University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Positive And Negative Verbal Reinforcement In The Conditioning Of The Verbal Behavior Of Adolescent Underachieving Delinquents With Dependent, Neutral, And Aggressive Stimuli

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Positive And Negative Verbal Reinforcement In The Conditioning Of The Verbal Behavior Of Adolescent Underachieving Delinquents With Dependent, Neutral, And Aggressive Stimuli

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Content This dissertation has been 65-8917
microfilmed exactly as received
MALLORY, Charlie Eugene, 1926-
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE VERBAL REINFORCE
MENT IN THE CONDITIONING OF THE VERBAL BE
HAVIOR OF ADOLESCENT UNDERACHIEVING DE
LINQUENTS WITH DEPENDENT, NEUTRAL, AND
AGGRESSIVE STIMULI.
University of Southern California, Ph. D ., 1965
Education, psychology
University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE VERBAL REINFORCEMENT IN THE
CONDITIONING OF THE VERBAL BEHAVIOR
OF ADOLESCENT UNDERACHIEVING DELINQUENTS
WITH DEPENDENT, NEUTRAL, AND AGGRESSIVE STIMULI
by
Charlie Eugene Mallory
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Educational Psychology)
January 1965
UNIVERSITY O F S O U T H E R N C A LIFO RNIA
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY PARK
LO S ANGELES, C A LIFOR N IA 9 0 0 0 7
This dissertation, written by
........ .Cb^riie.^ugfiae.-Mall.O.ry;..........
under the direction of his Dissertation Com
mittee, and approved by all its members, has
been presented to and accepted by the Graduate
School, in partial fulfillment of requirements
for the degree of
D O C T O R OF P H IL O S O P H Y
Dean
..
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE
C . H v I U l I u , H ’ JU .CV-
To Alva
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A number of persons have rendered assistance which
has made this dissertation possible. Special gratitude goes
to the Dissertation Committee. Newton S. Metfessel, Ph.D.,
Chairman, assisted in making arrangements for subjects as
well as rendering guidance and direction. His hours of
labor are appreciated. The interest and advice of all the
members of the committee were invaluable.
The adolescents who served as control subjects were
drawn from William S. Hart High School located in Newhall,
California. George W. Harris, Principal, and A1 Grass,
Vice Principal, and the members of the counseling staff and
faculty were most gracious and helpful. Mr. David Baker as
sisted with-arrangements and Mrs. Jan Nobile, school secre
tary, scheduled the students. The acceptance of the project
by these people was essential.
The subjects for the delinquent group were drawn
from the California Youth Authority, Southern Reception
Center, Norwalk, California. Mr. Orrin Bell, director of
this institution, counselors, school personnel, social
iv
workers, psychologists, and others assisted in collecting
the needed information. Their interest and cooperation are
appreciated.
It is quite surprising to note the number of persons
who become involved in a project of this nature. The inter
est and help which people are willing to invest is very
gratifying. To all of them goes my deepest appreciation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................. V
LIST OF TABLES........................................ xii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS...................... XV
CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION .
The Problem
Semantic Dementia
Intelligence Testing
Reading Disability
Sex Differences
Sibling Position
Underachievement
Bilingualism
Cultural Deprivation
School Adjustment
Definitions
Verbal Behavior
Delinquent
Underachievement
Dependency
Aggression
Positive and Negative Verbal Reinforcement
v
vi
Chapter
II.
Need for the Study
Social Need
Treatment Need
Research Need
Research Technique
Theoretical Model
Social Learning Theory
Dollard and Miller's Theory
Reduction of unconscious motivation
Advancement beyond trial-and-error
behavior
Mediation of generalization and effec
ting discrimination
Anticipatory goal response
Enabling responses to occur
Reward
Learned drives •
Bandura and Walters' Theory
Theoretical Model for this Investigation
Hypotheses
Delinquent Subjects versus Control Subjects
(Hypothesis I)
Dependency Stimuli (Hypothesis II)
Aggressive Stimuli (Hypothesis III)
Positive Reinforcement (Hypothesis IV)
Negative Reinforcement (Hypothesis V)
Unconscious Effects of Reinforcement
(Hypothesis VI)
Life History Disruption (Hypothesis VII)
SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE ....................
Juvenile Delinquency
Research Difficulties
General Description of Delinquents
Studies Related to Social Learning Theory
Page
49
vii
Chapter
Ill-
Verbal Conditioning
Verbal Conditioning with Delinquents
Negative and Positive Reinforcement
Type of Stimuli: Aggressive and
Dependent
Extinction
Reinforcement Schedule
Awareness of Conditioning
Experimenter Effect
Application of the Literature Survey to
the Experimental Hypotheses
Delinquent Versus Control Subjects
(Hypothesis I)
Dependency Stimuli (Hypothesis II)
Aggressive Stimuli (Hypothesis III)
Positive Reinforcement (Hypothesis IV)
Negative Reinforcement (Hypothesis V)
Unconscious Effects of Reinforcement
(Hypothesis VI)
Life History Disruption (Hypothesis VII)
Additional Variables to be Considered
Operant level
Experimenter effect
Reinforcement schedule
Interaction effects
Needed controls
Conclusions
DESIGN OF THE STUDY .... ...............
Subjects
Delinquent Underachievers
Source of subjects
The problem of institutionalization
Homogeneous selection
Control variables
Page
78
viii
Chapter
Elimination variables
Life history information
Non-Delinquent Achievers (Control)
Methodology
Stimuli
Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Dependent Variable
Operant level
Conditioning trials
Extinction trials
Scoring
Awareness
Examiner Description and Self-Description
Procedure
Pre-Test
Experimental Session
Biographical information
Self-description
Verbal conditioning
Awareness
Examiner description
Termination
Calendar
Statistical Analysis
IV. RESULTS ...................................
Page
101
Control Variables
ix
Chapter
Sex
Nationality
Chronological Age
Socio-Economic Level
Father's occupation
Father 1s education
Working mothers
Mother's education
Summary of socio-economic variables
Intelligence
Full scale score
Non-verbal scale score
Verbal scale scores
Summary of intelligence scores
Tested Achievement
Experimental Variables
Operant Level
Verbal Conditioning
Groups
Stimuli
Reinforcement
Neutral stimuli
Dependent stimuli
Aggressive stimuli
Dependent versus neutral stimuli
Aggressive versus neutral stimuli
Aggressive versus dependent stimuli
Positive versus negative reinforcement
Summary of verbal conditioning results
Extinction
Awareness
Examiner and Self-Description’
Family and Educational Backgrounds
Experimental Notations
Page
X
Chapter
V.
Experimental Hypotheses
Hypothesis I
Hypothesis II
Hypothesis III
Hypothesis IV
Hypothesis V
Hypothesis VI
Hypothesis VII
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
Problem
Need for the Study
Research Technique
Theoretical Model
Literature Survey
Design of the Study
Subjects
Methodology
Results
Delinquent versus control subjects
(Hypothesis I)
Dependency stimuli (Hypothesis II)
Aggressive stimuli (Hypothesis III)
Positive reinforcement (Hypothesis IV)
Negative reinforcement (Hypothesis V)
Unconscious effects of reinforcement
(Hypothesis VI)
Life history disruption (Hypothesis VII)
Conclusions
The Problem
Research Technique
Control Variables
Experimenter Variable
Awareness of Conditioning (Hypothesis VII)
Theoretical Model
Page
154
Chapter
xi
Page
Delinquent versus control subjects
(Hypothesis I)
Dependency stimuli (Hypothesis II)
Aggressive stimuli (Hypothesis III)
Positive and negative reinforcement
(Hypotheses IV and V)
Unconscious effects of reinforcement
(Hypothesis VI)
Life history disruption (Hypothesis VII)
Implications for Treatment and Education
Recommendations
REFERENCES.............................................. 198
APPENDIXES
Appendix I: Pre-Test Data...................... 215
Appendix II: Biographical Inventory ........... 218
Appendix III: Procedure for Rating Verbs as
Aggressive, Neutral, or
Dependent........................ 221
Appendix IV: Stimulus Verbs Selected by the
J u d g e s.......................... 225
Appendix V:' Assignment of Stimuli to Cards
and Position on the Card .... 229
Appendix VI: Awareness Inventory ................. 233
Appendix VII: Interpersonal Check List ...... 235
Appendix VIII: Raw D a t a .......................... 239
Appendix IX: Raw Data for the Interpersonal
Check L i s t ...................... 246
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Means and Standard Deviations for
Chronological Age of Subjects................. 103
2. Analysis of Variance for Chronological
Age of Subjects........... 103
3. Analysis of Variance for the Socio-Economic
Rating by Father's Occupation ................. 105
4. Means and Standard Deviations for the
Socio-Economic Rating by Father's Occupation 105
5. Chi-Square Analysis of Father's Education . . . 107
6. Chi-Square Analysis for Working Mothers . . . . 107
7. Chi-Square Analysis of Mother's Education . . . 108
8. Mean Full Scale Scores and Standard Devia
tions on the California Test of Mental
Maturity........................................ 110
9. Analysis of Variance for the Full Scale
Scores on the California Test of Mental
Maturity........................................ 110
10. Mean Non-Verbal Scale Scores and Standard
Deviations on the California Test of
Mental Maturity ................................. 112
11. Analysis of Variance of the Non-Verbal
Scores on the California Test of Mental
Maturity........................................ 112
xii
xiii
Table - Page
12. Mean Verbal Scale Scores and Standard
Deviations on the California Test of
Mental Maturity............................... 114
13. Analysis of Variance of the Verbal Scale
Scores on the California Test of Mental
Maturity.............................. 114
14. Summary of Intelligence Test Data by Means
for the Two Groups of Subjects . ......... 115
15. Mean Differences and Standard Deviations
between Achievement and Intelligence
Scores by Grade Equivalences ............... 117
16. Analysis of Variance for the Underachieve
ment Scores of Both G r o u p s .................. 117
17. Analysis of Variance for the Total Responses
Elicited in the Operant Period ............. 119
18. Analysis of Variance for the Operant Level
Broken Down into Consecutive Series ......... 122
19. Mean Number of Verbs Emitted by Subjects
and the Standard Deviations for the Three
Sections of the Operant Phase............... 122
20. Analysis of Variance for the Verbal Condi
tioning Scores of Both Groups............... 125
21. Mean Conditioning Scores and Standard Devi
ations for Each Group by Reinforcement
and Stimuli................................... 125
22. Analysis of Variance for the Extinction Scores 134
23. Means and Standard Deviations for Extinction
Sc o r e s ............. 134
24. Correlation Coefficients between Conditioning
Scores and Interpersonal Check List Scores . 141
xiv
Table Page
25. Schools Attended .............................. 143
26. Grades Skipped................................. 143
27. Grades Repeated................................ 144
28. Family Constellation......................... 144
29. Number of Siblings............................ 144
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure Page
1. Diagram presenting the number of responses
given by each group to the three types of
stimuli during the three operant series . . . 123
2. Diagram presents the results of the verbal
conditioning using average scores for each
group by the type of stimuli............. . 126
3. Diagram presents the results of the extinc
tion phase of the experiment using the
average number of responses for each group
by stimuli.................................. 135
4. This diagram illustrates the relationships
on the Leary Interpersonal Check List.
Summary points are located for the descrip
tions completed by both g r o u p s ............ 140
xv
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The Problem
The problem was to determine whether the experimen
tal manipulation of the verbal behavior of delinquent ado
lescents could provide a psychological approach to the
laboratory study of delinquency, and further understanding
of this phenomenon.
Previous studies have not been concerned with verbal
behavior precisely. However, a number of studies from vari
ous areas of research have tended to confirm that verbal de
ficiency is a commonly found problem among delinquent groups
of subjects. Reviews pointing out the relevance of a number
of these research areas follow.
Semantic Dementia
Hervey Cleckley (1941) proposed the term "semantic
dementia" to replace the then frequently used term "psycho
path." Cleckley maintained that this was a disorder charac
terized by a split between word and action. However, the
2
concept did not catch hold.
The label "semantic dementia" had merit, yet it
stressed one symptom of the disorder, ignoring other
essential elements: aggressiveness and inability to
identify with others. Because most social scientists
could not agree that "semantic dementia" was the fund
amental symptom (and because "psychopathy" had been
used for many years), Cleckley's new concept never
gained wide popularity. (McCord and McCord, 1964,
p. 32)
Intelligence Testing
About the same time that Cleckley's concept was be
ing proposed and subsequently rejected, a change in attitude
toward the results of intelligence testing of delinquent
groups was taking place. Neumeyer summarizes this change as
follows:
As intelligence tests have been improved and the re
sults of studies have been more critically analyzed,
theories regarding the impact of mental deficiency on
delinquent behavior have declined in importance.
(Neumeyer, 1961, p. 86)
Block and Flynn (1956, pp. 60-61) and the Gluecks
(1959) have also noted this decline. Along with this sub
sidence has come another interesting innovation. Wechsler
(1944) developed his test which divided the intelligence
test score into verbal and performance sections. In his use
of this test as a clinical diagnostic tool he stated this:
"The most outstanding single feature of the adolescent psy
chopath's test patterns is his systematic high performance
score as compared with his verbal score" (Wechsler, 1944,
p. 155).
Wechsler has been criticized by Foster (1959) for
not defining his term "adolescent psychopath" and for not
stating the population he used in his work. Nevertheless,
this is a study which has identified verbal behavior as an
aspect of delinquency worth further study.
Glueck and Glueck (1950) matched five hundred delin
quent boys on four variables: age, intelligence, nation
ality, and residence. Even though the groups were matched
on intelligence, within a ten-point range, these authors
found that the verbal scores of the controls were signifi
cantly above those of the delinquents. There was no differ
ence between the groups on the performance scales. They
concluded:
It appears, therefore, that the delinquents are on
the whole, somewhat superior in those intellectual
tasks in which the approach to meaning is by direct
physical relationships . . . , with a minimum depend-
ancy on a structure of intermediary symbols; while
the generalizing and abstract thinking of the non
delinquents is through conventionally accepted inter
mediate means (symbols). (Glueck and Glueck, 1950,
p. 207)
Like the Wechsler study, this research has been
criticized. Gold (1963) points out weaknesses such as a
lack of theory, the fact that the delinquents were institu
tionalized, and the calculation of many statistical tests
which may lead to spurious results. However, since we are
only interested in the empirical possibility, rather than a
causal relationship, we can accept the similarity of
Glueck’s work to that of Wechsler as identifying a possible
variable for specific consideration.
Gold (1963) pointed out also that other studies
have replicated Glueck's findings and consequently there is
some consistent empirical relationship. Foster (1959) and
Blank (1958) have shown similar results for boys. Diller
(1952) , Bernstein and Corsini (1953) , and Vane and Eisen
(1954) have given similar support with females.
Reading Disability
Graham and Kamano (1958), building upon the research
related to the intelligence test scores of delinquent sub
jects, noted further that unsuccessful readers revealed a
Wechsler Bellevue pattern similar to that attributed to
youths suffering from character disorders. They compared
delinquent unsuccessful readers with delinquent successful
readers and found that there was a difference in their pro
files on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. They con
clude by asking if there is a relationship between the dy
namic underlying failure in reading and the dynamic promotion
of the development of character disorders. A general dis
cussion of reading disability has been written by French
(1953) .
Sex Differences
One can bring in a wide range of empirical data
which contribute to the support of the contention that ver
bal disability is a variable worth noting in the behavior of
delinquent subjects. The fact that boys outnumber girls in
delinquent populations (Block and Flynn, 1956, p. 37) might
be related to the finding that there are sex differences in
favor of girls in the development of verbal functions.
Female superiority in verbal linguistic functions
has been noted from infancy to adulthood. This dif
ference is found in almost every aspect of language
development that has been studied, and has been re
ported with remarkable consistency by different inves
tigations. (Anastasi, 1958, pp. 472-473)
Studies of both gifted and feebleminded children
have shown on the average that girls begin to talk earlier
than boys and have a larger preschool vocabulary. Girls
also make more rapid progress in learning to read. Reading
disabilities are greater in boys than girls in almost the
same proportion as is delinquent behavior. Stuttering and
stammering and other speech disorders are also more frequent
among boys (Anastasi, 1958, p. 433).
6
V?
Sibling Position
Even the position within the family may have some
relationship to what is being discussed. This has been
pointed out by Nye (1958, p. 57) and Yarrow and Yarrow
(1955). Nye relates that oldest and only children show less
delinquent behavior than those in other positions. Yarrow
and Yarrow, building upon the work of Nisbet (1953) and
Brodbeck and Irwin (1946) point out that language develop
ment is related to family position and environment. Nisbet
suggests that the relationship is due to limited contact be
tween mother and child in large families, while Brodbeck and
Irwin write about the retarding effects of institutionaliza
tion.
Underachievement
Still another area which suggests that verbal abil
ity may be a primary variable deserving intensive study is
that of underachievement. Again, it is found that boys
outnumber girls. Shaw and McGuen (1960) found in male
underachievers that the predisposition to underachieve is
present when the underachiever enters school . They also
found evidence indicating underachievement to be chronic in
nature. Many of the studies relating personality variables
to underachievement sound like descriptions of juvenile
delinquent populations (Gowan, 1955, 1957; Havighurst and
•DeHaan, 1961; Drasgow, 1957). This certainly enhances
Harrison Gough's contention that underachievement is the
gifted child's form of delinquency (Gough, 1949). Goldberg
(1948) suggests that underachievement may be related to the
stress in education upon social competence which is con
sidered as acceptance and conformity.
Bilingualism
Another indirect support for taking verbal ability
as a basic variable could be the research done with bilin
gual subjects. Verbal intelligence appears to be lower for
bilinguals on tests (Altus, 1953; Kittell, 1959). Non
verbal intelligence seems unaffected by bilingualism
(Arsenia, 1947; Darcey, 1952). Garrow (1957) matched bilin
gual third-grade children with monolingual children on age,
grade, socio-economic status, and intelligence. She found
them to be inferior with regard to language development. it
can be pointed out that delinquents are often found among
bilingual minority groups.
Cultural Deprivation
Another suggestive line of studies has been reported
by Riessman (1962). He points out that the "culturally
deprived" child is also known for his non-verbal approach to
problems. Riessman quotes Miller and Swanson (1960) in a
manner which sounds very much like the summary by Glueck and
Glueck of their findings: "The deprived individual appears
to learn in what Miller and Swanson describe as a much more
physical or motoric fashion" (Riessman, 1962, p. 29). This
author continues: "Talk, reading, and intellectualism in
general are viewed as unmasculine--the opposite of action"
(Riessman, 1962, p. 30). It is well known that the delin
quent is often a culturally deprived person. Thus, these
suggestions could apply to them.
But Riessman makes a much more telling argument in
his book. He writes that Allison Davis (1948) attempted to
reconstruct the intelligence tests to remove the disadvan
tage of the delinquent or culturally deprived: "Surpris
ingly enough, however, even though Davis' changes produced
a test that was more attuned to them, disadvantaged young
sters did not improve markedly" (Riessman, 1962, p. 52).
Riessman suggests that it is "schpol-know-how" which
these subjects lack:
By this is meant the subtle expectations concerning
various procedures in the school about which the aver
age middle-class child usually learns, without realiz
ing it, from his parents and general environment.
(Riessman, 1962, p. 31)
9
One aspect of this is learning to value knowledge
for its own sake. Again Riessman states: "There is practi
cally no interest in knowledge for its own sake; quite the
contrary, a pragmatic anti-intellectualism prevails" (Riess
man, 1962, p. 12).
In other words, the deprived child is not bereft of
words. Eells and Havighurst (1951) have pointed out that
deprived children use a great many words with accuracy.
Dolores Durkin (1961) reported that over fifty-five per cent
of the children who learned to read before coming to school
were from the lower socio-economic homes. On their level,
in their situations, these children are verbal. However,
this facility seems to be limited by these restrictions.
Riessman concludes:
As we have seen, underprivileged children are capable
of utilizing language in a rich and free fashion,, have
well-developed, non-verbal ways of communicating, but
are sorely lacking in advanced linguistic form. The
problem is how to help them to attain this level of
language so that their creative potential can be real
ized. (Riessman, 1962, p. 80)
School Adjustment
In a more general way the delinquent's maladjustment
in the school setting and his tendency to drop out after a
long history of truancy (Beck, 1955) could be related to an
underlying verbal factor. Beck states: "Early detection of
10
social delinquents comes from among those who are truant and
those who are retarded in reading" (Beck, 1955, p. 205). A
thorough review of the relationship of the school and delin
quency has been written by Bernice Moore (1961). Glueck and
Glueck (1950) also found general school failure to be re
lated to delinquency.
Despite the original matching of the boys in age
and general intelligence and despite the similarity
of the two groups in the age at which they entered the
first grade, the delinquents were definitely more re
tarded educationally than were the non-delinquents.
(Glueck and Glueck, 1950, p. 153)
This would seem to be true to the degree that the
school reflects a verbally centered program, and thus pre
sents the child with demands for accomplishment in the area
of his weakest ability.
The above studies, drawn from diverse areas of re
search, provide enough indirect evidence to suggest that the
verbal behavior of delinquent adolescents may be worthy of
more concerted experimental study. The problem was to ob
tain adequate methodology for carrying out such research and
then to apply the procedure in a systematic experiment to
determine the possible contribution of such an approach.
Definitions
Terms which were essential to carrying out this in
vestigation were operationally defined- For this reason the
section of Chapter IV describing the experimental design
best clarifies these terms. Words used in theoretical and
general discussions were defined as commonly agreed upon.
Where deviations were encountered they were noted and dis
cussed. Literary definitions were used when confusion would
not result. A number of terms need to be defined initially
for purposes of clarification:
Verbal Behavior
Verbal behavior was operationally defined by the
techniques employed in the use of verbal conditioning. Gen
erally, this term refers to receptive and expressive verbal
processes used by human beings.
Delinquent
Operationally this term referred to an adolescent
person who has committed legal offenses leading to incarcer
ation within a public institution. Theoretical terms such
as "anti-social personality" or "aggressive personality"
were also used. The term was used in its> common lay meaning
where appropriate.
Underachievement
Operationally this term was defined as a discrepancy
between tested intelligence and tested academic achievement.
A tested achievement score more than six months below that
expected on the basis of the intelligence test was referred
to as underachievement. In general the term represents
achievement less than that of which a person is capable.
Dependency
Dependency within the context of the investigation
was operationally defined according to the ratings of stim
ulus verbs by^a panel of experienced professional psycholo
gists. Theoretically the term "dependency motive" was used
to refer to the acquired inclination to ask for help from
another person based upon adequate satisfaction of affec-
tional needs as an infant. This was discussed thoroughly in
the section presenting the theoretical basis for the study.
Aggression
The operational definition of aggression was derived
according to the ratings of the same panel of judges. Theo
retically, aggression was defined as a reaction to frustra
tion arising from a lack of affectional nurturance.
13
Positive and Negative Verbal Reinforcement
Both types of reinforcement were operationally de
fined as the emission of words by the examiner which are as
sumed to have negative or positive value by the general
population in their use of the terms in the English language.
