Elaborative and behavioral rehearsal in the acquisition of fire emergency skills and the reduction of fear of fire

Abstract

Two training procedures (behavioral rehearsal and elaborative rehearsal) were assessed for relative effectiveness in the acquisition of fire emergency skills, and for reducing fear associated with being in fires. Both trained groups were also compared to untrained controls. We predicted that behavioral and elaborative rehearsal would lead to comparable skill acquisition, but that elaborative practice would decrease fear more than behavioral rehearsal. The subjects were 46 third-grade children, randomly assigned to conditions, whose behavioral performance and fear level were assessed before and immediatly after training. Significant performance gains were found for both trained groups but not for the controls. Elaborative rehearsal brought significantly more fear reduction than did behavioral rehearsal — which did not surpass that of controls. The results affirmed the value of elaborative rehearsal in reducing children's fear of responding and in improving actual performance.