Self-observation and self-reinforcement as sources of self-control in children.
Eight fifth- and sixth-grade black males engaged in a set of single-subject, multiple-baseline studies to determine the relative effects of self-observation and self-reinforcement. A black male college student employed the children as research assistants who would study their own behavior. The employer negotiated a series of individualized contracts with each boy. The contracts specified what self-regulation procedures the subject would perform. Overall, the children were more consistent in carrying out their contracts when they were on self-reinforcement than when they were on self-observation. Second, the children were more effective in increasing behavioral deficits than they were in decreasing excesses. Third, self-reinforcement was clearly a superior means of improving their own behavior than was self-observation.
D001741:Black or African American; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000517:prevention & control; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D003463:Cues; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012306:Risk; D012917:Social Adjustment; D014477:Underachievement