Reinforcement was also discussed in the broader empirical
and theoretical context of its psychological meaning.
Need for the Study
There are at least three reasons for a study of the
verbal behavior of delinquent adolescents. One is related
to the growing social problem created by delinquent youth.
The second is inadequate knowledge of treatment procedures
for delinquent subjects. The third being the possible con
tribution such a study might make to the scientific analysis
of juvenile delinquency.
Social Need
Statistics are very hard to gather regarding the
incidence of juvenile delinquency. Wolfgang, Savitz, and
Johnston (1962), in their book of readings on crime and de
linquency, devote an entire section to the difficulties in
gathering such statistics (Wolfgang, Savitz, and Johnston,
1962, pp. 35-58). This problem is partially caused by the
14
inability to define the term "juvenile delinquency" (Neu-
irieyer, 1961, pp. 18-27). Nevertheless, there is much agree
ment by authors dealing with this problem that it is a sig
nificant social concern. Martin Neumeyer summarizes the
state of affairs as follows:
Juvenile delinquency and adult crime are old problems
which have increased in extent and intensity during
recent years. Law violation by both adults and juve
niles has become a national concern. . . . Maladjust
ments and disorders are a part of a changing society;
but juveniles, in particular, seem to be affected by
them in an unusual way. The upheaval caused by World .
War II and the subsequent international disturbances,
coupled with the dynamics of modern society, have pro
duced a noticeable increase in juvenile delinquency
and adult crime throughout the world. (Neumeyer, 1961,
p. 4) -
Treatment Need
Not only does juvenile delinquency create a social
problem but also the need to develop additional methods of
re-education and treatment. Glueck and Glueck wrote:
Yet from the point of view of preventing and "curing"
the maladaptions of youth, the crucial requisite is
still lacking: sufficiently exact knowledge of the
causes of youth's maladjustments to the stresses,
strains, and prohibitions of modern civilizations.
(Glueck and Glueck, 1950, p. 3)
These same authors argue that the high rate of re
cidivism testifies to our lack of knowledge of adequate
treatment procedures.
15
This fact [recidivism] carries with it a very sim
ple yet very profound implication, namely, that the
tendency toward delinquency and criminalism is deeply
rooted. This is the chief reason why the present meth
ods of punishment, correctidn, and reformation are
largely ineffectual. (Glueck and Glueck, 1950, p. 3)
Research Need
Certainly the lack of information about delinquency
suggests the need for research. However, delinquency re
search has fallen into several isolated divisions.
Somewhere along the line, unfortunate divisions
of labor were established. Psychoanalysis, dominating
psychological thought in delinquency, was slow in mak
ing contact with the social environment beyond the
nuclear family and so alienated the sociologists.
(Gold, 1963, p. 358)
This hapless division has led to a compartmentaliza-;
tion of results which is not felt to be acceptable. Neither
is an eclectic approach which tends to leave many loose
ends. "A truly integrative approach is difficult to achieve"
(Neumeyer, 1961, p. 96) .
This flood of literature [on delinquency] is es
pecially hard to ride out because there is no discern
ible mainstream. Rather, the flow spreads into sepa
rate traditions, runs towards multiple purposes, and
reaches varying depths of sophistication: psychologi
cal thinking, mostly of a psychoanalytic orientation,
does not blend easily with sociological; makers of
theory move in different channels from gatherers of
data; scientists and practitioners are for the most
part isolated from one another. (Gold, 1963, p. 358)
16
The psychoanalytic and the sociological views are
the two major approaches. Both have been criticized. The
psychiatric approach has been discussed by Michael Hakeem:
The psychiatric approach must be recognized as being
mainly a value-laden position as to how delinquents
should be viewed and dealt with. It cannot be looked
upon as representing a scientifically founded set of
understandings and skills specifically applicable to .
the treatment of delinquents. (Hakeem, 1958, p. 109)
Bandura and Walters have taken a similar position:
"Categorization of behavior patterns as normal or abnormal
involves a value judgment. . . ." (Bandura and Walters,
1963, p. 35). They continue as follows:
Consequently, since questions of value are independent
of questions of causality, it is a mistaken belief to
hold that research cannot profitably commence before j
"disorders" have been categorized. (Bandura and
Walters, 1963, p. 36)
On the other hand, the sociological approach has
been criticized because it does not, for instance, explain
why only a minority of children from deteriorated city areas
have police records (Kobrin, 1951). Nor can this approach
account for the occurrence of delinquency among children who
live in privileged neighborhoods (Bandura and Walters, 1959).
From a strictly sociological viewpoint it is also difficult
to explain how only one child out of a family becomes delin
quent .
17
In concluding his reaction to the division of delin
quency research Gold wrote:
. . . delinquency treatment programs rarely collect
data systematically nowadays. And because psychoana
lytic theory charges the family with causing delin
quency, and sociological theory charges the nature of
the social system, practitioners feel theorists are
pointing up unconquerable mountains, so action pro
grams wander without theoretical direction. (Gold,
1963, p. 358)
A very thorough discussion of the.issues regarding
the development of a scientific analysis of delinquency has
been written by Charles Browning (1961). Browning concurs
with Neumeyer and Gold that the accumulated research on
!
! . i
!
juvenile delinquency is inadequate. He makes a constructive;
i
i
suggestion which is relevant to the present discussion: j
1 1 that theories be tested first which are designed to test j
related empirical uniformities and segregated hypotheses in j
relatively limited areas. . . ." (Browning, 1961, p. 67).
Support for this type of attack upon the problem comes from
others: "We do not Relieve that the present stage of empir-i
ical knowledge about the phenomena of delinquency warrants ;
any attempt at an over all systematic synthesis" (Moles, et :
al., 1959, p. 171).
i _
Browning realizes that previously there has been a
strong reluctance to study limited homogeneous categories of
18
delinquents. It is his guess that this reticence stems from
the fact that this circumscribed approach would not give an
all embracing, unitary, general theory, as previous socio
logical and psychoanalytic theories attempted to produce.
Nevertheless, it would appear that Browning's suggestion of
fers a solution to the undesirable divisions previously men
tioned.
Two possibilities come to mind from Browning's dis
cussion. First, one could limit a study to specified vari
ables which could be well defined and avoid much of the
ambiguity which has been so frustrating in the study of de
linquency. Second, one could give up the search for cause
and seek to manipulate specific selected variables with the
hope of discovering uniform methods of bringing about sys
tematic .changes in these variables. A study which has per
haps already used this latter rationale is that of Bandura
and Walters. They explained:
Delinquency is essentially a socio-legal concept. It
can refer to a variety of acts, ranging from running
away from home or joy-riding in a public vehicle to
violent physical assault or the deliberate destruction
of property, any of which may bring a young person
into contact with the law. It is thus not a useful
concept for the psychologist who wishes to demonstrate
relationships between attributes of behavior. In order
to achieve this aim the psychologist must select a set
of variables, each referring to classes of responses
or response tendencies that are sufficiently homogeneous
19
to permit quantification, preferably on some uni
dimensional scale. (Bandura and Walters, 1959, pp.
vii-viii)
These particular authors chose aggression as a vari
able for study exclusively. "While aggression appeared to
hold some promise of being a useful variable of this kind,
delinquency certainly did not" (Bandura and Walters, 1959
p. viii). The choice of such a limited variable also
enabled them to bring into consideration theories of a lim
ited nature dealing with aggression which had not previously
been associated with the research on delinquency.
It was believed that a study circumscribed to the
problem of the verbal behavior of delinquent adolescents
would match the type of research Browning (1961) has sug
gested is needed to further the scientific analysis of juve
nile delinquency. This type of study was also felt to fit
well with the type of research Bandura and Walters have
attempted.
Research Technique
In order to experimentally study the verbal behavior
of juvenile delinquents, it was necessary to acquire a tech
nique which would make such research possible. Further, to
follow the approach proposed by Browning and by-pass the
question of causality, the experimental technique must allow
20
the manipulation of verbal behavior under limited controlled
'conditions. This allows little discussion of general causes
but it does allow the researcher to bring under experimental
control one variable which apparently has an empirical as
sociation with antisocial behavior.
Recently an experimental technique has emerged which
seems to fit the purposes of this investigation. This has
been generally labeled Verbal Conditioning. Reviews pre
senting techniques, methodological problems, and results are
available (Krasner, 1958; Salzinger, 1959). This technique
follows a Skinnerian paradigm of operant conditioning. The
dependent variables are the subject's verbal behavior; while
the independent variables are generalized conditioned rein
forcers which are used to enable the examiner to control the
subject's verbal behavior. This technique seemed to offer a
method for studying the verbal behavior of delinquents. It
also allowed a consideration of the variables of which ver
bal behavior might be a function. Many of the common vari
ables used in psychological studies of learning and person
ality. can be included with this approach.
Though operant conditioning is considered under the
category of learning in psychological studies, the task in
this experimental method is not introduced as a learning
21
problem. Rather, the subject is asked to emit verbal behav
ior. The examiner then reinforces preselected classes of
verbal behavior by reacting to these emitted verbalizations
with oral responses.
Theoretical Model
To be interpretable, the manipulation of the experi
mental variable must be done upon the basis of predictions
made from a theoretical model. No theory dealing exclu
sively with the verbal behavior of delinquent subjects was
available. This made it necessary to adopt a theory which
would allow testable predictions. Dollard and Miller's
(1950) Social Learning Theory was selected for this purpose.
Dollard and Miller's application of learning theory
to social problems is essentially a modification of psycho
analytic principles. In doing this translation, much con
sideration was given to the role of verbal behavior. This
made their theory useful for the immediate purpose. How
ever, the applications they made were basically to neurotic
problems. Implications for delinquency had to be made ex
plicit. Bandura and Walters' writing (1959; 1963) was found
to be a direct application of social learning theory to de
linquency. They were concerned with the problems of social
ization and aggression. The work of these authors
22
enlightened the adaptation of Dollard and Miller's theory to
delinquent subjects.
A discussion of social learning theory in general,
Dollard and Miller's theory, Bandura and Walters' theory,
and a summarized theoretical model for the present study
follows:
Social Learning Theory
A number of authors have been interested in applying
the reinforcement theory of Hull (1943) to social learning
problems (Dollard ej: , 1939; Miller and Dollard, 1941;
Whiting, 1941; Dollard and Miller, .1950; Mowrer, 1950; Sears
et _al., 1953; Whiting and Child, 1953; Bandura and Walters,
1959, 1963). This line of study is most often referred to
as Social Learning Theory.
Dollard and Miller's Theory
Emphasis was given to those aspects of normal per
sonality development which are involved in socialization and
language learning according to this theory.
Dollard and Miller begin the development of their
theory with the recognition of the helplessness of the human
organism at birth. They assume that "the child is urgently,
hopelessly, planlessly impelled, living by moments in
23
eternal pain and then suddenly finding itself bathed in end
less blis£' (Dollard and Miller, 1950, p. 130).
They even suggest that the condition of the infant
is similar to psychosis in the adult. Savage drives impel
the infant who needs endless amounts of support and atten
tion. The infant has not learned the use of language which
renders all pre-verbal experiences to the unconscious. They
are considered to be so because these authors equate the un
verbalized with the unconscious.
According to Dollard and Miller, learning to talk
develops out of the social conditions mediating the infant's
basic needs during this helpless phase of development. When
fed, the infant's "wonderful relaxation responses" can be
conditioned to the stimuli of the person who cares for the
child. In this manner the person ministering takes on rein
forcement properties; in other words, becomes a secondary
reinforcer.
In general there is a correlation between the ab
sence of people and the prolongation of suffering from
hunger, cold, pain, and other drives; the appearance
of a person is associated with a reinforcing reduction
in the drive. Therefore, the proper conditions are
present for the infant to learn to attach strong rein
forcement value to a variety of cues from the nearness
of the mother and other adults. (Dollard and Miller,
1950, pp. 91-92)
When a child's vocal responses meet with reinforce-
24
ment from the significant adult, he begins learning language.
This is a trial-and-error process which Mowrer (1960b,
p. 108) calls a variant of the "babble-luck" theory. This
process is also predicated upon a drive reduction mechanism.
According to these authors, it is this same process
which leads to socialization.
In the light of the fact that the required social
conditions exist in the family, it seems reasonable to
advance the hypothesis that the related human motives
of sociability, dependence, need to receive and show
affection, and desire for approval from others are
learned. (Dollard and Miller, 1950, p. 92)
In fact, these authors equate development of lan
guage with, development of socialization. They express it
this way when discussing infancy: "The most important ob
jective of training in this period is teaching the child to
speak and think, for only with the aid of language can he
learn to wait, hope, reason, and plan" (Dollard and Miller,
1950, p. 131) .
Again, they communicate this basic principle in the
following quotation:
The . . . years of childhood are required to at
tach the correct emotional responses and habits to
verbal cues. This all-important learning, without
which no individual seems human, occurs largely with
in the family in the course of "teaching the child to
talk." (Dollard and Miller, 1950, p. 311)
Dollard and Miller discuss many of the particular
25
functions of language in personality development and problem
solving. Some of these selected for presentation are:
(1) reduction of unconscious motivation, (2) advancement be
yond trial-and-error behavior, (3) mediation of generaliza
tion and effecting discrimination, (4) anticipatory goal re
sponse, (5) enabling responses to occur, (6) reward, and
(7) learned drives.
Reduction of unconscious motivation.— The develop
ment of language reduces the area of unconscious motivation
within the personality. It was previously pointed out that
the pre-verbal stage.of life is unconscious since the ex
periences are unlabeled. Even after infancy,, aspects of
life can remain poorly labeled and thereby continue to be
unconscious. The major technique by which material is made
unconscious is that of repression. Repression is "the inhi
bition of cue-producing responses which mediate thinking and
reasoning" {Dollard and Miller, 1950, p. 10). Guilt and
fear, for instance, can motivate repression and cause a gen
eral social or personal deficiency in labeling certain as
pects of life. Repression, or the avoiding of certain.
I
thoughts, is reinforced by anxiety reduction.
26
Advancement beyond trial-and-error behavior.— Devel
opment of language enables the human being to advance beyond ,
trial-and-error problem solving.
Our basic assumption is that language and other
cue-producing responses play a central role in the
higher mental processes. This should be contrasted
with the approach of some philosophers who seem to be
lieve that language is a mere means of communicating
thoughts which somehow "exist" independently of speech
rather than an essential pa,rt of most thinking and
reasoning. (Dollard and Miller, 1950, p. 100)
The response of the trial-and-error period must be
supplanted by cue-producing verbal responses. The instru
mental response has the effect of bringing about an immedi
ate change in the environment. However, for effective prob
lem solving the direct instrumental responses to the in
ternal and external cues must be inhibited to give the cue-
producing responses time to occur. The immediate active
response prevents the development of cue-producing responses
and leads to "concrete" or "short-sighted" behavior. "Rea
soning often involves trial-and-error in which safe, effort
less, cue-producing responses, usually verbal, substitute
for the more dangerous overt instrumental ones" (Dollard and
Miller, 1950, p. 110) .
Mediation of generalization and effecting discrimi
nation.— Verbal behavior can be helpful in socialization and
27
problem solving by mediating generalizations and effecting
discriminations. The child's broad generalizations and the
lack of discrimination make his learning inefficient.
Pre-verbal generalizations are rather primitive.
"In short, there should be more primary and less secondary
generalization in the unconscious" (Dollard and Miller, 1950,
p. 219). But with the development of language attaching the
same cue-producing responses to two distinctive stimuli
gives them a certain equivalence.
People can be taught to make a specific verbal re
sponse, saying the word "afraid," in situations that
arouse fear. Once this word is learned as a response
to the cue of fear, it will transfer to any new situ
ation that elicits the response producing this cue.
This kind of transfer, mediated by a response-produced
cue, is called secondary or learned generalization.
(Dollard and Miller, 1950, pp. 74-7 5)
The really subtle aspect to this is that language
contains within it the discriminations and generalizations
that have been found useful by generations of trial-and-
error behavior in a society. Consequently, within a society
variations involving value systems and language should find
different generalizations and discriminations necessary.
Also, language can bring about needed discrimina
tions. "Generalization is the rule rather than the excep
tion" (Miller, 1950, p. 167). But discrimination requires
more definitive learning. "One of the functions of cue-
28
producing responses is to aid in discrimination" (Dollard
and Miller, 1950, p. 224).
Special training is required to make the child
discriminate more accurately: reinforcement of the
response to a narrow range of stimuli is accompanied
by extinction of the response to stimuli outside that
range. (Miller, 1951, p. 167)
Language is one tool which can bring about the
needed reinforcement to develop such discrimination.
One of the functions of verbal and other cue-
producing responses is to make innately similar situ
ations more distinctive and thus cut down on the amount
of primary stimulus generalization. This helps in the
formation of adaptive discriminations, especially with
respect to culturally emphasized differences. (Dollard
and Miller, 1950, p. 322)
Anticipatory goal response.— One of the important
functions of language is its role as an anticipatory goal
response.
It is possible for certain cue-producing responses
that have been associated with the goal to move for
ward in the sequence and provide cues that have a se
lective effect on subsequent responses. (Dollard and
Miller, 1950, p. Ill).
This provides man a reach into the future and allows
for vicarious trial-and-error planning as well as behavior
control.
Through their capacity to mediate learned drives
and rewards, verbal and other cue-producing responses
enable the person to respond foresightfully to remote
goals. They free him from the control of stimuli im
mediately present in the here and now, provide a basis
29
for sustained interest and purpose, and are the basis
for capacity for hope and reassurance. With their re
moval all these capacities should be lost. (Dollard
and Miller, 1950, p. 219)
Anticipatory responses also "play an important role
in communication between people by providing significant
stimuli" (Dollard and Miller, 1950, p. 60). For this reason
language deficiency and interpersonal failure are correlated.
Enabling responses to occur.— Language also aids
personality development and problem solving efficiency by
enabling responses to occur. "Much of the difficulty in
teaching arises in finding a situation which will produce.
thoughts that can be rewarded" (Dollard and Miller, 1950,
p. 35). There are two main reasons for inability to re
spond. Thoughts or responses may not occur if they are not
in the individual's repertory of responses. This is often
the case with- the child. Another way in which they may not
occur is for the thought or response to be inhibited by re
pression. In both cases verbal directions and verbal label
ing may be able to assist in bringing about the needed re
sponse. "Insight, the conditioning technique, imitation,
and verbal instructions are different ways of producing re
sponses likely to be rewarded" (Dollard and Miller, 1950,
p. 39) .
30
Reward.— Another basic function of language is its
position as a reward. "Many of the most important rein
forcements in adult human behavior are social rewards that
are learned" (Dollard and Miller, 1950, p. 41) . However,
the effect of a reward is not always mediated by words nor
is it always conscious.
According to our hypothesis, all reinforcements
have a direct automatic strengthening effect on im
mediately preceding responses. Thus the primary ef
fect of reinforcement is always unconscious. (Dollard
and Miller, 1950, p. 214)
Several additional quotations regarding the effect
of reinforcement make their position quite clear. "...
the prompt reduction in the strength of a strong drive stim
ulus acts as a reinforcement" (Dollard and Miller, 1950,
p. 40). Again: "... the effects of a reinforcement can
be entirely unconscious and automatic" (Dollard and Miller,
1950, p. 44). They finally assert: "We fail to see how
any theory that bases all learning on the cognitive, in
telligent selection of responses can adequately explain un
conscious, unintelligent behavior" (Dollard and Miller,
1950, p. 44) .
Learned drives.— It is necessary to note also that
primary drive reduction is not the only consideration as a
reinforcement in language development. Dollard and Miller
31
strongly posit the existence of learned drives. These
learned drives are developed in the nuclear family relation
ship previously discussed. A dependency motivation is thus
developed out of which socialization and language develop.
Many extremely important drives, such as the de
sire for money, the ambition to become an artist or
a scholar, the particular fears and guilts are learned
during socialization. (Dollard and Miller, 1950,
p. 62)
These learned drives are considered to be amenable
to the laws of learning.
We would expect innate drives to vary with the
physiological state of the organism. By contrast we
would expect learned drives to vary with the princi
ples and conditions of learning. (Dollard and Miller,
1950, p. 88)
They specifically state the effect of learning upon
learned drives: "In the first place, learned drives should
be weakened by non-reinforcement; innate drives should not.
. . . Similarly, learned drives should be strengthened by
reinforcement" (Dollard and Miller, 1950, p. 88).
Dollard and Miller primarily apply their theory to
how neurotic problems develop and the use of psychotherapy
for treating these problems. They claim that the neurotic's
unconscious (unlabeled) conflicts produce his misery; re
pression causes his seeming stupidity; and the symptoms are
partially conflict reducing. When the repressions are re
32
moved or the missing labels are learned, the patient can use
his higher intellectual processes. . They assume that psycho
analytic techniques were designed to accomplish these two
ends.
Delinquency, or antisocial behavior, was not of
basic concern to Dollard and Miller; but they made some com
ments which allow a beginning in applying their theory to
this group of persons. Essentially they are pessimistic
about helping the antisocial person:
The conditions for learning some of the fundamental
habits essential to the conscience, or Superego, seem
to be sharply age-graded. Apparently in our culture
it is hard to supply the first units of conscience
training once the individual is beyond the strong de
pendence and the rigorous controls of childhood.
(Dollard and Miller, 1950, p. 236)
The discussion continues with other dour comments
about psychotherapy as a treatment procedure for these ado
lescents.
Certain minimum units of learning are required
before, it [psychotherapy] can be used; it does not
provide the conditions for giving the fundamental
types of training that the small child receives in
his family. (Dollard and Miller/ 1950, p. 235)
Again, they write:.
The absence of necessary units (i.e., motivational
and instrumental responses attached to verbal cues)
can impose a severe limitation on social control, in
cluding psychotherapy, and on the use of the higher
mental process. (Dollard and Miller, 1950, p. 107)
33
They suggested the following possibility for devel
oping treatment procedures:
In the case of the psychopath, anxiety impelling
toward a conventional path of action is weak. Like
wise, psychopaths have a defect in the ability to
love and trust other persons. This defect they dis
play in relation to the therapist who cannot get "a
hold" on them. Training procedures for psychopathic
persons could perhaps be invented, but they would be
different from those described here. (Dollard and
Miller, 1950, p. 425)
Bandura and Walters1 Theory
These authors are in general agreement with Dollard
and Miller.
According to the psychoanalytic theory as elabo
rated by Sears (1957) and Whiting (1954) , the process
of identification originates in the dependency rela
tionship. Since the mother is repeatedly associated
with the satisfaction of the young child's physical
needs, many of the mother's qualities and actions take
on secondary reward value; in other words, the child
grows to need and value the presence and qualities of
the mother for their own sake. (Bandura and Walters,
1959, p. 252)
The positive aspect of this statement is that the
child learns to want formerly neutral stimuli. This is the
development of dependency motivation. Negatively, this
statement reflects the learned motive of anxiety in the ab
sence of formerly neutral stimuli. "It..is possible," they
wrote, "that anxiety may’ provide a major part of the motiva
tional properties of all secondary drives" (Bandura and
34
Walters, 1959, p. 25).
