Date of Award

Summer 8-2015

Degree Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

Committee Chair

Joe Olmi

Committee Chair Department

Psychology

Committee Member 2

Dan Tingstrom

Committee Member 2 Department

Psychology

Committee Member 3

Keith Radley

Committee Member 3 Department

Psychology

Abstract

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is an example of an interdependent group contingency that can be used in classrooms to manage behavior. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a positive variation of the GBG in which teachers attend to rule-following behavior, as opposed to the original version of the game in which teachers attend to rule-breaking behavior. In previous studies, researchers have demonstrated the effectiveness of the GBG in decreasing problematic behavior and/or increasing productive or desired behavior in classroom settings and in hospital settings and spanning preschool-aged, elementary toddlers to high school-aged adolescents. An A/B/A/B withdrawal design was used across three classrooms to evaluate the effectiveness of the positive variation of the GBG. Reductions in disruptive behavior occurred in all three classrooms during intervention phases; increases in appropriately engaged behavior increased during intervention phases in all three classrooms as well. This study demonstrated that a positive variation of the GBG could be used effectively within a general education high school setting.

Doctoral dissertation: http://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/364/

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