinto

Evidence suggests that physical inactivity is increasingly prevalent among young children. A common recommendation provided to parents suggests that they become actively involved in increasing their child's physical activity. However, this recommendation does not specify how a parent should become involved. Further, the evaluation of parental involvement in children's physical activity has yet to be conducted. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a functional analysis to identify a social, environmental variable that would engender a higher level of physical activity in young children. Once a social consequence was identified, reinforcement provided contingently on higher levels of physical activity and according to a fixed-time schedule was compared in an intervention analysis. The overall results of the study indicated that children were most active when receiving a form of social reinforcement contingent on higher levels of physical activity. These results suggest that parents of young children should become involved in increasing their child's physical activity by providing attention or physical engagement contingent on higher levels of physical activity.