For the socialization process to be effective, a
"dependency motive" based upon the desire for the interest,
attention, and approval of the primary adult, must be
learned. The secondary reward value of the parent can then
be used conditionally, depending, upon the child's conforming
to socialized demands and expectations.
According to Bandura and Walters several factors may
disrupt the development of an effective dependency relation
ship. For instance, inconsistent discipline should lead to
problems of socialization. Again, a pressure by the parents
toward conforming behavior must be present to achieve so
cialized behavior. Intensification of dependency may also
become a problem.
When rejection involved primarily the withholding
of positive reinforcers, rather than the presentation
of negative reinforcers, its effect may be to inten
sify the dependency toward the frustrating agent.
(Bandura and Walters, 1963, p. 144)
Most likely every child achieves a certain degree of
socialization regardless of the problems which may develop.
If both parents are completely rejecting and ex
tremely punitive, a child may remain completely un
socialized (Hewit and Jenkins, 1946). However, the
extreme condition is probably rare. More often, the
child's relationship with one or the other parent re
mains relatively intact. In this case, even though
the child develops an aggressive anti-social pattern
35
of behavior, partial socialization is usually achieved.
(Bandura and Walters, 1959, p. 30)
Another important concept contributed by Bandura and
Walters is that the dependency motive, once it is developed,
does not remain the same. Initially, the dependency re
sponses, are accepted by the parents. However, the amount
and form of dependency expected by the parents is slowly
changed and independent responses are fostered as the child
grows. It is these authors' contention that this independ
ency training begins early in life. They also suggest that
in adolescence the dependency may be rather suddenly trans
ferred from adults to peers.
When they apply their theorizing directly to delin
quency, Bandura and Walters state:
The absence of affectional, dependent behavior either
may spring from an initial failure to develop emo
tional responsiveness to others or may represent an
inhibition of dependency behavior because of anxiety
which its expression arouses. (Bandura and Walters,
1959, p. 35)
This aroused anxiety would block (inhibit) the de
sire for dependency the person might have. More importantly,
frustration of the dependency would support aggressive re
sponses.
The hypotheses which will be presented here are
largely derived from the frustration-aggression theory
systematically expounded by Dollard and Miller, et al.,
36
(1939). This theory states that aggression is a
learned response to frustrating situations, though
not the only response to frustration, and that aggres
sive behavior is reinforced insofar as it proves suc
cessful in over-coming frustrations that prevent the
satisfaction of biological drives or learned motives.
(Bandura and Walters, 1959, p. 88)
In particular, the hypothesis for the appearance of
generalized antisocial aggression is frustration arising
from a lack of affectional nurturance accompanied by a puni
tive attitude on the part of the parents (Bender, 1947;
Bowlby, 1946; Friedlander, 1949; Goldfarb, 1955; Lewis,
1954) . It must be mentioned that every infant, due to his
helplessness, is subject to frustrations relative to satis
faction of his bodily needs. The conditions for the devel
opment of aggression are thus present in every child.
In Bandura and Walter's theory the aggressive be-
%
havior is wholly instrumental: a means of obtaining some
thing or avoiding something. Nevertheless, these responses
soon meet with parental disapproval or punishment. Conse
quently, anxiety is aroused when aggressive feelings arise.
The resulting tension is reduced when the aggressive re
sponses occur.. In this manner aggressive responses can be
reinforced— learned— and can even generalize to other situ
ations which are not necessarily conflictual. If, however,
socialization is successful, and verbal ability develops,
37
the young child may learn verbal means of aggression. Yet,
only within limits is this usually tolerated; and the child
may eventually learn to give aggressive responses only in
thoughts or fantasies. Thus, a process of response dis
placement occurs. The authors suggest that object displace-
%
ment can also occur when the child aggresses against a pet
or a peer.
Regarding rd’ -education of the youngster when anti
social behavior has become a problem, Bandura and Walters
relate that disapproved behavior can be eliminated through
extinction and punishment. Punishment, however, has a com
plex effect.
Although punishment may lead to the rapid disap
pearance of socially disapproved behavior, its effects
are more complex (Estes, 1944; Solomon, Kamin, Wynne,
1955). If a person is punished for some socially dis
approved habit, the impulse to perform the act becomes
through its association with punishment, a stimulus
for anxiety. This anxiety then motivates competing
responses which, if sufficiently strong, prevent the
occurrence of, or inhibit, the disapproved behavior.
Inhibited responses may not, however, thereby lose
their strength, and may reappear in situations where
the threat of punishment is weaker. Punishment may,
in fact, prevent the extinction of a habit; if a habit
is completely inhibited, it cannot occur and therefore
cannot go unrewarded. (Bandura, 1961, pp. 150-151)
In their book Bandura and Walters (1963) make a
strong case for "vicarious learning." Essentially, this is
learning based on the observance of reinforcement effects
38
upon the behavior of other people without actually experi-
*
encing those effects personally. "Observational learning is
generally labeled 'imitation' in experimental psychology and
*
'identification' in theories of personality" (Bandura and
Walters, 1963, p. 89). The effectiveness of imitative
learning depends upon the development of dependency motive
and the reward value of the model.
One would expect a child to learn more rapidly to
copy a model with high prestige than a model with low
prestige, since the imitation of a highly regarded
person is likely to be more rewarding. (Bandura and
Walters, 1959, p. 257)
The advantage of the development of observational
learning is that it enables the by-passing of trial-and-
error behavior and instrumental responses in socialization
and problem solving.
Identification greatly hastens the socialization
process. Through imitation the child learns from his
parents a good deal of his behavioral repertory with
out having to go through an extensive trial and error
procedure to determine which patterns of behavior are
rewarded in the particular society in which he lives.
(Bandura and Walters, 1959, p. 252; credit is given
to Miller and Dollard, 1941)
Theoretical Model for this Investigation
Dollard and Miller (1950) and Bandura and Walters
(1959; 1963) have apparently elaborated a social learning
theory directly applicable to the development o*f verbal
39
ability and the process of socialization.
Both socialization and language can be seen as the
oretically unified in one developmental process by these
authors. The person ministering to the primary drives of
the helpless infant takes on reinforcement properties. This
classical conditioning, it is presupposed, leads to a
learned motive of dependency. This learning is unconscious
inasmuch as it takes place in the pre-verbal phase of life.
Subsequent to the development of a dependency motivation the
absence of the significant adult can lead to a learned mo
tive of anxiety. Depriving the child of the adult creates a
learned anxiety which is basically different from depriva
tion of primary need satisfaction. Physical- deprivation
leads to an immediate primary physical drive and probably
some action. Dependency deprivation functions on the reduc-
tion of learned drive requiring no overt response.
When the infant begins to emit oral sounds, the par
ents can act as positive reinforcement. In this manner they
"shape" the infant's verbal behavior so that he learns to
talk. The secondary reinforcement value of parents brings
about the growth of language. Primary drive reduction is
not involved in this operant type conditioning. A similar
procedure occurs in socialization. When the child performs
40
desired behavior, the parents can reward the act.
Positive reinforcement through reduction of depend
ency motivation is probably not enough to socialize the
child and fully develop his verbal capacity. Bandura and
Walters particularly stress that a certain amount of pres
sure to conform is needed to accompany the positive rein
forcement. In other words, deprivation of approval and af
fection by the parent can also be used in training the
child. This deprivation will lead to learned anxiety. This
anxiety can be.reduced by exhibiting the required behavior.
*
Perhaps many social responses are built upon this mechanism. .
Conscience is one of the major gains derived from this
process.
Dollard and Miller, on the other hand, discuss the
effects of anxiety upon language. They theorize that as the
overt physical responses characteristic of the infant meet
with disapproval, they are inhibited by anxiety and verbal
responses are substituted. If the verbal responses are un
acceptable, they are inhibited in favor of fantasy responses.
If the verbal responses are successful, they will be rein
forced by the reduction of anxiety, and verbal behavior as a
substitute for action will be learned. Consequently, the
pressure to conform physically should lead to increased
41
verbal behavior and to less instrumental responding. Behav
ioral control may depend a great deal upon the development
of verbal substitute responses.
^ The increase in verbal behavior will theoretically
make the conditioning of correct emotional responses to ver
bal cues more efficient. The ability to use verbal cue-
producing responses allows the development of several
higher-level functions.
With the attachment of emotional responses to verbal
cues, language can begin to function as reinforcement. Gen
eralizations and discriminations can be taught. The gener
alizations and discriminations imbedded in the language of
the culture and society will be available to the person.
Speech can be used to bring about responses which will be
rewarded. Language can begin to function as an anticipatory
response. Reasoning, planning, and problem solving will
grow rapidly. Concurrently, socialization will proceed.
Many learned social motives will arise supported upon the
mechanisms of anxiety drive reduction and positive inter
personal reinforcement value generalized to other persons.
Language can foster these interpersonal relationships by
functioning as an anticipatory response enabling the person
to relate more harmoniously with others. "Imitative"
42
behavior can begin, which aids both problem solving and so
cialization.
Hypotheses
The problem was derived from various areas of re
search which supported the contention that delinquent sub
jects exhibit significant verbal deficiency. The proposed
task was to manipulate the verbal behavior of delinquent
adolescent subjects using the method of verbal conditioning
within the social learning theory derived by Dollard and
Miller (1950) and amplified by Bandura and Walters (1959;
1963). The purpose was to attempt to develop a psychologi
cal experimental approach to problems of socialization while
also gaining some understanding of the variables involved in
juvenile delinquency.
Another object of the dissertation was to make a be
ginning toward analyzing the variables of which verbal con
ditioning may be a function. It was decided to begin with
some of the basic variables which are important in social
learning theory and integral in the verbal conditioning
technique. Manipulation of the stimulus variable and the
type of reinforcement seemed fundamental. Social learning
theory suggested the comparison of dependent and aggressive
stimuli. Positive and negative reinforcement seemed primary
43
in manipulating the type of reinforcement.
In attempting to account for the apparent verbal in
efficiency of the adolescent who also becomes involved in
antisocial behavior, the following hypotheses were derived
on the basis of the adaptation of social learning theory to
the present problem. These particular hypotheses were se
lected because of their theoretical primacy and methodologi
cal relevance. They certainly are not intended to be ex
haustive. The hypotheses dealt with : (1) delinquent ver
sus control subjects, (2) dependency stimuli, (3) aggressive
stimuli, (4) positive reinforcement, (5) negative reinforce
ment, (6) unconscious effects of reinforcement, and (7) life
history disruption of the subjects.
Delinquent Subjects Versus Control Subjects
Normal and antisocial behavior are considered to
arise from one set of principles provided by social learning
theory.
Indeed, we have attempted to demonstrate that a
single set of social-learning principles can account
for the development of both prosocial and deviant be
havior and for modification of behavior toward greater
conformity or greater deviation. (Bandura and Walters,
1963, p. 32)
According to this theory, a simultaneous deficiency
in socialization and verbal ability could stem from a
44
disruption of the nuclear dependency relationship. In this
case the secondary reinforcement value of adults would not
have developed sufficiently. As Dollard and Miller wrote,
the minimum units of socialization are not available.- Thus,
the delinquent adolescent should not be as amenable to ver
bal reinforcement from an adult.
Also, the degree of emotion attached to verbal cues
would be reduced. Verbal reinforcements would thus have
little reward value. Finally, imitative behavior directed
toward the experimenter would be weak due to the lack of de
pendency motivation.
On the basis of the above considerations, Hypothe
sis I was stated as follows:
Hypothesis I.— Verbal reinforcements administered by
an adult in a verbal conditioning'situation will not
be as effective with delinquent adolescents who have
a demonstrated history of learning problems as with
matched controls subjects.
This was the major hypothesis which was central to
the study of the problem proposed for the dissertation. If
the two groups differ in the ability to manipulate their
verbal behavior by verbal reinforcement, then it will be
established that verbal deficiency is a variable worth
concerted study as an approach to understanding delinquent
subj ects.
Dependency Stimuli
According to social learning theory the dependency
motive may be either undeveloped or strongly inhibited. If
dependency motive is undeveloped, it is expected to have
little effect upon verbal conditioning. On the other hand,
if strong inhibition is maintained against dependency motive,
it could affect the experimental results negatively. This
was stated in the second hypothesis.
Hypothesis II.— If dependency motive is not developed,
the use of dependency stimuli in the verbal condition
ing situation will produce little effect. On the other
hand, if dependency motive is strongly inhibited, de
pendency stimuli will lead to stronger inhibition and
consequently inhibit verbal conditioning.
Aggressive Stimuli
Social learning theory has also provided two possi
bilities in regard to aggressive reactions. First, Bandura
and Walters suggest that frustration of basic dependency
needs leads to hostility and aggression. Pressure to con
form cannot operate on the dependency motive or consequent
anxiety about loss of affection and support. This is not a
great problem when the child is small; but when he becomes
46
strong, controlling him will become increasingly difficult.
Second, the punitive methods used to control the child will
condition primary anxiety to aggressive stimuli. Bandura
and Walters have pointed out that emitting aggressive re
sponses can reduce the anxiety and actually reinforce anti
social behavior. Also, the lack of verbal substitutes would
probably force conformity in the testing situation where
other types of responses might not be able to occur. This
reasoning led to the statement of Hypothesis III, as follows:
Hypothesis III.— The use of aggressive stimuli in ver
bal conditioning will lead to efficient conditioning.
If the hostility is due to frustrated dependency, ver
bal reinforcement will support the emotional reaction.
If hostility is a learned response (habit), verbal re
inforcement will support the habit.
Positive Reinforcement
Social learning theory does not provide principles
upon which an hypothesis regarding positive reinforcement
can be based. Experience and logic suggest that positive
reinforcement produces increased performance. On this basis
the following statement was derived for the fourth hypothe
sis :
Hypothesis IV.--Positive verbal reinforcement will in
crease verbal conditioning.
47
Negative Reinforcement
Negative reinforcement should inhibit verbal condi
tioning. This was taken from Bandura and Walters' discus
sion of punishment. They assert that punishment may inhibit
behavior and not change the underlying habit. In the ex
perimental situation under consideration we could only pre
dict inhibition of conditioning. The statement of Hypothe
sis V follows:
Hypothesis V.— Negative verbal reinforcement will in
hibit verbal conditioning.
Unconscious Effects of Reinforcement
Another hypothesis can be taken from social learning
theory without much translation. Dollard and Miller main
tain that reinforcement effects are automatic and uncon
scious. In this manner they claim to account for self-
defeating behavior and unconscious motivation. This problem
of unconscious reinforcement has also become important in
experiments dealing with verbal conditioning and "learning
without awareness" (Farber, 1963). For this reason it was
felt important to include this variable in the present
study. Hypothesis VI states:
48
Hypothesis VI.— The effects of verbal reinforcement
will be automatic and unconscious. That is, the sub
jects will be unable to identify the stimulus-response
contingency.
Life History Disruption
A great deal of family and educational disruption,
should be found in the histories of delinquent subjects.
This documented disruption and confusion should indirectly
support the contention of social learning theory that the
basic needs of these adolescents had not been met. In
hypothesis form this was stated as follows:
Hypo thes is VII.— A greater degree of family and educa
tional disruption will be found in the life histories
of delinquent subjects than found for control subjects.
It is possible in this way that the sociological
variables interact with the psychological variables in cre
ating the problem of juvenile delinquency as behavioral
phenomena and learning deficit.
CHAPTER II
SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE
The review of the literature was organized into
three major divisions. The first section dealt with juve
nile delinquency. The second section covered the literature
.1
pertaining to verbal conditioning. The last section at
tempted to relate the literature to the experimental hy
potheses .
Juvenile Delinquency
The literature on juvenile delinquency is voluminous
and need not be presented here in its entirety. Complete
texts are available (Neumeyer, 1961; Block and Flynn, 1956;
and others). The literature has become so massive that
several books of readings have been produced (Roucek, 1958;
Wolfgang, Savitz, and Johnston, 1962; Cavan, 1964). An his
torical survey is provided by Bennett (1960, pp. 3-30). A
succinct presentation of the major theories of delinquency
has been written by W. C. Reckless (see Cavan, 1964, pp. 158-
167). Berelson and Steiner (1964) have made the most recent
50
published attempt to pull this information together into a
descriptive summary.
The literature concerning juvenile delinquency was
separated into the following divisions for this presenta
tion: (1) research difficulties, (2) a general description
of delinquents, and (3) studies related to social learning
theory.
Research Difficulties
Besides a general descriptive concurrence, one needs
an understanding of the problems encountered when attempting
to do research with this population. Browning (1961) wrote
a thorough discussion of the dependent variable in delin
quency research— definition, conceptualization, and classi
fication of delinquency.
The heterogeneous samples (however well matched
or representative) sought for studies of this kind
have not given us a verifiable all-embracing causal
or etiological theory, and emphasis on this methodol
ogy has probably diverted or held up research based
on reliable subcategories of delinquents which are
capable of giving us testable hypotheses of limited
range. (Browning, 1961, p. 67)
Shulman (1951) has also devoted attention to diffi
culties in doing research in this area. He has pointed out
the neglect of control groups. Another problem Shulman
brings up is holding constant the factors of cultural
51
deprivation and stimulation. Possibly the most important of
all Shulman1s observations is that juvenile delinquents are
not representative of the "normal" child population. In
fact, the selectivity of the delinquent groups increases
proportionately to the degree of authority applied to their
handling. For this reason "institutionalized" delinquent
populations are highly selective and representative of no
other group.
Richard Graph (1961), after an extensive review of
the literature on juvenile delinquency, offered the follow
ing conclusions:
1. It seems that better definition of experimental
groups is needed. Most of the research has been con
cerned with delinquency as socially defined. This has
resulted in working with groups that are highly heter
ogeneous and, even more important, lacking in psycho
logical meaning. Future psychological research is
most likely to profit if specific types of delinquents
are used and these types should be defined more accord
ing to some psychological dimension. . . .
2. There is need for better experimental controls.
• • *
3. More controls on the social-cultural variables
are needed. . . .
4. Too often the choice of variables to be studied
in regards to their relation to delinquency have not
evolved from any theoretical consideration. The hy
potheses, if any, in the reported research are rarely
stated a priori. Thus the results are often merely
descriptive and without relationship to any frame of
reference.
52
5. Finally there appears to be a need for a devel
opmental approach. . . . (Graph, 1961, pp. 17-18) [sic]
General Description of Delinquents
Criticism can be leveled against much previous re
search. In spite of this, some general conclusions shall
suffice to provide a tentative description of the population
usually considered in discussing juvenile delinquency. This
material follows the outline provided by Berelson and
Steiner (1964, pp. 625-632).
Available data are inadequate and cannot provide
answers regarding the incidence of delinquency nor informa
tion regarding its increase or decrease. All of our conclu
sions must be tentative because of this inadequacy in infor
mation. Crime seems to be more frequent among people who
are not closely tied to society or to particular social
groups. Broken homes, broken marriages, and frequent moving
are a few of the contributing factors related to poor social
ties. On the other hand, close identification with deviant
social groups can lead to more crime since deviant behavior
can be learned. More males are involved in delinquency
though this may be changing. Lower class people are most
often encountered by legal authorities. However, it cannot
be determined if there is. a true difference due to social
53
status. The upper classes are possibly handled differently
or are not discovered as frequently. The crime rate is
highest among young people in their late teens. Car theft
is the most frequent crime of male teenagers. Minority
groups are more prone to crime; though, again, this finding
is open to interpretation. Urban residents more frequently
participate in offenses. This seems to be leveling out as
society changes. Church participation possibly decreases
delinquency. "Abnormal" times, such as war and disaster,
also lead to decrease in crime. There does not seem to be a
"criminal type" so far as intelligence, physique, or person
ality are concerned. However, this is one of the most de
batable conclusions presented.
Recidivism rates are high: "about three-fourths of
those entering jail have been there before" (Berelson and
Steiner, 1964, p. 630), and, "the younger the person at the
time of the first offense, the higher the rate of recidivism
and the sooner it occurs" (Berelson and Steiner, 1964,
p. 630). This anticipates the final suggestion by these
writers: Treatment efficacy has not been established for
any particular remedial approach.
Block and Flynn, in their text, present a summary
similar to that of Berelson and Steiner. However, they
54
maintain that the incidence of delinquency has risen sharply
since before World War II. Block and Flynn write that the
median age for juvenile delinquency is fifteen and a half.
The sex ratio is 4.5 boys to 1 girl, according to these men.
They concur that the rate of rural delinquency is acceler
ating {Block and Flynn, 1956, pp. 50-51).
Studies Related to Social Learning Theory
Studies are available which give some empirical
basis to Social Learning Theory assumptions. Other studies
have dealt with variables about which the current study is
concerned.
Bennett (1960) compared fifty delinquent with fifty
neurotic children. This study is open to many of the criti
cisms which have been acknowledged to exist in such research.
However, it does give us a tentative view of the differences
between these two groups. She found that delinquent child
ren had been less often breast fed; and, when they were
breast fed, they were, weaned much earlier. The delinquents
came from broken homes, or from unstable homes broken by
gross environmental disturbances. Over-frustration alter
nating with over-gratification was also found by Bennett.
The parents of delinquents showed antisocial tendencies,
55
while neurotic children tended to have neurotic parents.
The relationship between the delinquent and his parents has
a special quality: "This relationship is often of a quar
relsome, aggressive, sado-masochistic type" (Bennett, 1960,
p. 214). The relationship between the parents seems to be
of the same type. Neurotic children were found to have been
less often separated from their parents. Conscience was
lacking in almost all of the delinquent children.
Sears, Maccoby, and Levin (1957) studied the child
rearing techniques of three hundred and seventy-nine Ameri
can mothers. Mothers who had accepting attitudes toward
dependent behavior were also affectionately warm, low in
their use of physical punishment, restrained in their use of
punishment for aggression toward parents, and high in esteem
for both self and husband.
These authors found that punishment for dependency
did not eliminate dependency behavior. Punishment actually
made the child more dependent. It is pointed out, however,
that punishment may have been a result of exasperating de
pendency rather than a cause of dependency. Just as en
lightening was their finding that reward for dependency did
not increase it. People of lower economic means were found
to be more strict and rejecting toward dependency. They
56
tended to be physically punishing toward dependency behav
ior -
Sears, Maccoby, and Levin found that parents who
raise non-aggressive children make it clear to the child
that aggression is frowned upon. These parents stop aggres
sion when it occurs, but they avoid physical punishment.
According to these authors, physical punishment apparently
stops a particular form of behavior but generates aggressive
outbursts at other times. Too much tolerance and too little
prevention of aggression are both related to greater aggres
sion in children. Persons of all socio-economic levels were
found to be restrictive toward aggression, but middle class
mothers were more permissive and less punitive.
This study also found that mothers who love and ac
cept their children and use love oriented techniques of
discipline have children with better developed consciences.
