ABC's of Behavior Modification by Otto MacLin & Dwight Peterson

Note about organization of chapters

We would like to break the chapters into 3 or 4 parts each part should include at least one activity. This way you, the student, can be assigned daily activities and keep current. These activities then become contingencies for reading the book.

Breaking down the book into smaller sections is more reinforcing as it allows you to feel as though you are making progress towards completing something.

I remember driving through Texas once. Texas is a large state as the western tip of the state is half way through New Mexico! I drove from El Paso to Louisiana and it seemed to take forever mostly because there wasn't much to break it up. If you travel the same distance on a road trip through the northern states say on Interstate 90, you might drive the same distance through Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. When you break up the trip, you get the feeling that you are making progress and then each section is fresh and new.

Try to read one section at a sitting rather than read the whole chapter in one chunk. Not only do the sections break up the reading, they give you time to think about what you are reading and how it relates to you and others around you. Relating what you are learning to your daily life is an essential way to learn the material presented in this book.

Each class period, the students will break into groups to discuss their readings at the beginning of class (we realize that homework can be aversive in nature because it competes with other natural contingencies you would rather be doing - this relates to the Premack Principle that we will be discussing in later chapters). Breaking into small groups at the beginning of class is fun and will help you process the information you are learning. You will use some of the time spent in groups to provide feedback on the sections of the book you are filling in.

Notice that we italicized the words Premack Principle above. We will often italicize a new word or a key word to draw your attention to it. The word may or may not be accompanied with a definition. However there should be sufficient context (or examples) for the students to understand what the term means or relates to.

Students will at this time mark each other's work depending on completion and content (using a grading system that we will introduce later in the semester) to provide feedback on their homework (behaviors). We will discuss different behavioral based grading systems in the applied section on school/classrooms. This grading system will also serve as one of our first examples of how to measure behavior.

When you read the book you will be asked to give examples or fill in the blanks. Don't wait until you are done reading the section to go back and give the examples. We want you to stop and think about what you read and give the examples then. Sure it will take a little longer to get though the section, but you will get much more benefit if you take the time to give the example right when it is asked of you. If you learn the material now when you are reading it, it should save you time when we are studying to prepare for tests.

Also, when you generate your examples try not to use the ones we give you in the book or ones that are similar to the ones used in the book. Experts on memory have found that you will learn much more when you generate your own examples. This is aptly referred to as the generation effect.

When we write, we will often expose you to terminology and concepts that we will cover later on. We know from psychology that mere exposure to words and concepts prepares you to learn them when the time arises. In literature this technique is often referred to as foreshadowing. We will try to make it clear when we foreshadow terms and concepts. Usually we are foreshadowing when we introduce a term, but spend little time on defining it.

This book is based on behavioral principles and behavioral terminology. Much like other text books you have for your classes, we will introduce new terms as we go. However, unlike most textbooks, we expect that you will learn and use the terms and terminology throughout this class and outside of class. You will see later on that there is a specific language for behavior and you will be expected to learn and use the behavioral language you are learning. For now though, we will begin on the process of building your behavioral vocabulary by introducing to you some important terms that you will soon use quite often when you talk and think about behaviors and behavior modification.