The effects of the intensity of a teacher's reprimands on children's behavior

Abstract

Relative frequency of disruptive behaviors displayed by first grade children during “rest time” was recorded by observers and related to experimentally controlled variations in teacher's behavior. Disruptive behaviors were measured by observing individual children sequentially for five 10-second time intervals each, using a coding system developed earlier. During baseline disruptive behaviors occurred on the average in 54% of the time intervals. When appropriate behaviors were praised and disruptive behaviors were ignored, disruptive behaviors averaged 32%. In the next phase, quiet reprimands were found to function similarly to praise (39% disruptive). Loud reprimands increased disruptive behaviors to 53%. In the final phase, the praise and ignore procedure reduced disruptive behaviors again to 35% of the time intervals.