Reasoning with a child also aids the development of con
science and identification. Socio-economically lower classes
of persons were found to use more physical punishment and
deprivation of privileges rather than reasoning.
Several other studies of delinquents are indirectly
relevant to the present concern. Aichorn (1935), Bender
(1947), Bowlby (1946), Goldfarb (1955), and Jenkins and
57
Glickman (1947) report findings suggesting that the anti
social person has less ability to form and maintain stable
affectional interpersonal relationships with others. Acker
man (1944), and Thorpe and Smith (1952) found delinquents
show marked resistance to any attempts at social influence
or entering close relationships.
Bandura and Walters (1959) studied delinquency in
adolescent boys. They studied dependency, aggression, sex
ual behavior, restrictions, demands, disciplinary tech
niques, and internalization of controls. One result was
that an aggressive adolescent expresses his aggression in a
direct uninhibited manner. Compared to control subjects he
is openly antagonistic to authority and less positive toward
peers. He feels rejected by both parents but is closer to
his mother. Aggression is held in check by external re
straints; he mistrusts adult authority figures.
Bandura and Walters have recently published their
book Social Learning and Personality Development (1963).
They called their theory a socio-behavioristic approach.
They take this position in their book; Deviant and social
ized behavior can be accounted for by the same principles.
However, they take sharp issue with previous social learning
theories (Rotter, 1954; Bijou and Baer, 1961; Lundin, 1961;
58
Skinner, 1953). These theories lean heavily upon operant
conditioning through "successive approximations." They feel
that this procedure is effective if the responses are al
ready in the learner's repertory.
It is doubtful, however, if many of the responses
that all members of our society exhibit would ever be
acquired if social training proceeded solely by the
method of successive approximations. (Bandura and
Walters, 1963, p. 3)
They contend that "imitation" is essential to the
understanding of social learning. They also support the
need for "vicarious reinforcement." In conclusion, Bandura
and Walters have played down the trial-and-error behavior in
learning, and contend that the child responds imitatively in
problem solving situations. Their book serves as a thorough
review of social learning theory and research.
Verbal Conditioning
The literature relating to verbal conditioning was
divided as follows: (1) verbal conditioning with juvenile
delinquents, (2) negative and positive reinforcement,
(3) type of stimuli— dependent and aggressive, (4) extinc
tion, (5) reinforcement schedule, (6) awareness of condi
tioning, and (7) experimenter effect.
59
Verbal Conditioning with Delinquents
One study has used the verbal conditioning technique
with a population of delinquent adolescent males. Cairns
(1961) divided his subjects into two groups: those who were
strong inhibitors of dependency needs and those who were
less inhibitive of dependency needs. Both groups were drawn
from institutionalized adolescent delinquents. He used a
fantasy type measure of dependency along with a rating
scale. The subjects were then placed in four consecutive
ten-minute free interview sessions. The first ten minutes
served as a measure of the operant level. The next three
periods served as reinforcement sessions. Each confiding
response--defined as any personal reference made to home or
family— was reinforced with a verbal "mm-hum." The inter
views were recorded and the count of confiding responses was
taken from the tape. A control group received no verbal
reinforcement.
Cairns found that not only did the boys high in de
pendency inhibition fail to show evidence of stable condi
tioning, but under the cumulative effects of rewards they
showed a significant decrease in the number of confiding re
sponses over the operant level. This provides a first study
of the verbal behavior of delinquent subjects and a model
for attacking the present problem.
Blaylock (1960) attempted to verbally condition
adult psychopaths who were imprisoned. He found both reward
and punishment to be effective but could not support a dif
ference between his subjects and the control group. Rosen
berg (1959) found no relationship between dependency— mea
sured by a paper-pencil test— and performance, in a verbal
conditioning test. He used college students. However,
since the subjects are older, these studies do not undermine
Cairns' results. Krasner (1958) points out that very few
studies have used adolescents or children. With few excep
tions, the studies have used undergraduate psychology stu
dents or hospitalized patients. No studies were found which
compared delinquent and non-delinquent subjects.
Negative and Positive Reinforcement
Krasner, in his review (1958), identifies thirty-
four studies which report verbal conditioning with positive
reinforcement. Very few studies have used negative rein
forcers, but four studies Krasner reported had results from
this source.
Several investigators (Buss and Buss, 1956; Buss,
Broden, Orgel, Buss, 1956; Philbrick and Postman, 1955;
61
Phillips and Agnew, 1953; Spivak and Papajohn, 1957; and
Weiss, 1955) have used "Right" and Wrong," or simply "Right"
alone in verbal learning studies. Buss et a_l. (1956) found
that "Right" is a weaker positive reinforcement than "Wrong"
is a negative reinforcer. This might be explained by the
persistence of avoidance behavior which consists of the
strengthening of the behavior through its avoidance of a
negative reinforcement (Salzinger, 1959).
Contradictory evidence comes from two sources.
Prouty (1960) found that "Right" and "Wrong" had equal re
inforcement value. Buchwald (1962) suggested that "Right"
and "Wrong" provide different amounts of information. The
difference here may be the experimental design and method
ology. Sandler (1959) makes the suggestion that "huh-uh"
sometimes acted as punishment, and sometimes as a negative
.reinforcer.
There have been few studies which used negative re
inforcement in verbal operant conditioning. Greenspoon
(1955) used the negative verbal reinforcement "huh-uh."
This was found to be ineffective in decreasing the use of
non-plural nouns. Ball (1952) found that "huh-uh" differ
entially affects subjects and response classes. Hartmann
62
(1955) found using a head-shake as a negative reinforcer was
effective in decreasing the verbal response it followed.
Type of Stimuli; Aggressive and Dependent .
Few studies have attempted to manipulate the stimu
lus variable. Binder, McConnel, and Sjoholm (1957) found
that the response "good" was reinforcing for the use of
hostile words in sentences. Cairns and Lewis (1962) using
college students found it easier to condition aggressive
than dependent responses. In fact, they found negative re
sults with the use of dependent stimuli. They felt that the
subjects not only did not condition but actively resisted
the dependency connotation. This is certainly relevant to
the negative results Cairns found in the delinquents who
counter-conditioned to dependency stimuli. Zedek (1959) was
able to increase performance when saying "Huh-Hum" to ag
gressive stimuli.
Extinction
Klein (1954) verbally conditioned several groups
and then studied extinction by (1) negative reinforcement,
(2) counter-conditioning, and (3) non-conditioning. He
found that the fastest extinction occurred under negative
reinforcement and the slowest extinction under non-
conditioning. Hartmann (1955) negatively conditioned his
subjects with a head-shake. He was unable to demonstrate
extinction after removing this negative reinforcement.
B. R. Sarason (1957) corroborates this finding.
Several studies (Hildum and Brown, 1956; Mandler and
Kaplan, 1956; Nuthman, 1957; Verplanck, 1955; and Hartmann,
1955) have independently reported counter-conditioning,
without making it a primary concern. Ekman (1957) specu
lated that counter-conditioning may be related to a person
ality variable such as•negativism or rigidity. No one has
been found who followed this lead.
Prouty (1960) discusses the problem of extinction
with relationship to negative and positive reinforcement.
He draws the inference that in his study "Right" and "Wrong"
had equal reinforcement value, but the absence of these two
different reinforcers did not lead to similar results. This
is an interesting lead for further study.
Reinforcement Schedule
Salzinger (1959) presents evidence to show that the
higher the ratio of responses to reinforcement, the greater
is the number of verbal, as well as non-verbal, responses
emitted during extinction. Also that a variable interval
64
schedule resulted in more verbal extinction responses.
Salzinger says:
While repetition of an effortful act like a motor re
sponse may accumulate aversive properties because of
fatigue, it is hard to visualize verbal response fa
tigue. However, repetition of verbal responses does
have aversive properties arising from the attitude of
our society toward such repetition during conversation
or interview. To the extent that these responses are
massed . . . one might expect an effect contrary to
that of conditioning. (Salzinger, 1959, p. 84)
Awareness of Conditioning
The subjects in a verbal conditioning experiment
change their verbal behavior as a function of the response
to stimuli controlled by the experimenter. How aware are
the subjects of what is taking place? Krasner (1958) re
ports that in thirty-one studies reviewed only five per cent
of the subjects were aware of the reinforcement contingency.
Most studies have used an open-end question or sentence
technique to estimate the amount of awareness. Tatz (1960)
studied this variable through experimental manipulation.
The groups who were "informed," as a part of the procedure,
showed a high rate of conditioning. The "no information"
group also conditioned, but not as well. He suggested that
people can develop "partial" solutions which can mediate a
higher level of responding. Mandler and Kaplan (1956)
scaled people's awareness. They found most subjects could
65
give some awareness responses, but none were able to give a
fully aware response. These authors also separated out one
group of subjects who were aware of a positive reinforcement
and a group that were aware of negative reinforcement. The
group aware of the positive reinforcement showed a response
rate increase; the group aware of negative reinforcement
showed a response decrease. Levin (1961) studied the inter
view technique and found that a very specific interview pro
vided more evidence of awareness than a general interview.
However, there was still some learning without awareness.
Spielberger (1961) has also found better conditioning with
increased awareness. Ekman, Krasner, and Ullman (1963) re
port that awareness can either facilitate or inhibit condi
tioning .
Although many of the early studies in verbal con
ditioning reported evidence for "learning without
awareness" (Adams, 1957; Krasner, 1958), later studies
have focused on a number of methodological issues
which have brought into doubt the interpretations of
these early findings (Dulany, 1961; Eriksen, 1960;
Levin, 1961; Matarazzo, Saslow, and Pareis, 1960; 1
Spielberger, 1961; Spielberger, Levin and Shepard; -
1962) . A previous study (Krasner, Weiss, and Ullman,
1961) has demonstrated that "awareness" can be manipu
lated by instructional set in such a way as to differ
entially affect responsivity. The problem has also
been approached by varying the amount of information
given to the subject (Tatz, 1960), varying the "task
relevant information" (Kanfer and Marston, 1961; 1962),
and using instructional set to create "high-threat"
and "low-threat" experimental situations (Sarason and
Ganzer, 1962) . The manipulation of "awareness" by
66
various instructional sets avoids the pitfalls of
ascertaining "awareness" in an interview after the
completion of the conditioning task. (Ekman, Krasner,
and Ullmann, 1963).
Farber (1963) has recently written a review of this
problem and made some suggestions. In his own research
Farber used hostile, aggressive, and neutral verbs but found
no effect. Failure instructions impaired the reinforcer
"good," and prevented awareness. Farber concluded: "We
should be speaking, not of awareness and nonawareness, but
of degrees and kinds.of awareness". (Farber, 1963, p. 196) .
Dulany facetiously wrote: "a human subject does what he
thinks he's supposed to do if he wants to. . . ." (Dulany,
1962, p. 109).
Experimenter Effect
Two different examiners may produce significant dif
ferences in the rate of conditioning (Berelson and Steiner,
1964; Salzinger, 1959). Verplanck (1955) reports that
seventeen students were asked to replicate Greenspoon's
study. Only those who had prestige were successful. Mahrejr
(1956) found that conditionability of children was affected
by their reinforcement history of contact with one experi
menter. However, this effectiveness did not generalize to
another experimenter. Binder, McConnel, and Sjoholm (1957)
67
found different effects when they used an attractive female
as one experimenter and a very large masculine male as the
other.
On the other hand, Cohen et al^. (1954) , Wickes
(1956), and Salzinger and Pisoni (1958) found no difference
in the number of responses evoked by various experimenters.
Matarazzo, Saslow, and Pareis (1960), using two male experi
menters, found little difference. One man was thirty-three
and the other was fifty-two years of age.
The research is found to be controversial. Salzin
ger (1959) furnishes the following conclusion about this:
Research in this area has been relatively sparse.
What is needed is a systematic variation (as well as
a good but general operational definition) of the pres
tige value of the experimenter and of his relationship
to the subject. (Salzinger, 1959, p. 81)
Application of the Literature Survey
to the Experimental Hypotheses
Research in juvenile delinquency is sometimes poorly
done according to several authors surveyed. Groups are
often heterogeneously defined, inadequate controls are es
tablished, and poor matching is employed. The available
data are difficult to interpret. However, certain tentative
conclusions can be drawn from the literature as it pertains
to the experimental hypotheses and variables.
6 8
Delinquent Versus Control Subjects (Hypothesis I)
This hypothesis states that verbal reinforcement
will not be as effective with delinquents exhibiting verbal
deficiency, as with matched control boys. No studies were
found which attempted to compare the verbal conditioning of
delinquents with controls. However, Cairns (1961) found
that delinquent boys who strongly inhibit dependency needs
verbally conditioned less than a similar group who were less
inhibiting of dependency. In fact, the strong dependency
inhibitors negatively conditioned. That is, reward led to
less performance. This study would seem to support the
feasibility of using verbal conditioning as a study of some
variables associated with juvenile delinquency.
The characteristics of delinquent subjects reported
in the literature would seem to support the theory stated
for this investigation. In attitude the delinquent appears
to be less able to maintain stable affectionate personal re
lationships. He resists efforts to help him through close
relationships. He expresses his aggression in a direct un
inhibited manner, and is openly antagonistic to authority.
External restraints control his behavior. In an indirect
manner, these results also support the first hypothesis.
A general description of the delinquent adolescent
can also be deduced from the available research. This modal
description can be used to select subjects for testing this
first hypothesis. The usual subject is most likely to be
fifteen or sixteen years old. He is male. He has sustained
a disrupted childhood. Social ties are either weak or di
rected toward deviant groups. More than likely, this boy
comes from a lower socio-economic level and lives in the
city. His most probable offense is car theft. He will
probably repeat his offense and become a recidivist. Treat
ment procedures are not understood nor well developed.
While a group for research purposes should be homogeneous
(Browning, 1961) , it seems the group should also be as rep
resentative as possible on these modal descriptive variables.
In terms of the present problem, the group should be chosen
homogeneously upon the basis of exhibiting a verbal learning
problem.
Adequate control measures would seem to include at
least sex, age, socio-economic level, and nationality.
These particular variables are chosen because the literature
survey suggests that they are related to delinquent behavior.
Limiting the selection of subjects to English speaking
Anglo-Americans should partially rule out the possibility
that the learning deficiency is related to bilingualism or
to gross cultural differences.
Dependency Stimuli (Hypothesis II)
The second hypothesis deals with dependency stimuli.
It is asserted that if dependency motive is lacking, then
dependency stimuli will have little effect upon verbal con
ditioning. On the other hand, if dependency motive is being
inhibited, then using dependency stimuli might lead to
stronger inhibition and poor conditioning.
The literature regarding the effect of dependent
stimuli on verbal conditioning is controversial. However,
several studies seem to support the hypothesis. These par
ticular reports would seem to support the section of the
hypothesis dealing with dependency inhibition. Cairns
(1961) found that his delinquent subjects who were strong
inhibitors of dependency, negatively conditioned. Cairns
and Lewis (1962) found difficulty in conditioning college
students with dependent stimuli.
Other studies would seem to support the possibility
of a lack of dependency motivation. Bennett (1960) found
the possibility of disrupted dependency going back to a lack
of breast feeding. Sears, Maccoby, and Levin (1957) found
that lower class people tended to reject dependency behavior
in their children with physical punishment. However, this
71
punishment did not seem to reduce their dependency. On this
basis, these studies may support the possibility of conflict
over dependency as much as the lack of dependency motive.
Aggressive Stimuli (Hypothesis III)
Hypothesis III considers the use of aggressive
stimuli. Hostility, due to frustrated dependency, or
learned from parents, will lead to effective verbal condi
tioning. On the whole the literature seems to support this
hypothesis. Cairns and Lewis' (1962) college students con
ditioned with this stimulus. Binder, McConnel, and Sjoholm
(1957) found they could condition hostile words. Zedek
(1959) was also able to increase the use of aggressive stim
uli. Sears, Maccoby, and Levin (1957) suggest that the
lower-class child has certainly experienced more negative
reward in the form of physical punishment. This supports
the theory of this investigation as well as this hypothesis.
Bennett (1960) confirms that this is also true for delin
quent children. According to social learning theory, these
children should have learned aggressive habits as well as
frustrated dependency leading to aggressiveness.
72
Positive Reinforcement (Hypothesis IV)
This hypothesis predicts that positive verbal rein
forcement will lead to increased verbal conditioning- Posi
tive reinforcement, by using a verbal pronouncement of
"Right," appears to be effective in verbal conditioning ac
cording to the literature. "Right” may be a weaker rein
forcement than "Wrong" (Buss ^t al. , 1956). However,
Prouty (1960) found "Right" and "Wrong" had equal reinforce
ment value. In other words, some of the literature is con
troversial. However, the delinquent's inability to form
close relationships (Bandura and Walters, 1959) and his
antagonism toward authority should lead to less effective
conditioning than for the control group. The possibility of
interaction between stimuli and reinforcement is another
factor to be evaluated during the investigation.
Negative Reinforcement (Hypothesis V)
This hypothesis predicts that negative verbal rein
forcement will inhibit verbal conditioning. The literature
suggests that negative reinforcement is very complex. This
could be anticipated from Bandura and Walters' discussion of
punishment. If "Wrong" is a stronger reinforcement than
"Right" (Buss et ad., 1956), it may be due to the persist
ence of avoidance behavior which is reinforced through
73
avoidance of a negative reinforcer (anxiety reduction). On
the other hand, "Wrong" may convey a different amount of
information (Buchwald, 196 2). The over-all impression is
that the literature supports this hypothesis. However, the
significant variables may not be disclosed in this particu
lar study.
Unconscious Effects of Reinforcement (Hypothesis VI)
This hypothesis states that the effects of verbal
reinforcement will be automatic and unconscious. This hy
pothesis is taken directly from Dollard and Miller's writing.
The literature regarding awareness is especially controver
sial. Most of the studies find some evidence for condition
ing without awareness. The conclusion, however, is that
awareness is a matter of degrees. According to Dollard and
Miller's account of social learning theory, there should be
no difference between the delinquent and the control group
since all learning takes place without awareness being
necessary. However, awareness may be a function of "set."
In this case the control group, which exhibits no learning
deficit, may have developed better learning "set." Thus,
the delinquent group would not do as well in verbalizing the
reinforcement contingency.
Life History Disruption (Hypothesis VII)
This hypothesis was derived from social learning
theory and suggests that the histories of delinquent sub
jects will reveal more disrupted family and educational
backgrounds. This hypothesis seems strongly supported in
the literature. Berelson and Steiner (1964) document the
poor social ties of these youth/ Bennett (1960) records
disruption in life for these children from the beginning of
infancy. Bandura and Walters (1959) have written of the
disrupted parental relationships of male adolescent delin
quents .
Additional Variables to be Considered
The review of the literature brought out additional
variables which should be considered in carrying out a study
using verbal conditioning. These were: (1) the operant
level, (2) experimenter effect, (3) reinforcement schedule,
(4) interaction effects, and (5) needed controls.
Operant level.— The experimental design requires the
use of an operant level. Undoubtedly, there are individual
differences in operant levels which could be related to the
dependent variable in such a study. Also, selected groups
of subjects might differ in their average operant level.
75
The literature suggests that attention will need to be given
to the individual and group operant levels in the present
study.
Experimenter effect.— The literature is controver
sial, nevertheless, a minimal interpretation would be that
in verbal conditioning experiments the experimenter variable
must be considered. The prestige value of the experimenter
seems to be the important variable. This study will need to
make a systematic analysis of the experimenter effect.
Reinforcement schedule.— Little information is
available regarding this variable. That which has been pub
lished suggests that continuous reinforcement may lead to
poor conditioning. Salzinger (1959) maintains that partial
verbal reinforcement leads to greater resistence to extinc
tion. Certainly, the study of extinction in the present re
search could contribute to understanding the verbal behavior
of delinquent adolescents.
Interaction effects.— The experimental design should
be developed to enable the study of interaction effects.
Several studies in the literature suggest that there may be
an interaction between stimuli and type of reinforcement.
76
The Analysis of Variance technique could be used to allow
for this possibility.
Needed controls.--The literature would indicate that
in matching delinquent and non-delinquent groups, the delin
quent group should be selected on a theoretically prescribed
variable which can be operationally defined. In this case
the variable is verbal deficiency. Needed control variables
would seem to be sex, age, socio-economic level, and nation
ality.
Conclusions
In conclusion, the research on delinquency is often
referred to as inadequate in the literature. Nevertheless,
the descriptive information which is available would seem to
support the social learning theory as developed by Dollard
and Miller (1950) and Bandura and Walters (1959; 1963).
There is strong evidence that the needs of the delinquent
child have not been met; his life has been highly disrupted
and he has had an opportunity to learn aggressive behavior.
The data drawn from these subjects would seem to support the
hypothesis that verbal conditioning would not have the same
effect as with a control group. This is because they cannot
get close to people and they distrust authority. The review
of the literature on verbal conditioning allows only tenta
tive conclusions. However, these conclusions seem to sup
port the established hypotheses. The present research was
best classified as exploratory because of the tentative
status of previous research, and the lack of any directly
relevant use of verbal conditioning in comparing delinquents
with non-delinquents.
CHAPTER III
DESIGN OF THE STUDY
The study was constructed as a three-way factorial
design. Subjects were assigned randomly to either negative
or positive verbal reinforcement. Likewise, they were ran
domly assigned to one of three stimulus conditions: aggres
sive stimuli, dependent stimuli, or neutral stimuli. Delin
quent adolescents with a history of academic underachieve
ment were matched with control subjects exhibiting a history
of successful academic achievement. Sex, nationality, age,
socio-economic level, and intelligence were used as control
variables. An Awareness Inventory was administered to de
termine if awareness of the reinforcement contingency was
related to the obtained results. An adjective check list
was used to collect a self-description by each subject. A
description of the examiner was also obtained from each sub
ject. The description of the examiner was used to determine
the possible effect of the examiner upon verbal conditioning.
The self-description was used to explore the differences be
tween the two groups in their self concepts.
78
79
Subjects
Experimental subjects were selected initially and
the control subjects were matched by means to them. The
factorial design called for twelve cells. Eight subjects
were randomly assigned to, each cell. This afforded a mini-
mum of sixteen subjects from each group for all simple sta
tistical comparisons.
Delinquent Underachievers
A number of factors were taken into consideration in
selecting boys for the delinquent group. These were:
(1) source of subjects, (2) the problem of institutionaliza
tion, (3) homogeneous selection, (4) control variables,
(5) elimination variables, and (6) life history information.
Source of subjects.— The subjects for the experi
mental group were drawn from the California Youth Authority,
Southern Reception Center, Norwalk, California. Boys come
to this facility from the southern part of the state. The
majority come from metropolitan Los Angeles. It is usual
that adolescents are not committed to the California Youth
Authority until they have been tried on probation or in
other placement facilities on the county level. Conse
quently, the subjects in this study would have extensive
80
records of legal infractions and failure in rehabilitation.
A large amount of information about the history of each boy
was available in the Youth Authority files.
These subjects also have documented histories of
school failure and learning problems.
