PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

H R Quilitch

Publications and source records attributed to H R Quilitch.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Cooperative games: a way to modify aggressive and cooperative behaviors in young children.

We investigated the effects of competitive and cooperative games on aggressive and cooperative behaviors of 70 children (4 to 5 years old) from four classes in three preschools. The experimental design included both multiple baseline and reversal components. Behaviors were measured during game conditions and in subsequent free-play periods. Results showed that cooperative behavior increased and aggression decreased during cooperative games; conversely, competitive games were followed by increases in aggressive behavior and decreases in cooperative behavior. Similar effects were also found during free-play periods.

Aggression↗

A comparison of three staff-management procedures.

Even though administrators must have effective staff-management procedures to ensure implementation of desired programs, many traditional staff-management proceudres remain unevaluated. This study investigated the effectiveness of three such procedures. The administrator of an institution for the retarded (1) sent a memo instructing all staff to lead daily recreational activities, (2) sponsored a workshop teaching staff to lead such activities, and (3) assigned staff activity leaders and provided performance feedback to staff by publicly posting the daily average number of active residents on each ward. Neither the memo nor the workshops motivated staff to lead activities, but after staff were scheduled to lead such activities and given performance feedback, the average daily number of residents engaged in activities on four wards for 95 retarded persons increased from seven to 32. The administration of this facility has adopted similar procedures to maintain such activities on all wards.

Feedback↗

The effects of play materials on social play.

To increase cooperative and social behaviors in children, contingency management programs have been successfully employed. This study examined the possibility that children's social behavior might also be significantly influenced by the nature of the available play materials. Children in an urban recreation center were systematically provided with toys designed for social or isolate play. It was found that social play occurred only 16% of the time when the children were provided with "isolate" toys, whereas social play occurred 78% of the time when children were provided with "social" toys. Thus, the selection of play materials should be an important consideration in any effort to teach children social behaviors.

Journal Article↗

The home point system: token reinforcement procedures for application by parents of children with behavior problems.

Parent-child problems within the home are frequently reported to be instances in which children refuse to help with household chores, bicker among themselves, or engage in verbally inappropriate behavior toward their parents. The present study investigated the effects of a token reinforcement program administered by the parents in ameliorating these problems. Two sets of parents, with a total of five children between the ages of 5 and 10 yr, were taught to administer a token economy within their homes. The parents received instruction in specifying desired social and chore behaviors, communicated these behavioral goals to their children, recorded data on their occurrence, and managed a point system backed with reinforcers normally found in the home. The token reinforcement program was shown to have successfully modified 15 problem behaviors in Family 1 and six in Family 2. In addition, the parents rated all 21 behavior changes as significant improvements. These studies indicated that some cooperative parents need only a small amount of professional help to learn to manage their children's behavior problems with token reinforcement procedures.

Journal Article↗