Don't Shoot Until you See the Whites of his Eyes—An Analysis of the Adverse Side Effects of Verbal Prompts

Abstract

The effect of a differential reinforcement procedure alone was compared with the use of verbal prompts plus differential reinforcement in reducing deviant social behavior of a retarded adult. An ABCBCB reversal-type design was employed. The results indicated that the percentage of desirable behavior increased over a baseline condition (A) when differential reinforcement procedures alone (B) were used and decreased when verbal prompts (C) were added. An analysis was presented which suggested that deviant behavior may be exhibited as the initial response in a behavioral chain to attract adult attention in the form of verbal prompts. Verbal prompts were shown to reinforce the subject's deviant behavior. A clear example of response generalization to a prevocational task was also observed.