The following traits, characteristics, and environ
mental features seem to appear over and over again in
backgrounds of wards committed to the Youth Authority:
1. Absence of school success as evidenced by
low marks.
2. School failure.
3. Truancy.
4. Lack of academic aptitude and classified as
non-academically inclined.
5. Many public school transfers.
6. Intensive dislike for school and school
teachers.
7. Early school drop-out.
8. No contacts with recreation or character-
building agencies.
9. Residence in high-delinquency rate neighbor
hood .
10. Broken or atypical home. (California Youth
Authority, 1964, pp. 23-24) [sic]
/
The Youth Authority report from which this informa
tion was taken continues with this summarization:
V. Typical Youth Authority ward is two. (2) to
four (4) years academically retarded. (The one (1)
safe generalization to make for the majority of Youth
Authority ward population.) (California Youth Author
ity, 1964, p. 24) [sic]
The problem of institutionalization.— As pointed out
in the literature search, the study of delinquency is criti
cized for using institutionalized groups. However, in this
instance it was decided to use institutionalized subjects
for several reasons. First, such subjects are available.
Accumulating subjects otherwise is difficult. Second, the
objective of this study was not to derive widely generaliz-
able results but to bring certain behavior under experi
mental manipulation. Third, as noted in the literature
study, re-education methods are undeveloped and poorly,
understood. For this reason the limitation of the results
to institutionalized groups retains much scientific and
social value. Fourth, since this was an exploratory study
attempting to manipulate experimentally the verbal behavior
of delinquent subjects, the method of replication will be
appropriate for extending the general applicability of the
results.
Homogeneous selection.— Another criticism leveled
against studies of delinquency is the use of heterogeneous
groups. Therefore, it was decided to select a homogeneous
group. The selection was based upon empirical studies which
suggest that delinquent subjects exhibit verbal deficiency
and long standing learning problems. This assumption is
supported by the information from the California Youth
Authority (1964) regarding the population from which the
subjects for this study were selected. Underachievement,
indicated by low grade placement, is the most obvious behav
ioral measure of this variable. Nevertheless, use of the
actual grade placement would be crude since many variables
could account for school failure. Also, to match subjects
simultaneously on significant variables other than actual
grade placement would be very difficult due to the large
elimination of subjects. For instance, to match two groups
on age and grade placement simultaneously would be most dif
ficult. Control subjects fitting this description would not
be available. Therefore, to fulfill the theoretical impli
cations of the study, it was decided to use only those de
linquent boys who exhibited tested underachievement of six
months or more. Tested underachievement was measured by
comparing scores on an achievement test with scores on an
intelligence test. The grade score derived from the Full
Scale of the California Test of Mental Maturity (1957 Short
Form, Level 3 or 4 as appropriate) was used as the expected
achievement level. Underachievement was a grade score de
rived from the California Achievement Test which was six
months or more below that of the California Test of Mental
Maturity. The group testing was done in the institutional
school.
83
Control variables.— Certain other variables were
also used in the selection procedure. These were used as a
basis for matching groups by means. Only English speaking
Anglo-American males were used. Control of the sex variable
was necessary since verbal ability develops differentially
for male and female children. Limiting the group to white
English speaking subjects also controlled for other vari
ables which the literature search implied were related to
verbal development. These were, for example, bilingualism,
gross cultural differences, social prejudice in reinforce
ment histories, and attitudes toward school and education.
Subjects were chosen with an average group age of
sixteen. This is the age reported as typical for delinquent
behavior in studies reviewed in the literature search. The
age control also eliminates any effects due to verbal devel
opment related to growth.
An attempt was made to select a group of delinquent
subjects who scored in the average range (scores 90-110) on
the California Test of Mental Maturity. It was not always
possible to select cases so that all individuals fell within
this range. However, the mean of the group was maintained
at this level. By keeping the tested mean at the average
range it was hoped to eliminate the possibility that the
84
results were due to deviation from one level of intelli
gence.
Subjects were also selected on the basis of their
f
socio-economic status. The aim was to keep the group aver
age at level five on the Warner Scale when the father's
occupation was the criterion (Warner et al., 1957). A sam
ple occupation representing each of the seven levels can be
seen in Appendix I. Level five is illustrated by Carpenter.
This level is the common rating reported in the literature
for delinquent populations. Several socio-economic measures
were recorded besides the father's occupation. These were
used to verify the adequacy of the socio-economic rating for
each subject, and to furnish additional personal data about
each boy.
Elimination variables.--Other variables were used to
eliminate subjects. Case history information was used to
eliminate any boys who were obviously emotionally disturbed,
physically ill, or organically brain damaged. Boys who had
committed offenses which might indicate emotional illness
were also excluded. Wards committing spectacular offenses,
such as murder, were not included. The attempt was made to
select a routine sample of Youth Authority wards exhibiting
chronic antisocial behavior. A criterion of multiple
85
offenses was used to maximize the delinquency proneness.
However, boys who had obvious deviations, which would pre
vent routine rehabilitative measures, were eliminated.
Life history information.— On the basis of social
learning theory it was hypothesized that delinquent subjects
would exhibit disrupted family histories and educational
careers. The literature search supported this contention.
The report from the California Youth Authority (1964) also
supported this finding. On this basis, information regard
ing family and education were gathered. This material could
be used to show that two groups had been chosen who reflect
the differences between delinquent and non-delinquent ado
lescents. The data collected included the family constella
tion, the father's and mother's education, whether or not
the mother worked, and the boy's school history. Appen
dixes I and II illustrate the information collected.
Non-Delinquent Achievers (Control)
The control group was drawn from William S. Hart
High School, Newhall, California. This is a public high
school in a suburban area of Los Angeles. Many of the
fathers work in metropolitan Los Angeles, but there are
rural qualities to the area. ■ A search of the Cumulative
8 6
Folders was the first step. An attempt was made to match a
group of boys with those previously selected for the delin
quent group. The matching was done with regard to group
means, rather than individual by individual. The number of
possible subjects prevented the latter technique. Age,
socio-economic level, and intelligence were the variables
used for matching.
It was hoped that the two groups could be matched on
the basis of the non-verbal section of the California Test
of Mental Maturity. This is the best that one could antici
pate from the literature, since previous studies had pointed
out significant differences on the other two scales. How
ever, an attempt was made to keep all three sub-scale scores
as near the average level as possible. Scores were avail
able in the student's Cumulative record.
Recorded scores from the California Achievement
Test were also available in the folder. Thus, the achieve
ment grade score could be compared to the California Test of
Mental Maturity grade score to determine tested achievement.
Adequate achievement was established as no more than six
months tested underachievement. In other words, only boys
were selected who had exhibited achievement in the school
which would be expected on the basis of their intellectual
ability.
A reading of the Cumulative folder also allowed a
judgment as to whether any recorded delinquent offenses had
occurred. If these were discovered the subject was auto
matically eliminated. If long term school maladjustment was
discovered the subject was not included. This was judged on
the basis of disciplinary submissions to the file. Using
all of these factors a population was chosen which was soci
ally successful within the school setting, and had exhibited
no documented delinquency.
As with the experimental group, subjects who had
histories of physical illness, organic brain damage, emo
tional illness, or other grossly deviant histories were not
accepted as subjects.
Methodology
The following section describes the experimental
methods which were developed to carry out the study. The
conditioning task was that developed by Sarason (1958) and
used by Cairns (1961). A series of one hundred 3 x 5-inch
cards was built. Each card had a series of pronouns typed
across the top of the card. The pronouns were: HE, SHE,
THEY, IT, and I. Two typewriter spaces down were typed
three verbs. One verb had aggressive connotations; one
8 8
verb had dependent connotations; and the third verb was
rated with neutral connotations. The boy was asked to con
struct a sentence using one of the pronouns as the subject
and one of the verbs. The verbs were assigned to a card and
to a position on the card by using a table of random numbera
Stimuli
Social learning theory, as adapted to predict delin
quent verbal behavior, highlighted the use of aggressive and
dependent stimuli in the verbal conditioning situation.
However, to determine if effects associated with these stim
uli are not just accidental, the use of a control set of
neutral stimuli was employed.
To develop the stimuli, verbs were chosen from the
Lorge-Thorndike frequency count (1944). Verbs were picked
so that all the selected words were approximately equal in
their frequency of usage in the language. An attempt was
also made to select simple words by keeping them on a rating
of third grade or lower. Any experimental differences,
therefore, should not be due to the frequency of usage of
the verbs in the language or to the difficulty in reading
the words.
To select aggressive, neutral, and dependent verbs,
a panel of four judges were asked to rate the selected
verbs. These judges were all professional psychologists
with two or more years of clinical experience. The specific
instructions given to them are included in Appendix III.
All verbs rated the same by three of the four judges were
accepted if the dissenting judge had made a neutral rating.
If the dissenting judge made an opposite rating the word
was eliminated.
Appendix IV gives the final list of one hundred
verbs in each category. These verbs were then randomly as
signed to a card and to a '-position on the card. They were
then typed on one hundred 3 x 5-inch cards. The randomized
lists are given in Appendix V.
One problem with verbal conditioning studies pointed
out in the literature was the difference in the time of the
occurrence of the first reinforced response (Salzinger,
1959). In attempting to overcome this problem, three addi
tional cards were prepared. They were identical to the
other cards except that they had three verbs of one hind of
stimulus typed on them. One of these cards was placed im
mediately after the operant phase, according to the stimuli
to be reinforced. Thus, every subject received his first
verbal reinforcement at the same place in the series.
Reinforcement
Reinforcement was a verbal response by the examiner
when the subject emitted the verb from the stimulus category
to which he had been randomly assigned. Only a 100 per cent
reinforcement schedule was used. The literature survey had
suggested that partial-reinforcement effects had been noted
in verbal conditioning studies. However, the study of rein
forcement schedules was beyond the scope of the immediate
research.
Positive reinforcement.— In the positive reinforce
ment condition, the examiner said: "Uh-huh, Right." This
was done each time the subject emitted the correct verb ac
cording to the contingency being used.
Negative reinforcement.— In the negative reinforce
ment condition, the examiner said: "Hu-uh, Wrong." Again,
this was repeated each time the subject emitted the verb
which was to be negatively reinforced according to the con
tingency being used.
Dependent Variable
The number of verbs emitted was the raw measure used
as the dependent variable. To be meaningful, however, a de
rived score had to be calculated which considered each
91
individual's operant level and the cumulative effects of
verbal reinforcement.
Operant level.— The first 30 presentations of stim
ulus cards were carried out without any verbal reinforcement
being given. This was to arrive at the operant level for
each subject. It also allowed a comparison of groups in
their initial use of aggressive, neutral, and dependent
verbs. The operant level provided a method to control for
individual differences in the initial use of these verbs.
Conditioning trials.— The conditioning trials began
with the extra stimulus card inserted after the operant
phase. The card inserted was determined by the type of
stimulus verb to be reinforced. This made sure the first
verbal reinforcement took place at the same time in the
sequence for all subjects. Following this inserted card,
the next 40 trials were verbally reinforced according to
the stimulus-response contingency under consideration. Sub
jects were randomly assigned to reinforcement and stimuli.
Extinction trials.--Beginning with card 71 verbal
reinforcements were discontinued. These last 30 stimulus
presentations served as an extinction session.
92
Scoring.— The dependent variable was the number of
verbs emitted according to the contingency being followed.
However, it was necessary to develop a. scoring system which
.would reflect the cumulative effects of continuous rein
forcement. The plan developed was to count the number of
reinforced responses emitted in each consecutive series of
ten cards. Thus, there were three counts in the operant
phase (Cards 1-30) , * four counts in the conditioning phase
(Cards 31-70); and three counts in the extinction phase
(Cards 71-100).
The original plan was to use the average of the
three operant counts as the base-rate for each subject.
However, subsequent analysis of the results from the operant
phase revealed the mean not to be applicable. There was a
significant triple interaction. Because of this, it was de
cided that the count for the third operant series of 10
cards (Cards 21-30) was best to estimate the subject's base-
rate when conditioning began.
The conditioning score was derived by subtracting
the operant score from each of the four counts during the
conditioning phase (Cards 31-70). These four differences
were then added. This total was used as the conditioning
score. .This procedure should reflect the total effect of
93
verbal conditioning.
The extinction score was calculated by using the
last conditioning series as the base-rate (Cards 61-70).
This score was subtracted from each of the three counts dur
ing extinction (Cards 71-100). These three differences were
then added to arrive at the extinction score.
Awareness
Awareness of the conditioning contingency was gaged
by use of an open-end method developed by Taffel (1955).
The adaption to the present circumstances was made and can
be examined in Appendix VI. This questionnaire was filled
out immediately after finishing the experimental session.
The examiner administered the questions verbally and pursued
responses freely to determine what awareness might have
developed.
Cognizance was taken of the literature which seemed
4 ■
to suggest that the open-end questionnaire technique was
inadequate. However, the design was already complex enough
and specific manipulation of the awareness variable seemed
beyond the present design. Taffel1s technique seemed to
overcome some of these limitations. At least, it allowed
some systematic rating of awareness.
94
Examiner Description and Self Description
The Leary Interpersonal Check List was used to mea
sure interpersonal relationships (Leary, 1956). A copy of
this check list can be examined in Appendix VII. This check
/
list has two orthogonal dimensions. The vertical dimension
runs on a continuum from submission to dominance. The
horizontal dimension runs from hostility to love. A score
for each dimension is taken from the check list. With these
two scores, a single point can be plotted for each individ
ual .
Leary has further refined his system by drawing a
circle using the bisection of the two orthogonal variables
as the center. The circle is then broken down into eight
interrelated categories descriptive of personality types.
Thus, each person can be descriptively diagnosed according
to the sector into which his plot falls. A pictoral repre
sentation of Leary's Interpersonal system is shown in^
Fig. 4, Chapter IV.
Maksimczyk (1960) has demonstrated that a delinquent
group of adolescent males could be differentiated from a
control group using this check list. On this basis, the
Leary Check List was used to determine whether the manner in
which the two groups described the examiner was related to
95
verbal conditioning. It was also possible to study whether
the subject's self-description was related to the dependent
variable.
Procedure
Pre-Test
The following steps were necessary to carry out the
experimental procedures. Pre-test data were collected on
each subject before any experimental testing was done. A
group of subjects was selected on the basis of this pre-test
information, fitting the determined .criteria for inclusion
in the study. Each subject was then randomly assigned to an
experimental condition. These random assignments are given
in Appendix VIII.
Experimental Session
Each subject was scheduled individually. A routine
approach was used. The examiner introduced himself by
saying:
Hello. I'm _____________ . I am doing an experimental
study to try to find out about the verbal ability of
teen-age boys. Would you mind participating? It
means that you would make up some sentences for me.
At this point the examiner waited for some response
from the subject. Further discussion was handled informally
96
in an effort to make the subject feel comfortable and ac
cepting of the experiment.
Biographical information.— Next the examiner went
through the biographical information sheet with the subject
(Appendix II).
Self-description.— Following the biographical infor
mation the subject was given a copy of Leary's Interpersonal
b
Check List. The instructions were as follows:
This is a set of descriptive words or phrases. Would
you quickly go through the list and check those words
or phrases which are true about you as you are most
of the time? You can use as many or as few as you
would like.
At this point the subject was reassured that the
information would not be used in any official capacity, or
be identifiable by name.
Verbal conditioning.— As soon as the boy finished
the self-description he was handed the stack of stimulus
cards. The following instructions were given:
Now I would like for you to make up some sentences
and say them to me. To do this you can use these
cards. Your task is to make one sentence for each
card. Notice that each card has a pronoun at the top
and three verbs below. In your sentence use one of
these pronouns and one of these verbs. You can use
any you like.
97
With these instructions, the examiner waited for the
subject to begin. Any further assistance was given as
needed to help the subject get started with the first sen
tence. After that the subject was given no further direc
tion.
Awareness.— As soon as the extinction period was
finished, the subject was questioned by the examiner accord
ing to the Awareness Inventory (Appendix VI). Responses
were manually recorded by the examiner for later rating.
Examiner description.— Following the completion of
the Awareness Inventory, the subject was given another copy
of the Interpersonal Check List. The instructions were:
This is a blank exactly like the one you filled out
to describe yourself. This time I would like you to
fill it out giving your description of me. Feel as
free as you can to give a description of me as you
have been able to judge from this time with me.
Termination.--When the examiner description was fin
ished, the experimenter informed the subject that the test
ing was over. Time was given to explore any questions the
subject might have. No direct explanations were given in
case inter-subject communication might distort the results.
An attempt was made to communicate appreciation to the sub
ject.
Calendar
The delinquent subjects were selected and tested
during the months of November and December, 1963- The pub
lic high school subjects were not available until after the
Christmas holidays and midterm tests. Thus, they were not
selected and tested until January and February of 1964.
Statistical Analysis
The study consisted of a three-way design with eight
subjects per cell. There were two groups (Delinquent and
Control), two types of reinforcement (Positive and Negative),
and three types of stimuli (Aggressive, Neutral, and Depend
ent) . The design thus called for 48 subjects in each group:
96 subjects in all. Assignment of subjects to conditions
was done with a random table of numbers. The basic statis
tical test was that of Analysis of Variance (McNemar, 1955).
This test assumes that the scores are normally distributed
and that the populations involved have the same variance.
To determine if the first assumption was met the scores were
plotted in a frequency distribution and visually examined.
The second assumption was explored by using Hartley's larg
est F ratio (Walker and Lev, 1953, p. 192). This test re
quires groups of uniform size and a special table (Walker
and Lev, 1953, pp. 462-463).
99
Since there was more than one case per cell, the
within-cell variance was used as the denominator in the P
test. This is on the basis of having a fixed constants
mathematical model— none of the basic classifications in
volve random sampling (McNemar, 1955, p. 3 28). The Analysis
of Variance technique furnished a statistical test of the
experimental hypotheses, but more importantly, it allowed an
examination of possible interaction effects. Analysis of
Variance is a conservative approach, but it was deemed ap
propriate as there was no theoretical or empirical basis for
believing that the variables used to match the two groups by
means were correlated with the dependent variable.
Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were
used for exploring the possible relationships of the inter
personal variables with the dependent variable.
The Chi-square test was used for statistical tests
involving data classified in a nominal manner. It was
recognized that some of these comparisons were based on
truly non-continuous distributions, while others were pos
sibly continuous. However, since the measures used were
rather crude and important data (I don't know) would not
conform to ordinal scales, the loss of statistical power-
seemed justified. It was necessary in some cases to combine
classifications to meet the requirement that the "expected"
frequencies be larger than 5 (McNemar, 1955, p. 222). Ac
cording to McNemar, Yate's correction is not necessary in
this case.
Inasmuch as this was a study which was exploratory
in nature, it was decided that the .05 per cent level of
statistical significance would be reasonable.
CHAPTER IV
RESULTS
Analysis of the data began with the variables used
as experimental controls. The experimental variables were
then subjected to statistical manipulation. The findings
were then used to test the experimental hypotheses which
were re-stated in null form. The raw data are recorded in
Appendixes VIII and IX.
Control Variables
All the control variables were based upon deliberate
selection. However, it was necessary to determine that the
selections and classifications did not lead to statistically
significant differences between control and experimental
subjects.
Sex
All subjects used in the study were male. Conse
quently, further elaboration of this variable was not needed.
1 0 1
Nationality
All subjects were native born English speaking
Anglo-Americans. Further statistical calculations were not
necessary.
Chronological Age
The age of all subjects was calculated from the
birthdate available in official records and corroborated by
the boy. Statistical calculations were accomplished by
placing the age of each subject in a three-way analysis of
variance identical to that of the basic experimental design.
The checks on the assumptions of the F test seemed to be
satisfactory. By following this method it was possible to
determine if there were any significant differences between
the two groups. This method also enabled the determination
of possible age variation related to the experimental vari
ables. The age score used was in months minus 170 to make
calculations easier. The resultant means and standard devi
ations are given in Table 1. The results of the analysis of
variance are given in Table 2. There were no significant
differences between groups,, stimuli, or type of reinforce
ment. None of the interactions was significant. Thus, it
can be asserted that the selection procedures did not lead
to groups different in age. Also, it can be maintained that
103-
TABLE 1
MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR
CHRONOLOGICAL AGE OF SUBJECTS
Subjects
Delinquents Controls
S t imuli Agg. Neut. Dep. Agg. Neut. Dep.
Reinforcement
Right M 15.80 16.90 16.02 16.37 16.70 16.32
SD 1.00 .83, .79 .71 .51 .48
Wrong M 16.30 16.25 16.65 16.26 16.51 16.31
SD 1.09 .81 .47 .60 .49 .74
M 16.17 , 16.41
SD
Totais M
.92 .82
16 .21
SD .92
TABLE 2
ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE FOR
CHRONOLOGICAL AGE OF SUBJECTS
Source
Sum of
Squares
Degrees of
Freedom
Variance
Estimate
F
Stimuli 78.06 2 39. 53
—
Reinforcement 116.93 1 116.93 —
Groups 213.01 1 213.01 2 .01*
SXG 106.73 2 53.36 —
SXR 157.55 2 78.77 —
RXG 274.67 1 274.67 2.59*
SXRXG .00 2 .00 —
Within 8895.12 84 105.89
Totals 9781.91 95
*Not significant
any experimental effects would not be related to age.
Socio-Economic Level
A number of measures reflecting socio-economic level
were recorded to assist in determining how adequately the
groups were matched on this variable. The basic design
called for the groups to be matched on the variable of the
father's occupation. The other information provided a check
on this estimate of socio-economic level as well as further
information about the subjects. These other variables were
the mother's education, the father's education, and the num
ber of working mothers.
Father's occupation.--An attempt was made to match
the experimental and control groups on a number of simultan
eous variables. Consequently, although the control subjects
were deliberately chosen to match the mean socio-economic
rating of the delinquent group's fathers, there were errors
in matching. However, if there is no systematic bias, these
errors should be randomly distributed through the experi
mental design. On this basis an analysis of variance was
used to determine the success of matching. Basic statisti
cal assumptions were studied and deemed adequately satisfied.
There are no significant effects attributable to any of the
105
experimental.variables and the two groups do not differ.
The results of the analysis of variance are presented in
Table 3. . The mean ratings and standard deviations on the
Warner Scale are given in Table 4.
TABLE 3
ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE FOR THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC
RATING BY FATHER’S OCCUPATION
Source
Sum of
Squares
Degrees of
Freedom
Variance
Estimate
F
Stimuli .27 2 .13
—
Reinforcement 1.60 1 1.60 —
Groups .27 1 .27 —
SXR 9.34 2 4.67 2.23*
SXG 3.29 2 1.64 —
RXG 1.67 1 1.67 —
SXRXG .00 2 .00 —
Within 175.75 84 2.09
*Not significant
TABLE 4
MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR THE
SOCIO-ECONOMIC RATING BY FATHER’S OCCUPATION
Group Mean Rating SD
Delinquents 5.10 1.33.
