{"id":{"repo_id":"drake","oai_identifier":"oai:escholarshare.drake.edu:2092/841"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/drake/oai:escholarshare.drake.edu:2092/841","repository":{"repo_id":"drake","name":"Drake University","base_url":"https://escholarshare.drake.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Frequency of Reinforcement as a Determinant of Timeout Effectiveness","abstract":"The problem: Reinforcement is by definition, an integral part of the punishment procedure termed timeout from positive reinforcement. The influence that different reinforcement requencies have on the effectiveness of a one minute timeout procedure was investigated. Procedure: Four profoundly retarded adolescent males served as subjects in a classroom setting. Following baseline a sixty second timeout procedure involving sitting in a corner with a quietroom as a backup was administered contingent on each occurrence of specified disruptive behaviors. Reinforcement frequency for alternative behavior was then systematically varied using zero, ten, thirty, and sixty reinforcers per hour in a counter-balanced order across subjects. Findings: For three of the four subjects a functional relationship between reinforcement frequency and timeout effectiveness (measured in amount of suppression of disruptive behavior) was demonstrated. Conclusions: Reinforcement of alternative behavior is a major determinant of the effectiveness of a timeout procedure at suppressing undesirable behavior. High reinforcement frequencies may be used to overcome recovery during punishment phenomena without increasing the intensity of the punishing stimulus. Recommendations: In order to achieve maximal suppression of target behaviors and avoid recovery during punishment, deceleration procedures should be accompaiend by a substantial frequency of reinforcement for alternative behavior.","abstract_html":"The problem: Reinforcement is by definition, an integral part of the punishment procedure termed timeout from positive reinforcement. The influence that different reinforcement requencies have on the effectiveness of a one minute timeout procedure was investigated. Procedure: Four profoundly retarded adolescent males served as subjects in a classroom setting. Following baseline a sixty second timeout procedure involving sitting in a corner with a quietroom as a backup was administered contingent on each occurrence of specified disruptive behaviors. Reinforcement frequency for alternative behavior was then systematically varied using zero, ten, thirty, and sixty reinforcers per hour in a counter-balanced order across subjects. Findings: For three of the four subjects a functional relationship between reinforcement frequency and timeout effectiveness (measured in amount of suppression of disruptive behavior) was demonstrated. Conclusions: Reinforcement of alternative behavior is a major determinant of the effectiveness of a timeout procedure at suppressing undesirable behavior. High reinforcement frequencies may be used to overcome recovery during punishment phenomena without increasing the intensity of the punishing stimulus. Recommendations: In order to achieve maximal suppression of target behaviors and avoid recovery during punishment, deceleration procedures should be accompaiend by a substantial frequency of reinforcement for alternative behavior.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Tallon, Robert James"],"institution":"Drake University","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1976,"date_issued":"1976-12","date_published":"1976-12","updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:19:15Z","subjects":["Timeout method--Analysis","Reinforcement (Psychology)","Runishment (Psychology)","People with mental disabilities--Behavior--Analysis"],"languages":["en_US"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["1976 .T146"],"render_values":[{"text":"1976 .T146","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2092/841","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Tallon, Robert James"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2008-11-25T19:08:20Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2008-11-25T19:08:20Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["1976-12"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Drake University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Timeout method--Analysis","Reinforcement (Psychology)","Runishment (Psychology)","People with mental disabilities--Behavior--Analysis"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en_US"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["1976 .T146"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2092/841"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["37 leaves. Advisor: Mary Ann Powers"]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The problem: Reinforcement is by definition, an integral part of the punishment procedure termed timeout from positive reinforcement. The influence that different reinforcement requencies have on the effectiveness of a one minute timeout procedure was investigated. Procedure: Four profoundly retarded adolescent males served as subjects in a classroom setting. Following baseline a sixty second timeout procedure involving sitting in a corner with a quietroom as a backup was administered contingent on each occurrence of specified disruptive behaviors. Reinforcement frequency for alternative behavior was then systematically varied using zero, ten, thirty, and sixty reinforcers per hour in a counter-balanced order across subjects. Findings: For three of the four subjects a functional relationship between reinforcement frequency and timeout effectiveness (measured in amount of suppression of disruptive behavior) was demonstrated. Conclusions: Reinforcement of alternative behavior is a major determinant of the effectiveness of a timeout procedure at suppressing undesirable behavior. High reinforcement frequencies may be used to overcome recovery during punishment phenomena without increasing the intensity of the punishing stimulus. Recommendations: In order to achieve maximal suppression of target behaviors and avoid recovery during punishment, deceleration procedures should be accompaiend by a substantial frequency of reinforcement for alternative behavior."]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Frequency of Reinforcement as a Determinant of Timeout Effectiveness"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Tallon, Robert James"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2008-11-25T19:08:20Z"],"dc:date.available":["2008-11-25T19:08:20Z"],"dc:date.issued":["1976-12"],"dc:description":["37 leaves. Advisor: Mary Ann Powers"],"dc:description.abstract":["The problem: Reinforcement is by definition, an integral part of the punishment procedure termed timeout from positive reinforcement. The influence that different reinforcement requencies have on the effectiveness of a one minute timeout procedure was investigated. Procedure: Four profoundly retarded adolescent males served as subjects in a classroom setting. Following baseline a sixty second timeout procedure involving sitting in a corner with a quietroom as a backup was administered contingent on each occurrence of specified disruptive behaviors. Reinforcement frequency for alternative behavior was then systematically varied using zero, ten, thirty, and sixty reinforcers per hour in a counter-balanced order across subjects. Findings: For three of the four subjects a functional relationship between reinforcement frequency and timeout effectiveness (measured in amount of suppression of disruptive behavior) was demonstrated. Conclusions: Reinforcement of alternative behavior is a major determinant of the effectiveness of a timeout procedure at suppressing undesirable behavior. High reinforcement frequencies may be used to overcome recovery during punishment phenomena without increasing the intensity of the punishing stimulus. Recommendations: In order to achieve maximal suppression of target behaviors and avoid recovery during punishment, deceleration procedures should be accompaiend by a substantial frequency of reinforcement for alternative behavior."],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.other":["1976 .T146"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/2092/841"],"dc:language.iso":["en_US"],"dc:publisher":["Drake University"],"dc:subject":["Timeout method--Analysis","Reinforcement (Psychology)","Runishment (Psychology)","People with mental disabilities--Behavior--Analysis"],"dc:title":["Frequency of Reinforcement as a Determinant of Timeout Effectiveness"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T19:19:15Z"}