Identification of Reinforcement for Talking-Out in the Classroom

Abstract

Talking-out in the classroom has been subjected to applied behavioral analysis. An open implicit assumption has been that peers' attention serves as a powerful reinforcer in this natural setting, although there is little empirical evidence. In the present study, tokens were removed when children responded to verbal outbursts directed at them by peers. As a result, such specifically directed verbal behavior decreased in frequency, while verbal outbursts of a more general nature did not. Such findings lend experimental support to the hypothesis that talking-out, of one variety at least, is maintained by peers' attention.