Control 5.18 1.50
Total 5.14 1.46
106
Father's education.— A second variable used to exam
ine the socio-economic level was that of the father's educa
tion. Each subject was asked about his father's education.
There were no official records against which the answer
could be compared. Consequently, there were a good number
of responses reflecting the subject's lack of knowledge
about the father's education. The Chi-square technique was
used as the statistical tool and an arbitrary set of "class
ifications" was chosen which seemed to be simple and yet
reflect the level of educational achievement. In the actual
calculations the highest three categories had to be combined
to conform to statistical assumptions. The results are
given in Table 5. There are no significant differences.
This suggests an adequate match on this variable. One trend
is the delinquent's lack of knowledge of his father's educa
tion. Another is the tendency for the control group to have
fathers who graduated from high school.
Working mothers.— Tallies were kept of the number of
mothers who were working at the time of the experiment. The
source of the data, again, was the statement of the subject.
No effort was made to break this down into the type of jobs
which these women held. The results are presented in Table
6. The "part-time" category was dropped in the statistical
107
TABLE 5
CHI-SQUARE ANALYSIS OF FATHER'S EDUCATION
Group
Level of Education (Grade)
Unknown
i
00
9-12 HSGrad 13-15 16 16+
Delinquents 9 9 11 9 10 0 0
Controls 1 9 12 18 6 1 1
Chi-square 7.74
Degrees of freedom 4
Not statistically significant
TABLE 6
CHI-SQUARE ANALYSIS FOR WORKING MOTHERS
Group
Categories
Yes No Part-Time
Delinquents
Controls
28
18
17 3
28 2
Chi-square 4.32
Degrees of freedom 1
Not statistically significant
analysis as the expected frequencies, were too small and did
not meet necessary assumptions. As with the fathers, these
data appear to point out that the two groups are quite simi
lar. The results are not statistically significant and we
can assume that there is no systematic difference between
the groups to have working mothers. The trend, however, is
in favor of the control group.
108
Mother's education.— The educational level of the
mothers was analyzed in the same manner as that done for the
fathers. Again> the subjects provided the information. The
results are presented in Table 7. As with the fathers, the
last three categories had to be combined. The differences
are significant. However, it is noticed that the delinquent
group did not know how much education their mothers had.
This one category contributed three-fourths of the signifi
cant results. Difference in education was negligible (Chi-
square 2.66). There does not seem to be the difference in
graduation from high school as noted with the fathers.
TABLE 7
CHI-SQUARE ANALYSIS OF MOTHER'S EDUCATION
Group
Level of Education (Grade)
Unknown 1-8 9-12 HSGrad 13-15 16 16 +
Delinquents 8 2 13 16 8 1 0
Controls 0 6 12 21 8 1 0
Chi-square 10.66
Degrees of freedom 4
Significant at the .05 level
Summary of socio-economic variables.— Over-all the
two groups do not differ beyond what one might expect by
chance factors. The variables considered were the father's
109
occupational level, the father's educational level, the num
ber of working mothers, and the mother's educational level.
Intelligence
The original design of the study called for matching
the subjects on the non-verbal portion of the California
Test of Mental Maturity. However, data were collected on
all three subscores and were analyzed. The analysis was ac
complished by recording the score in the over-all experi
mental design and calculating an analysis of variance. This
method allowed a test of any difference between the two
groups and a consideration as to whether differences in in
tellectual test scores were related to any of the experi
mental variables.
Full scale score.— The analysis of the full scale
score failed to support the contention of any difference be
tween the groups. Statistical assumptions were satisfactor
ily met for making this decision. None of the experimental
variables were related to the full scale score. The mean
scores and standard deviations for the full design are pre
sented in Table 8. The analysis of variance results for
this data is presented in Table 9. Though the differences
are not significant, there are some trends which are
110
TABLE 8
MEAN FULL SCALE SCORES AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS
ON THE CALIFORNIA TEST OF MENTAL MATURITY
Subjects
Delinquents Controls
Stimuli Agg. Neut. Dep. Agg. Neut. Dep.
Reinforcement
Right M 93.37 95.87 90.75 93.75 95.12 98.62
SD 14.70 15.29 18.89 9.59 12.90 9.15
Wrong M 97.00 91.37 96.35 99.25 99.75 100.87
SD 14.76 14.55 6.44 11.36 7.23 16.16
M 94.12 98.10
„ . .e SD
15.67 8.64
ToC3.1 s
M 96.11
SD 18.40
TABLE 9
ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE FOR THE FULL SCALE SCORES
ON THE CALIFORNIA TEST OF MENTAL MATURITY
Source
Sum of Degrees of Variance
Squares Freedom Estimate
F
Stimuli 5.80 2 2.90 —
Reinforcement 217.85 1 217.85 1.26*
Groups 371.52 1 371.52 2.16*
SXR 13.99 2 6.99 —
SXG 284.84 2 142.42 —
RXG 59.96 1 59.96 —
SXRXG 93 .87 2 46.95 —
Within 14,441.63 84 171.81
Totals 15,489.46 95
*Not significant
Ill
relevant. The control group is above the experimental
group. Thus, the matching was not able to completely elim
inate some difference. However, the difference is not
greater than would be expected from a random selection.
Non-verbal scale score.--The difference between
groups is not significant when they are compared on the
basis of the non-verbal scores. The.groups are much closer
together on the non-verbal scale. Tables 10 and 11 present
the results.
Unfortunately, some of the information on the con
trol group was either not available or not valid for various
reasons. Consequently, the mean for the control group had
to be substituted for 15 cases in the analysis of variance
calculations. These were well distributed throughout the
cells of the design and would contribute fairly equally to
the comparisons made. To make calculations easier, a con
stant of 50 was subtracted from each individual's score.
Table 11 would reflect this procedural variation. Appendix
VIII shows the raw data and will demonstrate the substitu
tions that were necessary. The check on the homogeneity of
variance was not satisfactory; consequently, an appropriate
t test (Walker and Lev, 1953, p. 157) was also used. As an
ticipated this confirmed that the two groups did not differ.
1 1 2
TABLE 10
MEAN NON-VERBAL SCALE SCORES AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS
ON THE CALIFORNIA TEST OF MENTAL MATURITY
Subjects
Delinquents Controls
Stimuli Agg. Neut. Dep.
Agg.
Neut. Dep.
Reinforcement
Right M 94.87 94.25 95.12 90.25 100.12 99.87
SD 18.10 18.11 18.43 14.07 15.03 4. 56
Wrong M 93.75 103.87 97.00 96.97 101.25 101.50
SD 18.42 18.66 9.73 18.80 7.86 12.18
M 96.47 98.31
SD
Totals
M
16.25 14.31
97 .39
SD 17 .13
TABLE 11
ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF THE NON-
ON THE CALIFORNIA TEST OF MENTAL MATURITY
Source
Sum of
Squares
Degrees of
Freedom
Variance
Estimate
F
Stimuli 599.47 2 299.73
__*
Reinforcement 386.97 1 386.97 —
Groups 89.05 1 89.05 —
SXR 29.19 2 14.59
—
SXG 52.32 2 26.16
—
RXG 4.05 1 4.05 —
SXRXG 389.77 2 194.88 —
Within 65,007.63 84 773.90
Totals 66,558.45 95
*Not significant
113
Verbal scale scores.— The analysis of the verbal
scale scores allows a conclusion that there is no difference
between the two groups and between the experimental condi
tions. Statistical assumptions were adequately met. How
ever, the greatest difference between groups is found on
this scale. The difference is in favor of the control
group. This result is consistent with previous research as
documented in the literature survey. Table 12 presents the
averages and standard deviations. Table 13 gives the re
sults of the analysis of variance. Again, some of the ver
bal scale scores were not usable. Therefore, the mean of
the control group on the verbal scale was substituted.
These substitutions coincide with those on the non-verbal
scale,.and, as in that case, are well distributed through
the experimental design.
Summary of intelligence scores.— It is possible to
say, on a statistical basis, that the two groups are ade
quately matched on the California Test of Mental Maturity.
The groups do not differ. Additionally, none of the experi
mental variables is associated with any differences in in
telligence test scores. This speaks for the success of the
matching procedures. However, there are trends in the data
which demand attention. Table 14 presents the means for the
114
TABLE 12
MEAN VERBAL SCALE SCORES AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS
ON THE CALIFORNIA TEST OF MENTAL MATURITY
Subjects
Delinquents Controls
Stimuli Agg. Neut. Dep. Agg. Neut. Dep.
Reinforcement
Right M 92.62 92.75 87 .75 94.37 97.37 95.87
SD 17.15 20.50 19.68 13.22 8.64 18.40
Wrong M 93.37 90.37 95.12 98.00 93.12 102.50
SD 17.88 16.54 8.23 17 . 29 5.85 7.00
M 92.06 96.86
Totals SD
M
18.86 13.00
94.46
SD 14.47
TABLE 13
ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE OF THE VERBAL SCALE SCORES
ON THE CALIFORNIA TEST OF MENTAL MATURITY
Source
Slim of
Squares
Degrees of
Freedom
Variance
Estimate
F
Stimuli 20.50 2 10.25
—
Reinforcement 23.54 1 23.54 —
Groups 221.37 1 221.37 —
SXR 592.79 2 296.39 1.30*
SXG 306.33 2 153.16 —
RXG 208.24 1 208.24
—
SXRXG 818.59 2 409.29 1.69*
Within 19,015.63 84 226.37
Totals 20,197.99 95
*Not significant
115
groups by the scale score on the California Test of Mental
Maturity. Observation suggests that the delinquents vary
among the three scales while the three means for the control
group are remarkably similar. The trend is for the delin
quent group to have the highest score on the non-verbal
scale and the lowest on the verbal scale. This is consist
ent with what would be anticipated from the review of the
literature. However, it is somewhat better than had been
anticipated, since in the original design it was hoped to
match the groups only on the non-verbal scale. All means
are within the average range.
TABLE 14
SUMMARY OF INTELLIGENCE TEST DATA BY MEANS
FOR THE TWO GROUPS OF SUBJECTS
Scale Delinquents Controls Total
Verbal scale 92.06 98.86 94.46
Non-verbal scale 96.47 98.31 97.39
Full scale 94.12 98.10 96.11
Tested Achievement
The design called for selecting the delinquent popu
lation from among those who demonstrated lack of achievement
as confirmed by achievement test scores. The scores on the
California Test of Mental Maturity were converted into grade
placements as were the scores on the California Achievement
Test— Total score. The difference was then used to select
underachievers. To analyze the success of this technique,
the difference scores were fitted into the major experi
mental design and subjected to analysis of variance. To
eliminate negative numbers during calculations, a constant
of 6 was added to each score. The mean difference scores
and standard deviations are shown in Table 15. The results
of the statistical calculations are given in Table 16. Un
fortunately, the assumptions underlying this analysis could
not be completely supported. Therefore, a t test was also
calculated. The t came out to be 5.64 with 94 degrees of
freedom. This was significant at the .01 level. t tests
between conditions were not significant. It can be assumed
that the selection of subjects did provide two groups which
were different on this variable. It is also important to
note that none of the experimental variables are related to
this difference between groups. Subsequently, it will be
impossible to account for any effects caused by various
stimuli or reinforcements on this basis. It is worth noting
that the control group was not "overachieving." They tested
at a level which implies that they are achieving at an
117
TABLE 15
MEAN DIFFERENCES AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS
BETWEEN ACHIEVEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE
SCORES BY GRADE EQUIVALENCES
Subjects
Delinquents Controls
Stimuli Agg. Neut.
* ..
Dep. Agg. Neut. Dep.
Reinforcement
Right M -2.07 -1.88 -1.82 .00 .48 .50
SD 1.66 1.62 2.00 .93 .61 .65
Wrong M -1. 30 -1.48 -2.11 -.18 .18 .02
SD .10 1.89 . 78 .71 .70 1.31
M
Totais SD
-1.74
1. 50
.01
.72
TABLE 16
ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE FOR THE
UNDERACHIEVEMENT SCORES OF BOTH GROUPS
Source
Sum of
Squares
Degrees of
Freedom
Variance
Estimate
F
Stimuli 75.02 2 37.51
—
Reinforcement 1.26 1 1.26 —
Groups 8,721.09 1 8,721.09 61.49*
SXR 130.27 2 65.13
—
SXG 108.69 2 54.34 —
RXG 276.76 1 276.76 1.95
SXRXG 41.52 2 20.76
—
Within 11,912.38 84 141.81
*Significant at the .001 level
118
expected level in accordance with their tested intellectual
ability. This is probably why the variances were not homo
geneous. It can be maintained then that the selection pro
cedures were successful and the variable used provided a
homogeneous group which was empirically defined.
Experimental Variables
Inasmuch as the control variables appeared to ful
fill the requirements of the experimental design, the anal
ysis of the experimental variables was deemed applicable.
However, very little was known about what to expect in the
way of operant levels, and a thorough study of these was
undertaken initially.
Operant Level
The initial analysis considered the number of re
sponses elicited in each of the three sections of 10 stimu
lus presentations which comprised the operant phase of the
experiment. First the total number of responses given by
each subject to the 30 cards was used to calculate an analy
sis of variance. The results are presented in Table 17.
The check on statistical assumptions was satisfactory. The
results are quite straightforward. The groups do not dif
fer. However, both groups prefer to use dependent verbs
119
most and aggressive verbs least when this measure is used.
The mean number of dependent responses given was 11.37. The
mean number of neutral responses was 10.25. The mean number
of aggressive responses was 8.59. (Only the smallest dif
ference was not significant by t tests.)
TABLE 17
ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE FOR THE TOTAL RESPONSES
ELICITED IN THE OPERANT PERIOD
Source
Sum of
Squares
Degrees of
Freedom
Variance
Estimate
F
Stimuli 125.27 2 62 .63 7 . 97*
Reinforcement .26 1 .26 —
Groups 21.09 1 21.09 --
SXR 14.64 2 7 .32
—
SXG 6.81 2 3 .40 —
RXG 11.34 1 11.34 —
SXRXG 1.19 2 .59 —
Within 659.89 84 7 .85
Totals 840.49 95
*Significant at the .001 level
An important question presented itself when prefer
ences were found to be present. It was asked whether these
preferences could have changed over the series of presenta
tions during the operant period. If so, then the average
operant level would not be a satisfactory base from which to
calculate the effects of verbal reinforcements. To test
1 2 0
this possibility an analysis of variance was undertaken in
which the original factorial design was changed. Because
the right and wrong reinforcement categories were insignifi
cant in the analysis of variance of the total scores, and
since they made little logical difference at this point,
this category was collapsed and the three sections of 10
presentations each were put in their place. The resultant
factorial design compared the two subject groups, the three
types of stimuli, and the three groups of 10 presentations.
This change also brought about a different mathe
matical model. The F tests were done according to the
"mixed model" as discussed by McNemar (McNemar, 1955, p.331).
The triple interaction was used to test the two-way interac
tion effects. The appropriate two-way interaction variance
estimate was used to test the main effects. Within-cell
variance was used to test the three-way interaction effects.
However, McNemar states that a significant F, in this case,
would only suggest that the three-way interaction is, for
this sample, greater than expected on the basis of errors of
measurement.
The check on the assumptions underlying this analy
sis was satisfactory. The results are presented in Table 18.
A pictorial presentation is shown in Fig. 1. This graph is
based on the means contained in Table 19.
As can be seen in Table 18, only the triple interac
tion is significant. The appropriate conclusion would seem
to be that the over-all differences are quite large. How
ever, for this reason it was decided to use the last three
series of 10 cards (21-30) as the operant level from which
to calculate the effect of verbal reinforcement. It was
reasoned that this would be the best estimate of each indi
vidual 's tendency to use a certain verb at the time when
operant conditioning with verbal reinforcement was begun.
Verbal Conditioning
The verbal conditioning score was derived by using
the number of responses elicited in the third operant series
as the base rate for each individual in the experiment.
Each series of 10 stimulus cards was taken separately. The
operant level was subtracted from each series. The total of
the four difference scores was the conditioning score. The
statistical analysis was handled by use of analysis of vari
ance. This was calculated in accordance with the basic ex
perimental design. Some of the conditioning scores were
negative and a constant of 16 was added to each score to
remedy this. Assumptions were checked and found to be
1 2 2
TABLE 18
ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE FOR THE OPERANT LEVEL
BROKEN DOWN INTO CONSECUTIVE SERIES
Source
Sum of
Squares
Degrees of
Freedom
Variance
Estimate
F
Stimuli 40.90 2 20.45 2.41
Series 1.33 2 .66
—
Groups 10.29 1 10. 29 3.79
SXSer 33.94 4 8.48 —
SXG .00 2 .00 —
SerXG 5.42 2 2.71
SXSXG 75.26 4 18.81 9.26*
Within 459.32 276 2.03
Totals 726.46 293
*Significant at the .01 level
TABLE 19
MEAN NUMBER OF VERBS EMITTED BY SUBJECTS AND THE
STANDARD DEVIATIONS FOR THE THREE SECTIONS
OF THE OPERANT PHASE
Subjects
Delinquents Controls
Stimuli Agg. Neut. Dep. Agg. Neut. Dep.
Series
1-10 M 3.06 2.95 3. 56 3.75 3.18 3.18
SD 1.90 1.53 1.80 1.77 1.90 1.68
11-20 M 2.87 4.25 4.06 2.68 3.31 3.50
SD 1.47 .96 1.80 1.74 .92 1.42
21-30 M 2.75 3.68 4.43 2.06 3.12 4.00
SD 1.81 1.70 1.53 1.81 1.80 1.61
M 3.51 3.20
Totals
SD 1.87 1.45
NUMBER OF RESPONSES
123
(1) Delinquent-Dependency
(2) Delinquent-Neutral
(3) Delinquent-Aggressive
(4) Control-Dependency
(5) Control-Neutral
(6) Control-Aggressive
II III
SERIES
Fig. 1. Diagram presenting the number of responses
given by each group to the three types of stimuli during the
three operant series.
124
satisfactorily met. The results of this analysis are pre
sented in Table 20. The means and standard deviations for
the comparisons are included in Table 21. Figure 2 depicts
the results. ■
Observation of Table 20 indicates that the two
groups are different and the effects from the use of the
three types of stimuli are different. The test of the main
effects from the type of reinforcement is not significant.
However, there is a definite interaction with the other two
basic variables when the triple interaction is considered.
To further elaborate the effects from the experi
mental manipulations, t tests were calculated using the
means included in Table 21. The within-cell (error) mean
square was used as the denominator in the t test according
to the method outlined by Walker and Lev (1953, p. 354).
Groups.— The comparison of groups is significant and
since there are only two groups, further t tests were not
necessary.
Stimuli.— The t tests comparing the three types of
stimuli were all significant. (Dependent versus Neutral:
t is 2.53 significant at the .01 level. Dependent versus
Aggressive: t is 3.77 significant at the .01 level.
125
TABLE 20
ANALYSIS OP VARIANCE FOR THE
VERBAL CONDITIONING SCORES OF BOTH GROUPS
Source
Sum of
Squares
Degrees of
Freedom
Variance
Estimate
F
Stimuli 350.68 2 175.34 4.00*
Reinforcement 65.00 1 65.00 —
Groups 237.50 1 237 .50 5.43**
SXR 90.40 2 45.20 —
SXG 56.18 2 28.09 —
RXG 28.80 1 28.80 —
SXRXG 512.21 2 256.10 5.85**
Within 3674.38 84 43.74
Totals 5015.15 95
*Significant at the .05 level
**Significant at the .01 level
TABLE 21
MEAN CONDITIONING SCORES AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS
FOR EACH GROUP BY REINFORCEMENT AND STIMULI
Subjects
Delinquents Controls
Stimuli Agg. Neut. Dep. Agg. Neut. Dep.
Reinforcement
Right M 3.00 -.50 -2.25 6 .50 1.25 -1.00
SD 4.18 8.00 3.41 6.44 7.59 3.37
Wrong M -3 .00 .00 -4.62 3 .87 1.37 -1.75
SD 6.00 8.15 8.12 5.41 3.71 11.07
Totals
M
SD
-1.23
7.15
1.70
6.96
AVERAGE NUMBER OF RESPONSES
126
(1) Delinquent-Right
(2) Delinquent-Wrong
(3) Control-Right
(4) Control-Wrong
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
-1
(3)
(4)
(1)
-2
-3
-4
-5
(2)
-6
NEUTRAL DEPENDENT AGGRESSIVE
TYPE OF STIMULI
Fig. 2. Diagram presents the results of the verbal
conditioning using average scores for each group by the type
of stimuli.
127
Aggressive versus Neutral: t is 2.41 significant at the
.05 level of confidence.)
Reinforcement.— Only two types of reinforcement were
used. Since the over-all F test was not significant, the
t test was not needed.
Neutral stimuli.— The neutral stimuli were included
in the experimental design as a control variable. It was
expected that the effects of aggressive and dependent stim
uli could best be assessed in terms of differences from ef
fects due to neutral stimuli. None of the t tests involving
neutral stimuli were significant. The two groups did not
differ and the effect of verbal reinforcement was similar
for both types. In other words, the significant results of
this experiment are not due to neutral stimuli.
Dependent stimuli.— When the means for the groups
exposed to dependent stimuli are considered, only one compar
ison is significantly different. This is between the delin
quent group given negative reinforcement and the control
group given positive reinforcement. The t is 2.19, which is
significant at the .05 level of confidence. There are, how
ever, other effects of interest in that they are opposite to
experimental predictions. Both groups reduce their use of
128
dependent verbs when given positive reinforcement. The two
groups do not differ statistically but the trend is for the
delinquent group to do this more than the control group.
The trend toward a stronger effect is also noted with the
delinquent group when negative reinforcement is used.
Aggressive stimuli.— Four comparisons are statisti
cally significant when groups are compared which were as
signed to aggressive stimuli. The effect of positive and
negative reinforcement upon delinquent subjects is highly
significant (t is 3.63, which is significant at the .01
level). The delinquents increase their use of aggressive
verbs with positive reinforcement and decrease with negative
reinforcement. On the other hand, the control subjects in
crease their use of aggressive verbs regardless of the re
inforcement used. There is no significant difference be
tween the two types of reinforcement for this group. This
result was not predicted.
The delinquent and control subjects also differ in
their reaction to positive reinforcement as would be ex
pected from the previous results. The t is 2.12, which is
significant at the .05 level. Also, as expected from the
above information, the two groups are significantly differ
ent when the positive and negative reinforcements are
129
considered. The t is 5.72, which is significant at the .01
level. Finally, additional confirmation of the difference
between groups is given when the delinquent and control
groups are compared in terms of their reaction to negative
reinforcement. The t is 4.16, which is significant at the
.01 level.
Dependent versus neutral stimuli.— Only one group
significantly differed in their use of dependent stimuli
from their use of neutral stimuli. This was the delinquent
group who received negative reinforcement. The t is 2.80,
which with 84 degrees of freedom is significant at the .01
level of confidence. This group reduced their use of de
pendency stimuli on the average of -4.62 verbs. It is also
important to note the two groups reacted in a manner oppo
site to experimental predictions. The delinquent group who
received positive reinforcement actually reduced their use
of dependent verbs. The control group also reduced their
use of dependent verbs with positive reinforcement. The two
groups did not differ enough to produce a significant sta
tistical difference.
