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An Evaluation Of Praise As A Reinforcer For Preschoolers' Behavior, Laura Perry Senn, Makenzie W. Bayles, Jennifer L. Bruzek
An Evaluation Of Praise As A Reinforcer For Preschoolers' Behavior, Laura Perry Senn, Makenzie W. Bayles, Jennifer L. Bruzek
Research, Publications & Creative Work
Behavior analysts and educators often recommend using praise, particularly descriptive praise, despite mixed empirical findings to support this recommendation. We evaluated the effectiveness of praise as a reinforcer during a reinforcer assessment using known tasks with preschoolers in Study 1. Praise functioned as a reinforcer for 2 of 6 participants; the remaining 4 participants required additional reinforcers (edibles) to show a reinforcement effect. We then compared the effectiveness of descriptive versus general praise for acquisition of unknown tacts and assessed participants’ preference for the different types of praise for 4 participants from Study 1. Results showed the efficacy of and …