U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

CLASSROOM AGGRESSION - DETERMINANTS, CONTROLLING MECHANISMS, AND GUIDELINES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION PROGRAM

NCJ Number
51411
Author(s)
G R ADAMS
Date Published
1973
Length
14 pages
Annotation
HYPOTHESES CONCERNING THE CAUSES OF AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR ARE REVIEWED, METHODS OF CONTROLLING AGGRESSION ARE OUTLINED, AND A CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION PROGRAM BASED ON EXPERIMENTATION IS DESCRIBED.
Abstract
FRUSTRATION, THE EFFECTS OF OBSERVING AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR BY OTHERS, REINFORCEMENT, AND THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT ARE AMONG POSSIBLE DETERMINANTS OF AGGRESSION. CONTROL MECHANISMS INCLUDE STIMULUS CONTROL, PUNISHMENT, INDUCTION (A PARENTAL TECHNIQUE FOCUSING ON THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE CHILD'S ACT), SOCIAL REINFORCEMENT, SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATIONS (BEHAVIOR SHAPING), AND CATHARSIS (E.G., MODIFYING THE ACTUAL EXPRESSION OF AGGRESSION BY VIEWING AGGRESSIVE PROGRAMS ON TELEVISION). WHEN POSSIBLE, TEACHERS SHOULD CONSULT AND WORK WITH SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGISTS IN THE INITIAL STAGES OF IMPLEMENTING A BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION PROGRAM. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD OF EXPERIMENTALISM -- USING OBSERVATIONS TO DEFINE THE PROBLEM, DEVELOPING HYPOTHESES ABOUT THE CAUSES OF THE PROBLEM AND ABOUT POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS, EXPERIMENTING WITH POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS -- IS A USEFUL APPROACH TO ACHIEVING MODIFICATION OF AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR IN THE CLASSROOM. AN ILLUSTRATION OF HOW THE EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH MAY BE APPLIED IN THE CLASSROOM IS PRESENTED. A LIST OF REFERENCES IS INCLUDED. (LKM)

Downloads

No download available

Availability