Aggressive versus neutral stimuli.— Two groups dif
fer when aggressive and neutral stimuli are considered.
Delinquent subjects given positive reinforcement signifi-
130
cantly increased their use of aggressive verbs. (The t is
2.12, which is significant at the .05 level.) The control
group also significantly increased their use of aggressive
verbs with positive reinforcement. (The t is 3.18, which is
significant at the .01 level.)
Aggressive versus dependent stimuli.--All of the
comparisons between groups assigned to dependent and aggres
sive stimuli were significant except one. The non
significant difference was between aggressive and dependent
stimuli when the delinquent subjects were given negative re
inforcement. In both cases the delinquents reduced their
use of the verbs. Apparently the effect was similar for
both conditions. The significant tests were for delin
quents assigned to positive reinforcement (t is 3.18 signif
icant at the .01 leveb); control subjects assigned to posi
tive reinforcement (t is 4.54 significant at the .01 level);
control subjects assigned to negative reinforcement (t is
3.40 significant at the .01 level).
Positive versus negative reinforcement.— When posi
tive and negative reinforcement are analyzed, one comparison
does yield significant results. Positive reinforcement in
creases aggressive verbs when used with experimental
subjects and negative reinforcement decreases the use of
these verbs. (The t is 3.63 significant at the .01 level.)
"Right" and "Wrong" do not appear to bring about significant
statistical differences in the other conditions. However,
it must be recalled that the results are often opposite to
predicted effects.
Summary of verbal conditioning results.— The delin
quent and control subjects can be separately identified in
terms of the over-all results of verbal conditioning. How
ever, the effects from type of stimulus used are signifi
cantly different. This difference is not due to neutral
stimuli. Thus, the aggressive and dependent connotations of
the other stimuli led to the significant differences between
the two groups. All subjects decrease their use of depend
ent verbs regardless of the type of reinforcement used. The
only difference between the two groups in the use of depend
ent verbs is between the delinquents assigned to negative
reinforcement and the controls assigned to positive rein
forcement. The delinquents significantly reduce their use
of dependent verbs while the controls reduce their use of
dependent verbs only slightly under positive reinforcement.
It is in the use of aggressive verbs that most dif
ferences are found. For the delinquent group positive
132
reinforcement leads to a significant increase in the use of
aggressive verbs. Negative reinforcement leads to a signif
icant decrease in the use of these words. For the controls
subjects both types of reinforcement lead to an increase in
the use of aggressive verbs. The effect of positive rein
forcement is significantly larger for the control group.
The increase in the use of aggressive verbs with negative
reinforcement was unpredicted and is statistically signifi
cant in comparison with the experimental group.
All of the comparisons between groups assigned to
dependent and aggressive stimuli were significant except
one. The delinquent group did not differ between aggressive
and dependent stimuli when negative reinforcement was used.
The experimental group reduced its use of both types of
verbs under this condition.
Positive and negative reinforcement produced clear
significant differences only in the delinquent subjects when
aggressive verbs were being used. The delinquents increased
their use o£, these verbs when positive reinforcement was
used and decreased them with negative reinforcement.
Extinction
The extinction score for each individual was derived
by using the number of responses emitted in the last series
of 10 presentations under the conditioning situation as the
base rate. Three series of 10 presentations each composed
the extinction period. No reinforcements were given during
this time. The results were again submitted to an analysis
of variance. A check was made as to whether the underlying
statistical assumptions were met and was found satisfactory.
The results are presented in Table 22. The means and stand
ard deviations for the extinction data are set forth in
Table 23. Figure 3 represents the effects of non-reinforce
ment during this phase of the experiment.
None of the effects is significant. Nevertheless,
it is important to notice that there is a trend for the
withdrawal of the verbal reinforcement to contribute the
greatest amount of variance. This is true even though the
main effect for "Right" and "Wrong" under the conditioning,
situation was not significant. This suggests that the two
types of verbal reinforcement are possibly effective though
the results did not demonstrate their effectiveness due to
the interaction effects.
Awareness
The design called for scoring the awareness data by
recording the question on the inventory which led to a cor
rect identification of the stimulus-reinforcement contingency.
134
TABLE 22
ANALYSIS OP VARIANCE FOR THE EXTINCTION SCORES
Source
Sum of
Squares
Degrees of
Freedom
Variance
Estimate
F •
Stimuli 33.27 2 16.63
—
Reinforcement 61.76 1 61.76 2.23*
Groups .09 1 .09 —
SXR 80.62 2 40.31 —
SXG 5.8.19 2 29.09 —
RXG .84 1 .84 —
SXRXG 33.09 2 16.54
—
Within 2360.63 84 27.62
Totals 2628.49 95
*Not significant
TABLE 23
MEANS AND STANDARD DEVIATIONS
FOR EXTINCTION SCORES
Subjects
Delinquents Controls
Stimuli Agg. Neut. Dep. Agg. Neut. Dep.
Reinforcement
Right M -.50 1.25 -1.50
1.12 -2.37 -.25
SD 5.44 8.76 2.87 6.15 7.44 4.20
Wrong M -1.50 3.25 1.62 1.75 2.87 1.75
SD 3.93 4.59 2.70 3.60 4.51 5.35
M
SD
.43
4.75
.84
5.53
135
(1) Delinquent-Right
(2) Delinquent-Wrong
(3) Control-Right
(4) Control-Wrong
(4)
(2)
(3)
-1
(1)
-2
-3
-4 -
-5
AGGRESSIVE NEUTRAL DEPENDENT
TYPE OF STIMULI
. Fig. 3. Diagram presents the results of the ex
tinction phase of the experiment using the average number of
responses for each group by stimuli.
136
This scoring method was possible because the questions were
in sequence, beginning with very indirect questions and con
tinuing to very direct questions which provided a great deal
of information about what the contingency might be. A Chi-
square was to have been calculated to determine the possible
differences in terms of the number of subjects identifying
the purpose of the experiment at each level. However, a
reading of the awareness inventory responses revealed that
none of the 96 subjects could identify the response contin
gency even when provided with all the suggestions within the
leading questions.
Three subjects from the control group indirectly
exhibited some awareness of the types of verbs being used.
Subject number 52 was one of them. To question number two
he replied: "Seems like you're trying to find out if a per
son's hostile. The sentences keep going back to disasters.
. . Subject number 52 was unable to show any recognition
that the verbal reinforcement had anything to do with this.
This particular person was assigned to positive conditioning
of neutral verbs. Thus, he was not identifying the rein-
forcement-contingency, although he did develop some aware
ness of the hostile verbs.
Subject number 392 was assigned to the aggressive
137
verbs with a "Wrong" reinforcement. To the last question,
"Do you have any other comments to make concerning the ex
periment?", this subject stated: "No .... most of the sen
tences could be turned around to where they'd sound mean or
with a lot of violence." This boy's conditioning score was
-4, while the group mean was 3.87.
Control subject number 132 answered question number
two by replying, "Take it I guess, receive it, destroy it."'
This is a perfect identification of the neutral, dependent,
and aggressive connotations of the verbs. However, he could
not put this in the context of the reinforcement.
None of the delinquent group was able to come as
close as these three control subjects. A striking piece of
behavior was recorded for subject number 61, however. To
the question, "Did you notice any changes in the kinds or
types of sentences you were making?", he said: "Yeah ....
ah .... ah .... I didn't stick with just one ..... what you
call it? ["Pronoun"] I stayed away from things like kill
and hate .... In fact, I don't think I used one of 'em." A
search of his protocol revealed that he did use the verb
kill during the operant period. This boy is not really
identifying the reinforcement contingency, but he is close.
In summary, the Awareness Inventory was unable to
138
elicit responses from the groups which distinguished them in
a statistical manner. The three subjects who came nearest
were from the control group. Their responses throw much
light upon the subjective processes involved in the experi
ment .
Examiner and Self-Descriptions
The Interpersonal Check List was scored and statis
tically analyzed according to methods suggested by Leary
(1956, pp. 71-75). Each individual had three scores: Dom,
Lov, and his subsequent placement in an interpersonal cate
gory. The Dom score represents the'subject's location on
the Dominance-Submission dimension of the check list. The
Lov score represents the subject's location on the Love-Hate
dimension of Leary's system. Placed orthogonally, these two
dimensions enable the scorer to locate a point which places
the subject into one of the eight major personality categor
ies. These categories are: (1) AP Managerial-Autocratic;
(2) BC Competitive-Narcissistic; (3) DE Aggressive-Sadistic;
(4) PG Rebellious-Distrustful; (5) HI Self-effacing-
Masochistic; (6) JK Docile-Dependent; (7) LM Cooperative-
Over -conventional; (8) NO Responsible-Hypernormal. For sta
tistical comparisons certain of these categories are com
pared with certain others according to meaningful relation
139
ships as pointed out by Leary.
The two groups in the present study were first com
pared with each other on the basis of passivity. This was
done by running a Chi-square entailing the two groups and
the number of subjects falling in categories 2-1-8 versus
the number of subjects falling into categories 4-5-6. An
other comparison between the groups pitted the Strong-
Hypernormal categories (2-1-7-8) against the Weak-Hostile
categories (3-4-5-6). A third group comparison was done by
placing the Hostility categories (2-3-4-5) against the cate
gories representing Friendliness (1-8-7-6) . The total pos
sible comparisons listed by Leary is large. Nevertheless,
Chi-square tests were run for all of them on both the self
description check list and the examiner description check
list. None of the comparisons was significant between the
two groups when the boys described the examiner. Only one
comparison was significant when the boys described them
selves. The non-delinquents most often placed themselves in
category (1): AP Managerial-Autocratic. The delinquents
placed themselves in category (8): NO Responsible-
Hypernormal. Figure 4 gives a pictoral summary of these re
sults by the mean for each group. Appendix IX includes the
raw data according to categories.
140
(a) Self-Description-Controls
(b) Self-Description-Delinquents
(c) Examiner Description-Controls
(d) Examiner Description-Delinquents
DOMI STANCE
DE \
FG
HOSTIUITY
LOVE
HI
/ JK VLM
SUBMISSION
Fig. 4. This diagram illustrates the relationships
on the Leary Interpersonal Check List. Summary points are
located for the descriptions completed by both groups.
141
To determine whether the self-description or the
examiner description was in any way related to the extent
of verbal conditioning, Pearson Product Moment Correlation
Coefficients were calculated. Four comparisons were neces
sary: Examiner Lov score, Examiner Dom score, Self Lov
score, and Self Dom score. Table 24 gives the results of
comparing these scores with the conditioning score. None of
the coefficients is meaningfully different from zero, ac
cording to statistical tests.
TABLE 24
CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS BETWEEN CONDITIONING SCORES
AND INTERPERSONAL CHECK LIST SCORES
Score Correlation Coefficient
Examiner Lov -.09
Examiner Dom .06
Self Lov .02
Self Dom
o
i
In summary, it seems that even though the delin
quents described themselves differently than the control
group, there was no relationship between the self-description
or the examiner description and the conditioning score.
142
Family and Educational Backgrounds
Appendixes I and II demonstrate information col
lected to assist in determining whether the life histories
of the delinquent boys included more disruption of educa
tional careers and family life. To determine if the two
groups varied in disruption of educational careers, Chi-
square tests were run comparing the number of schools at
tended. Table 25 gives the.results. It can be seen that
the difference is significant at the .01 level. The delin
quents had attended far more schools in their life. For
more information about their education, the two groups were
compared on the number of grades skipped and repeated.
Tables 26 and 27 give these results. The two groups do not
differ in the number of grades which they have repeated.
However, the delinquents appear to have done significantly
more skipping of grades.
In acquiring some estimate of the possible family
disruption, the two groups were compared on the present
family constellation. Table 28 gives evidence that the de
linquents have suffered far more family disruption. This
table is particularly interesting in demonstrating that most
of the control group are still living with their father.
More delinquents are living with their mother alone or with
143
their mother and a step-father. Table 29 reveals that the
two groups do not differ in the number of siblings which
they possess. Thus, the family disruption is not related to
the absence or presence of sibs.
TABLE 25
SCHOOLS ATTENDED
Number of Schools
bXUUp
1-3 4-6 7-9 10-15 16+
Delinquents
Controls
3 18
16 26
11 11
5 1
5
0
Chi-square 12.58
Degrees of freedom 3
Significant at the .01 level
TABLE 26
GRADES SKIPPED
Group
Grades Skipped
Yes No
Delinquents 10 38
Controls 3 45
Chi-square 4.32
Degrees of freedom 1
Significant at the .05 level
144
TABLE 27
GRADES REPEATED
Grades Repeated
Group
Yes No
Delinquents 23 25
Controls 14 34
Chi-square 3.54
Degrees of freedom 1
Not significant
TABLE 28
FAMILY CONSTELLATION
With Whom Living
Mother
GrouP Only
Mother
Father
Mother
0 4- T - . 4--u Other
Step-Father
Delinquents 14
Controls 3
13
40
1 0 1 1
4 1
Chi-square 31.72
Degrees of freedom
Significant at the
3
. 0 0 1 level
TABLE 29.
NUMBER OF SIBLINGS
Brothers Sisters
Group
1 2 3 4+ 1 2 3 4+
Delinquents 16 13 3 5 21 10 6 . 3
Controls 16 13 5 2 15 11 6 1
Chi-square 3.34
Degrees of freedom 7
Not significant
145
Some of the information used in matching the two
groups is also relevant to the family. Table 6 relates that
there is no difference between the groups in the number of
working mothers. The socio-economic level as measured by
the father/s occupation does not differ (Table 4). The
father's educational achievement and the mother's educa
tional achievement for the two groups do not differ (Tables
5 and 7). Thus, school disruption is not based upon the
lack of education of the parents. Poor school achievement
is not related to lack of intellectual ability, either
(Tables 9, 11, 13).
Experimental Notations
Notes were kept of behavior and responses during the
entire experimental period. Several subjective conclusions
are possible on the basis of some of this data.
First, not a single subject in either group refused
to participate in the experiment.
Second, the verbal reinforcement "Wrong" produced a
good amount of subjective discomfort for subjects from both
groups. The first occurrence of saying "Wrong" produced be
havior very similar to that of being surprised. "Right" had
none of these effects. An observation by the examiner was
that "Wrong" produced a very definite time latency. In fact,
146
response latency would have been a very good dependent vari
able.
Though "Wrong” was disturbing to both groups, only
the control subjects challenged the examiner about why he
said this. The control subjects seemed more involved in the
experiment and with the examiner. The high school boys
wanted to know how they did and they asked questions about
the meaning of the experiment. Some of the control subjects
wanted to know if they would hear about the results. One
high school subject was even able to identify the project as
a dissertation research. This particular boy was very
bright and had high academic aspirations for himself. He
also had a brother working on a graduate degree in a local
university. The delinquent boys showed none of the above
involvement.
Third, a quick count of the kind of verb used re
vealed that only one delinquent subject used the verb "kill."
The experimental group avoided the use of extreme verbs. On
the other hand, the control group used these extremely ag
gressive verbs frequently. They seemed to be able to devel
op socially acceptable contexts in which they could verbal
ize sentences containing these words.
Fourth, it was possible for a. subject to select the
147
verbs he desired to use on a basis of position rather than
content. At times subjects tended to do this. One subject
developed a pure position response. He used the first verb
on the card all the way through the experiment. His results
had to be eliminated and another subject inserted. This
subject was in the delinquent group. Subjectively, it
seemed there was a tendency for the experimental group to do
this more frequently.
Experimental Hypotheses
The statistical results were used to support or re
fute the experimental hypotheses. Each hypothesis was re
stated in null form to permit the making of a statistical
decision. To be acceptable, any difference from the null
hypothesis had to be significant at the .05 level.
Hypothesis I
The null hypothesis form of this experimental pre
diction is as follows: Delinquent adolescents who demon
strate a history of learning problems do not differ from
matched control subjects in a verbal conditioning situation
with verbal reinforcements administered by an adult.
The analysis of variance of verbal conditioning is
presented in Table 20. The main effect due to group
148
differences is statistically significant at the .01 level.
Table 21 gives the verbal conditioning means. The mean for
the delinquent group is -1.23. For the control group the
mean is 1.70. These results enable one to reject the null
hypothesis. The two groups do differ. However, the triple
interaction effect is significant suggesting that the dif
ference between the groups is partially due to the complex
interaction of all the experimental variables.
The t. tests of the simple comparisons suggest that
the two groups do not differ when neutral verbs are used.
When dependent verbs are used, both groups of subjects tend
to reduce their use of these words regardless of the type of
reinforcement being used. Only positive and negative rein
forcement bring about a difference between groups here. The
most difference between the groups is found when aggressive
verbs are used. In this case the control, subjects increase
their use of aggressive verbs regardless of the type of
reinforcement. However, the delinquents increase their use
of aggressive verbs with positive reinforcement and decrease
their use with negative reinforcement.
Hypothesis II
In null form this hypothesis maintains the follow
ing: The use of dependent stimuli does not differ from the
149
use of .aggressive or neutral stimuli in verbal conditioning
with underachieving delinquent adolescents.
Table 20, again, provides the information for test
ing this hypothesis. It can be seen in that table how the
main effect of the different stimuli is significant at the
.05 level. The t tests of the simple comparisons also pro
duced significant results between all three stimuli. The
null hypothesis can be rejected. The experimental hypothe
sis can be accepted.
It would seem that the results support the assump
tion of this hypothesis that dependency inhibition is the
important personality variable mediating this behavior. For
both groups and for both types of verbal reinforcement, de
pendency stimuli led to a reduction in verbal conditioning.
Table 21 gives the means for verbal conditioning and demon
strates this effect caused by the use of dependent stimuli.
Figure 2 also represents these results.
Hypothesis III
This hypothesis reads as follows in the null form:
The use of aggressive stimuli does not differ from the use
of dependent or neutral stimuli in verbal conditioning with
underachieving delinquent adolescents.
150
Table 20, again, shows that the main effect due to
the various stimuli is significant at the .05 level. The
t tests between stimuli were also significant. Thus, the
null hypothesis can be rejected. However, the experimental
hypothesis is only partially supported. Aggressive stimuli
led to different verbal conditioning when the delinquent
group is considered. Saying "Wrong" decreases the use of
aggressive verbs. Saying "Right" increases their use.
On the other hand, both negative and positive verbal
reinforcement led the control group to increase their use of
aggressive verbs. It must be concluded that the hypothesis
is adequate for the delinquent group but not for the control
group.
Hypothesis IV
This prediction, in null form, is as follows: Posi
tive verbal reinforcement does not affect the verbal condi
tioning of underachieving adolescent delinquents.
The null hypothesis must be accepted according to
the results contained in Table 20. This table reveals no
significant results from the use of different types of rein
forcement. However, the effectiveness of "Right" or "Wrong"
is partially supported since the triple interaction is sig
nificant at the .01 level. The t test of simple comparisons
151
revealed that positive and negative reinforcement were sig
nificantly different when administered to the experimental
group using aggressive verbs. This means that whether posi
tive verbal reinforcement leads to an increase in verbal
conditioning depends upon the stimuli being used and the
group of subjects being studied. The experimental hypothe
sis needs to be amended. Figure 2 depicts the interaction
of these variables.
Hypothesis V
Null Hypothesis V states: Negative verbal rein
forcement does not affect the verbal conditioning of under
achieving adolescent delinquents.
Table 20 supports this null hypothesis. There is no
main effect for type of reinforcement. However, the triple
interaction is significant and the t test revealed signifi
cant effects from negative .reinforcement when delinquent
subjects were reinforced as they used aggressive verbs.
Again, the experimental hypothesis needs to be amended to
take into account this triple interaction between reinforce
ment, stimulus, and subject.
153
Table 28 permits rejection of the null hypothesis
regarding family disruption. Control subjects more often
are living with both their father and mother. The delin
quent boy is most often living with his mother only, or with
a step-father and his mother. The number of siblings (Table
29) seems unrelated to the differences between the two
groups.
CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
Problem
Several studies have pointed out the inefficient
verbal ability of delinquent subjects. These studies range
over a long period of time and diverse areas of research.
Hervey Cleckley (1941) developed the concept of "semantic
dementia." Wechsler (1944) and Glueck and Glueck (1950)
noted the discrepancy between verbal and performance intelli
gence scores. Graham and Kamano (1958) pointed out that un
successful reading went together with poor verbal intelli
gence scores among adolescent delinquents. Sex differences
and sibling position both seem related to verbal development
and delinquent behavior (Anastasi, 1958). Studies on aca
demic underachievement led Harrison Gough (1955) to label
this phenomenal as the gifted child's form of delinquency.
Bilingualism is another characteristic associated with de
linquent groups, low verbal intelligence, and scholastic
155
underachievement. Riessman's (1962) study of cultural
deprivation gives strong support to the contention that ver
bal deficiency is a basic variable to be considered in
studying delinquent subjects. The stated problem of the
dissertation was to determine whether the manipulation of
the verbal behavior of delinquent adolescent males could
provide a psychological experimental approach to the study
of delinquency and further understanding of this phenomenon.
Need for the Study
It was shown that the study of the verbal deficiency
of delinquent subjects was needed for three basic reasons.
One is the growing social problem generated by delinquent
persons. Another is the need to further develop and under
stand treatment procedures for these subjects. The last is
the need to develop research techniques dealing with homo
geneous sub-groups of delinquents, well defined specific
variables, and limited hypotheses (Browning, 1961) .
Research Technique
To study the verbal behavior of delinquent adoles-
cents, the method of verbal conditioning was pressed into
service (Krasner, 1958; Salzinger, 1959). This particular
procedure is patterned after Skinnerian operant conditioning.
156 '
The subject is asked to emit verbal behavior. Then the ex
perimenter attempts to influence these verbal responses
using his own verbal statements as reinforcement.
Theoretical Model
Social learning theory was used as the theoretical
model for establishing experimental hypotheses. Dollard and
Miller's statement of this theory (1950) was the main source
of the theoretical explanation. Bandura and Walters' exten
sion of this theory (1959; 1963) was used to amplify the
theoretical model as it applied to delinquent subjects.
The salient features of social learning theory
adapted to delinquents were pointed out. To begin, both
verbal behavior and socialization are founded in the same
developmental process. This is the establishment of the
parent as a secondary reinforcer. When the parent is de
sired for these secondary properties, then a dependency mo
tive is established which can be used to "shape" the in
fant's vocal responses and teach the child to talk. In a
similar manner, the parent can disapprove of undesired be
havior and give approval to appropriate social action. How
ever, without the development of verbal ability, many of the
socialized responses and problem solving skills will not
develop. Thus, language development and personality are
Hypothesis VI
Stated in null form this hypothesis predicts the
following: Delinquent underachievers do not differ from
matched control subjects in their ability to identify the
stimulus-reinforcement contingency used in verbal condition
ing. Also, neither group differs from zero in their fre
quency of such identifications.
