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Experiment I examined the role of a reduced rate of responding in the occurrence of behavioral contrast. Four rats and a pigeon were exposed to a two‐component multiple schedule in which one component was always a variable‐interval schedule. The second component was, at different times, either a variable‐time schedule in which food was delivered independently of responding, or extinction. Both extinction and the variable‐time schedule reduced the rate of responding in the second component. Behavioral contrast was observed, however, only when extinction was scheduled in the second component. Experiment II examined preference, as measured by time allocation in concurrent schedules for a variable‐interval schedule relative to a variable‐time schedule. Two rats displayed a lack of preference between the two schedules. The results of these experiments support a preference interpretation of behavioral contrast, which holds that behavioral contrast is the result of the introduction of a less‐preferred condition in one component of a multiple schedule.

Five rats (observers) were trained to avoid unsignalled shocks in a shuttlebox and then habituated to brief light presentations. They were next confined on an observation platform while another rat (model) received light‐shock pairings in the opposite compartment. The observers were exposed only to the sight and sound of the model during classical conditioning and were not shocked themselves. Test presentations of the light during subsequent avoidance sessions produced response rate increases (vicarious conditioned acceleration) comparable to those obtained in other studies where the avoidance animals were used in classical conditioning. Following sessions in which the model was not shocked after the light, the light presentations during avoidance eventually failed to elicit any response increases in the observers. When the model was again shocked, immediate recovery of avoidance acceleration occurred in the observers during the light.

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The purpose of the present study was to determine whether classroom thumbsucking could be controlled by making social reinforcement contingent upon appropriate behaviors incompatible with thumbsucking. The classroom thumbsucking behavior of three 8‐yr‐old elementary school children was observed and recorded by two observers. Sixteen experimental lessons were divided into sets of baseline, reinforcement, reversal, and representation of reinforcement. The effect of the experimental treatment was determined by the changes in the total thumbsucking level for each subject during each lesson. Results indicated noticeable decreases in thumbsucking rate for all three subjects during lessons in which social reinforcement was made contingent upon appropriate behavior. Two of the three subjects showed sudden increases in thumbsucking time during lessons when social reinforcement for appropriate responses was withheld; the third subject showed continued low thumbsucking time during these lessons.

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An attempt was made to eliminate the self‐injurious behaviors of four institutionalized, profoundly retarded adolescents. Some of the behaviors studied were: face‐slapping, face‐banging, hair‐pulling, face‐scratching, and finger‐biting. Three remediative approaches to self‐injurious behavior were compared. Elimination of all social consequences of the self‐injurious behavior was not effective with the two subjects with whom it was attempted. The same two subjects were exposed to a procedure involving reinforcement of non‐self‐injurious behavior which was ineffective under no food deprivation and was effective with one of the two subjects under mild food deprivation. Electric‐shock punishment eliminated the self‐injurious behaviors of all four subjects with whom it was attempted. The results suggested that punishment was more effective than differential reinforcement of non‐self‐injurious behavior which, in turn, was more effective than extinction through elimination of social consequences. However, the effects of the punishment were usually specific to the setting in which it was administered. In order to eliminate the self‐injurious behaviors of severely retarded children, it is apparently necessary to carry out the treatment in many of the settings in which it occurs.

Time spent in contact with academic course materials as a function of two testing schedules was measured using college undergraduates in an introductory educational psychology course. A within‐subject (ABAB) design was employed with all subjects to allow for both individual and group analyses. A study room equipped with an adjacent observation room enabled visual and auditory monitoring of student study behavior. Academic materials were exclusively available to students in the study room and records of durations and distribution of student study time were made by an observer behind a one‐way mirror. Daily testing produced consistent duration of study behavior with regular attendance at the study room; weekly and three‐week testing produced sporadic bursts of study behavior and frequent instances of non‐attendance. The amount of study behavior occurring in weekly and three‐week testing conditions increased as the test time drew near (scalloping). Results suggest that daily testing supports more consistent study patterns than do the two larger intertest intervals investigated.

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