Differential Reinforcement in Coaching Tennis Skills

Abstract

The present study compared the effects of correcting errors in a typical tennis class to selectively ignoring these errors while praising appropriate tennis performance. The effects of this behavioral procedure, differential reinforcement, were assessed using a multiple baseline design across subjects (three junior high students) and three tennis skills: forehand, backhand, and serve. The results demonstrated that differential reinforcement increased performance two to four times over baseline. These results extend the findings on differential reinforcement and suggest this procedure as a method for developing sports skills.