None of the subjects in either group could identify
the contingency. Consequently, the null hypothesis is sup
ported. In this case the support of the null hypothesis
also confirms the experimental hypothesis. The effect of
verbal reinforcement was beyond the awareness of the sub
jects.
Hypothesis VII
The null hypothesis is: The two groups do not dif
fer with regard to the family and school disruption in their
life histories.
Table 25 enables a rejection of the null hypothesis
regarding school disruption. In the total number of schools
attended during their life, the delinquent group scores sig
nificantly higher than the controls. The skipping of grades,
in spite of their poor tested achievement, also indicates
inadequate school progress.
mutually tied throughout the development of the child.
Language provides certain specific qualities to the
personality and necessary techniques in problem solving.
First, language reduces the area of unconscious motivation
within the personality. Second, language enables the person
to develop beyond trial-and-error problem solving. Instru
mental responses which are immediate and stimulus tied are
replaced by cue-producing verbal responses. Third, language
can mediate generalizations and effect discriminations. In
fact, language contains some of these two processes in its
very structure. Fourth, language can act as an anticipatory
goal response. This provides man a reach into the future
and a strong behavioral control. Fifth, language aids so
cialization and learning by helping to bring about responses
to be reinforced. Sixth, language possesses innate reward
ing properties.
Dollard and Miller were pessimistic about helping
the delinquent youth. They assume the nuclear dependency
relationship to be disrupted. Consequently, the minimum
units of required learning for socialization and treatment
by psychotherapy are missing.
Bandura and Walters (1959; 1963) concur with Dollard
and Miller. They have, however, applied their theory to
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antisocial adolescent boys. They assume that a child must
first develop a dependency motive toward the parent. Thus,
the child learns to want the parent and the parent's ap
proval. On the other hand, absence of the parent creates a
learned anxiety. Anxiety reduction is a major construct in
both of these theories of social learning.
Bandura and Walters point out that perhaps every
child develops certain increments of socialization. However,
the dependency relationship may be disturbed either by an
initial failure to develop an adequate emotional responsive
ness to other persons, or by events which lead to strong in
hibition of dependency motivation. Antisocial aggressive
ness is theorized to arise from a lack of affectional nur-
turance and a punitive attitude on the part of the parents.
Aggressiveness soon meets with disapproval or punishment.
Consequently, anxiety is aroused when aggressive feelings
develop. The commission of the aggressive response can re
duce this anxiety and thus reinforce aggressive behavior.
Punishment can inhibit undesired behavior, but this does not
eliminate the response. Extinction must be allowed to occur.
This theoretical model served as the basis for a
number of hypotheses dealing with significant variables
manipulable within the verbal conditioning technique. These
159
were: positive and negative verbal reinforcements; depend
ent, neutral, and aggressive stimuli; and an experimental
and control group.
Literature Survey
The literature survey pointed out the problems en
countered in doing research with delinquent groups. Other
studies supported the assumptions made by social learning
theory. Only one study was found which used verbal condi
tioning with delinquent male adolescents (Cairns, 1961).
This author found that dependency inhibition led to poor
verbal conditioning. The literature supported the major
hypothesis which maintained that verbal- conditioning would
not be as effective with the experimental group. Conclu
sions obtained from the literature on the other hypotheses
were controversial. However, the literature strongly sup
ported the prediction that these subjects come from broken
families and have experienced much disrupted school history.
Design of the Study
The study was built as a three-way factorial design.
This allowed for testing the stated hypotheses and for ex
amining the interaction between variables.
160
Subjects.— Forty-eight delinquent adolescent male
underachievers were drawn from the population of the Cali
fornia Youth Authority, Southern Reception Center. This
population has documented school maladjustment and retarda
tion. However, in this case underachievement was judged by.
comparing the grade placement on the California Achievement
Test with the expected grade placement derived from the
California Test of Mental Maturity. Only boys with six
months or more underachievement were selected. Subjects
were also selected so the average age would be sixteen. The
group was selected from those scoring in the average range
on the intelligence test. Socio-economic level was main
tained at level five on the Warner Scale when the father1s
occupation was the criterion.
The control group was matched with the delinquent
group by arithmetic mean rather than individually. These
youngsters who served as control subjects were drawn from a
public high school. Sex, age, socio-economic level, nation
ality, and intelligence were the variables used for equating
groups. However, in contrast to the experimental group,
only boys who exhibited tested achievement commensurate with
expected levels were included. Information was also accumu
lated regarding family and school histories.
161
Methodology.— A set of 100 three by five inch cards
was built. Each card had five pronouns typed at the top.
Three verbs were typed just below. The experimental task
was to make up a sentence using a pronoun as the subject and
one of the verbs.
The three verbs had different connotations. One was
aggressive, one was neutral, and one was dependent. These
words were selected by four independent ratings by pshcholo-
gists. Only commonly used, simple words were included.
When the subject spoke his sentence, the examiner
gave a verbal response if the person had used a verb from
the class being reinforced. Positive reinforcement was
"Uh-huh, Right." Negative reinforcement was "Hu-uh, Wrong."
The dependent variable was the change in frequency
of using the reinforced class of verbs. This change was
calculated from the operant level. The first 30 cards
(1-30) were presented without any verbal reinforcement.
This provided an estimate of the operant level. The next
40 cards (31-70) were verbally reinforced when appropriate.
This was the conditioning phase. The last 30 cards (71-100)
served as an extinction phase when no reinforcements were
given.
An Awareness Inventory was also filled out for each
162
subject when he completed the experimental task. Other in
formation collected was a self-description using Leary's
Interpersonal Check List, an examiner description using the
same form, and family and education information. Each sub
ject was seen individually. The actual sequence of events
was: (1) collection of pre-test data, (2) the experimental
session— biographical information, self-description, verbal
conditioning, awareness inventory, and finally, examiner
description.
Results
The control variables were effective according to
statistical comparisons. All subjects were male, native
born English speaking Anglo-Americans. The two groups were
alike in age. Average age was 16.21 years. The two groups
were also matched on the basis of the father's occupation.
The average Warner Scale level was 5.14. The groups were
also similar with regard to the father's education, the num
ber of mothers who were working, and the mother's education.
Intellectually the groups were similar. They did
not differ on any of the three sub-scales of the California
Test of Mental Maturity. The average full scale score was
96.11. The mean non-verbal scale score was 97.39. The ver
bal scale score was 94.46 on the average. All three means
163
are within the average level of mental ability. On the
other hand, the two groups were differentiated on the basis
of tested academic underachievement. The average under
achievement of the delinquent subjects was -1.74 years; the
mean for the control group was .01 years.
There were initial differences in operant levels.
Consequently, only the final ten cards of the operant phase
(21-30) were used as the base rate for each subject. The
extinction scores provided no significant differences.
None of the subjects in either group was able to
identify the stimulus-reinforcement contingency. Also, the
subjects from both groups described the examiner similarly
on the Interpersonal Check List. They did describe them
selves differently. However, the self-description was unre
lated to the verbal conditioning score. There was strong
evidence that the delinquents had suffered more family and
educational disruption.
The analysis of variance of the verbal conditioning
scores was used to test the experimental hypotheses.
Delinquent versus control subjects (Hypothesis I).--■
It was supported that verbal reinforcement administered by
an adult in a verbal conditioning situation would not be the
same with delinquent adolescents who demonstrate a history
164
of learning problems, as with matched control subjects. The
over-all mean for the verbal conditioning with the delin
quents was -1.23. For the control group the mean was 1.70.
The two groups were statistically different and the null
hypothesis was rejected at the .01 level of confidence.
However, the triple interaction effect was significant,
which suggests that the difference between the groups is
best understood in the light of the complex interaction with
the other experimental variables.
The two groups did not differ when neutral verbs
were used. None of the t tests for simple effects is sig
nificant. Dependent verbs led to a reduction in performance
for both groups and for both types of reinforcement. The
aggressive stimuli brought about the greatest difference be
tween groups. All the t tests were significant at the .05
level of significance except for the difference between
"Right" and "Wrong" for the control group.
Dependency stimuli (Hypothesis II).— Dependent stim
uli used in a verbal conditioning situation with delinquent
male adolescents do differ from aggressive and neutral verbs.
The null hypothesis was rejected at the .05 level of confi
dence. The results seemed to support the aspect of the
hypothesis which maintained that dependency is inhibited.
165
This was true for both groups. However, there was a non
significant trend for the delinquent group to be more in-
hibitive than the control group..
Aggressive stimuli (Hypothesis III).— The use of ag
gressive stimuli also led to significant results. The con
fidence level for rejecting the null hypothesis was at the
.05 level. The original hypothesis was that aggressive
stimuli would lead to effective conditioning. This was
found to be true for delinquent subjects who increased the
use of aggressive verbs when positively reinforced and de
creased the use of these verbs when negatively reinforced.
However, the control group increased their use of aggressive
verbs regardless of which reinforcement was being used.
This was not predicted from the theoretical model.
Positive reinforcement (Hypothesis IV).— Positive
verbal reinforcement was predicted to have an incremental
effect upon verbal conditioning. This was not supported
(the null hypothesis was accepted) except in context with
the stimulus being used and the groups studied. The results
are intertwined with the triple interaction which was sig
nificant at the .01 level of significance.
166
Negative reinforcement (Hypothesis V).— Negative
verbal reinforcement was predicted to have a decremental ef
fect upon verbal conditioning. The null hypothesis had to
be accepted. However, the results did indicate an interac
tion with the stimulus and subject variables. The complex
triple interaction was significant at the .01 level.
Unconscious effects of reinforcement (Hypothesis
VI) .— None of the subjects in the experiment was able to
identify the stimulus-response contingency as predicted from
Dollard and Miller's theory. Consequently, the null hypoth
esis was accepted without further statistical computation.
Life history disruption (Hypothesis VII) .— Family
and school disruption was strongly confirmed in the informa
tion collected about the subject's life history. Delinquent
boys had attended more different schools in their academic
careers. The difference between the groups was significant
at the .01 level. Delinquent boys skipped more grades.
This was statistically significant at the .05 level of con
fidence. However, they apparently had not repeated more
grades. There was no significant difference on this vari
able.
The constellation of the families of the two groups
167
was different. More delinquent boys were living with their
mother only or with their mother and their step-father than
were the control boys. The null hypothesis was rejected at
the .001 level of confidence. However, the number of sib
lings reported by the subjects was the same for both groups.
Conclusions
The conclusions drawn from this investigation fol
lowed a logical order. Variables were first considered '
which set the background for legitimately drawing theoreti
cal implications. Then the implications were presented in
terms of the hypothesis which supported or refuted the theo
retical model. The outline was: (1) problem, (2) research
technique, (3) control variables, (4) experimenter variable,
(5) awareness of conditioning (Hypothesis VII), (6) theo
retical model discussed with regard to each hypothesis, and
(7) implications for treatment and education.
The Problem
The general problem of the dissertation was to de
termine whether manipulation of the verbal behavior of de
linquent adolescents could provide a psychological approach
to the laboratory study of delinquency and further under
standing of this phenomenon. The significant results
168
obtained in this experiment would apparently support the
veracity of this assumption. This suggests that previous
authors who have written about "semantic dementia," lowered
verbal scale scores on intelligence tests, reading disabil
ity, sex differences in verbal development, sibling position
effects upon verbal growth, underachievement, learning prob
lems associated with bilingualism, cultural deprivation, and
school drop-out or maladjustment were dealing with a basic
variable. Verbal deficiency may not be just a secondary
problem generated by some other difficulty according to the
present experimental confirmation of social learning theory.
Research Technique
The use of the verbal conditioning technique in
studying the verbal behavior of delinquent adolescents is
also justified on the basis of the results obtained in the
present study. New and more adequate techniques are needed
in the scientific analysis of delinquency, as was pointed
out in the discussion of the need for this present study.
This dissertation would seem to make a contribution toward
additional methods of experimental research.
Control Variables
It is quite possible to say that the differences be
tween the two groups of boys are not due to sex, nationality,
age, socio-economic advantages or disadvantages, or intelli
gence. However, the intelligence variable needs further
discussion. There were no statistical differences between
the groups. Still, the delinquent group did show the famil
iar pattern as described by Wechsler (1944) and Glueck and
Glueck (1950). The performance scale was higher than the
verbal scale. To this degree the group was similar to de
linquent subjects used in previous studies. Also, the
scores were within the average intellectual range. Thus,
the results of the present study are not due to deviation
from this standard.
The groups were different, however, in several ways.
The delinquents had suffered more school changes. They had
experienced more family disruptions indicated by parental
separation. Experimental subjects were also selected on the
basis of exhibiting tested academic underachievement. These
variables support the assumption that the group selected,
according to the theoretical model, suffered a disruption of
nuclear dependency relationship and developed learning prob
lems. Therefore, they theoretically should also exhibit
170
problems related to verbal conditioning.
Selection procedures also produced a group which
fits well the general description of adolescent delinquents
found in the research literature. To the degree that this
is so, one could loosely generalize to this larger group.
There is a limitation to this tendency of generalization.
The subjects were institutionalized. The literature review
had indicated that institutionalized subjects are not typi
cal of any broader group. Consequently, the generalization
problem is'not solved in this study. Nevertheless, the re
sults are valuable and applicable even if they are re
stricted in generality. The advantages in achieving a new
research technique, bringing certain variables under experi
mental manipulation, and elaborating a social learning
theory are substantial. The process of replicating the
present study, in accord with theoretical predictions de
rived from social learning theory, will be necessary to de
velop more general principles. The present results techni
cally are limited to institutionalized California Youth
Authority wards fitting the above descriptions.
- Experimenter Variable
The literature survey suggested that different ex
aminers may produce significant differences in conditioning.
171
In this experiment the same examiner was used as a method of
» ■
holding this variable constant. Nevertheless, it was de
cided to attempt a measurement of the perception of the ex
aminer by the two groups to determine the possibility of
different reactions. The Leary Interpersonal Check List did
not differentiate the two groups with regard to their de
scription of the examiner. It can be argued that the Leary
scale was adequate to discover such differences had they
been present since the two groups were able to describe
themselves discrepantly. On this basis, logical control of
this variable was substantiated with empirical confirmation
that the results were not due to this source. The discrep
ant self-descriptions were unrelated to the dependent vari
able. The evaluation can be made that the experimenter var
iable was held constant in this experiment.
Awareness of Conditioning (Hypothesis VII)
This hypothesis predicted that the subjects would be
unable to identify the stimulus-reinforcement contingency.
The weight of the evidence found in published studies seemed
to support verbal conditioning without complete awareness.
Most of the literature has been dedicated to the problem of
"learning without awareness." Farber (1963) summarized this
literature by saying that people should speak of degrees and
kinds of awareness.
These particular results would seem to support
Farber even though none of the subjects was able to identify
the stimulus-reinforcement contingency. A few from the con
trol group were tentatively exploring correct leads. There
is no statistical test’of a difference between the two
groups. However, the experimental notes and the examiner's
subjective evaluation point toward a greater degree of pro
gressively developing awareness on the part of the control
group.
In the Miller and Dollard theory this inability to
"verbalize" the reinforcement contingency would mean that
the behavior exhibited in the experiment was "unconscious."
This lack of awareness suggests we are dealing with an in
ternal conditioned emotional response cued by the emotion
ally implied dependency and aggression of the stimuli.
It could be that consecutive presentations of the
stimuli cause additional increments of emotional response.
As the emotion accumulates, emotional, cognitive, and overt
responses would be elicited in that order. Awareness then
becomes a matter of emotional arousal building up to a cer
tain threshold where the subject becomes aware. Skinner
wrote:
173
Among the variables controlling behavior to which one
may be unable to respond is the stimulus. A stimulus
may be effective enough to evoke a response although
the relationship between the two cannot be identified.
(Skinner, 1957, p. 388)
Within the procedure of this experiment the emo
tional accretion probably did not allow the subject to reach
a threshold of awareness, although it was close with some of
the non-delinquents who came near to identifying the rein
forcement contingency.
On the other hand, the emotional accretion could
lead to avoidance responses if anxiety has become attached
to the stimulus, according to Bandura and Walters. In this
case, awareness would not be achieved. Needs and motives
would remain unidentified, unverbalized, and much of the
person's behavior would be unconsciously controlled.
Theoretical Model
On the whole the theoretical social learning model
seems to fit the verbal behavior of the underachieving de
linquent adolescent satisfactorily. This evaluation is
based upon the support of the experimental hypotheses given
by this study. However, the model does not always coincide
with the behavior of the control subjects. Herein is found
some significant aspects in the learning difficulty of
174
delinquent boys. The theoretical model was discussed with
regard to each hypothesis:
Delinquent versus control subjects (Hypothesis I).—
This was the major hypothesis of the study. It maintained
that the verbal reinforcement administered by an adult in a
verbal conditioning experiment would not be the same as with
experimental subjects. This was supported only in t}ie con-,
text of the other experimental variables studied in this re
search. It is felt, however, that confirmation is given to
social learning theory. Dollard and Miller (1950) and
Bandura and Walters (1959; 1963) theorized that the anti
social adolescent had suffered frustration and disruption of
the basic nuclear dependency relationship. This means that
the delinquent has a learning deficit. The present results
indicate that the learning deficit could be related to the
lack of interpersonal reinforcement value the delinquent has
developed for other persons.
According to the theoretical model, this learning
deficit should affect socialization and verbal ability si
multaneously. Thus, we should anticipate that the delin
quent would not only demonstrate behavior deviations, but
we should also anticipate a deficit in all those advantages
which Dollard and Miller claim come with the development of
- 175
language. First, the delinquent would have large areas of
unverbalized needs. Thus, a great part of his motivation
would be unconscious. This lack of conscious awareness
would be associated with the previously mentioned learning
deficit rather than to repression. The awareness data would
seem to lend some tentative support to this possibility.
Repression, according to Dollard and Miller, is the inhibi
tion of cue-producing verbal responses. This would be more
typical of the neurotic than the delinquent. Second, we
should anticipate that the delinquent's problem solving
would be characterized by trial-and-error methods. Thus,
these boys would appear to be "concrete" or "short-sighted."
Third, mediated generalization and discrimination should be
inaccurate. Fourth, verbal anticipatory responses should be
limited. For this reason the behavior of the delinquent
should be immediate and instrumental in his response. Judg
ment and planning would be restricted. Fifth, and perhaps
most important of all for developing treatment methods, ver
bal means will be relatively ineffective in bringing about
behavior which can be rewarded. Again, some experimental
support can be given this assumption. Seventh, secondary
motivations will be less developed. Thus, some of the
higher social motives of life will be meaningless. This is
176
confirmed with regard to the discussion of dependency moti
vation .
Dependency stimuli (Hypothesis II).— This hypothesis
dealt with dependency stimuli. It avowed that if dependency
motive, was not developed, the use of dependency stimuli in
verbal conditioning should have little effect upon the re
sults. On the other hand, if dependency motive is strongly
inhibited, then dependency stimuli should lead to stronger
inhibition and poor verbal conditioning.
The actual results were that both groups inhibited
their use of dependency verbs whether the examiner said
"Right" or "Wrong." With both types of reinforcement the
delinquent group more strongly inhibited their use of de
pendency stimuli than did the control group.
Bandura and Walters made a point of the develop
mental changes in dependency motivation with age. They
wrote that as soon as dependency motive is established, the
typical parents begin training toward independence. This
comes to full strength during adolescence. On this basis
the inhibition of the control group can be interpreted. It
is related to the culturally acceptable adolescent striving
for independence.
However, the statistically non-significant trend
177
toward greater inhibition of the delinquent subjects sug
gests the possibility of a stronger need than just independ
ency. In agreement with social learning theory, it can be
suggested that the frustration and disruption of basic de
pendency needs have led to the attachment of anxiety and
anger emotions to dependency stimuli. Consequently, inhibi
tion and avoidance of these stimuli is the result.
It could be, in terms of these delinquent boys, that
these two motivations become confused. The delinquent can
observe the independency strivings of the socialized male
adolescent. However, the delinquent has no realization of
the basic difference in his strivings. His needs are much
greater and the basic motive is actually different. Perhaps
this is one reason why the delinquent cannot stop short of
taking that automobile, for example, to fulfill his needs.
This youngster interprets his anxiety and avoidance of de
pendency stimuli as independence.
For this reason, when responsible people and pro
grams attempt to meet the basic dependency needs of the ado
lescent delinquent, they might actually provoke the inde
pendency strivings of the subject. This "helpfulness" is a
threat to his adequacy and manhood as well as independence.
He will reject the person or the program. This rejection
178
will most likely take the form of emitting emotional avoid
ance responses on an unconscious level. This is probably
why the psychotherapist cannot "get a hold" on these pa
tients and why they seem untreatable. On the other hand,
treatment and re-education based upon helping the delinquent
to control himself and to conform to adult standards will
leave this basic problem untouched.
Aggressive stimuli (Hypothesis III).— This predic
tion stated that if hostility is due to frustrated depend
ency, then verbal reinforcement of aggressive stimuli would
support the emotional reaction and lead to increased use of
aggressive verbs. A similar prediction was made for the
theoretical corollary that aggression is also a learned re
sponse .
The results from the delinquent group support both
aspects of this hypothesis. Saying "Right" to aggressive
verbs leads to a significant increase. This is theoreti
cally because the reinforcement supports the habitual re
sponse. Saying "Wrong" decreases the use of these verbs.
We can assume according to social learning theory that say
ing "Wrong" leads to anxiety which is reduced by inhibition
or avoidance of the aggressive stimuli. Social learning
theory as it was elaborated by Dollard and Miller, and
179
Bandura and Walters can handle these results succinctly.
On the other hand, the theory seems inadequate to
explain the behavior of the control group. The group in
creased their use of aggressive verbs whether the examiner
said "Right" or "Wrong." The high school subjects even
challenged the examiner. Thus the overt behavior was re
sistant to this reinforcement, but the covert response was
to increase the use of stimuli leading to such discontent
ment.
The difference between the two groups was examined,
in the light of the experimental situation. The discussion
of awareness suggested that continued presentation of stim
uli leads to increased emotional arousal. However, in this
case the delinquent emits an avoidance response before
awareness is reached. For this reason he will never be able
to identify the stimulus-reinforcement contingency and solve
the problem in a manner which increases the effectiveness of
his behavior— he doesn't learn because he makes an avoidance
response. The control subjects also emitted avoidant re
sponses when faced with dependent stimuli, but perhaps not
to a detrimental degree.
■Solomon, Kamin, and Wynne (1959) have shown in the
laboratory that avoidance responses are extremely difficult
180
to extinguish. This is because of the anxiety reduction
which is reinforcing to such avoidance responses. Bandura
and Walters have associated this behavior with the delin
quent's pattern:
Moreover emotional responses established through aver-
sive conditioning may motivate socially undesirable .
behavior patterns that are highly resistant to extinc
tion. These patterns may include avoidance of the
punishing agents, a consequence that reduces the effec
tiveness of the agents for further social training.
(Bandura and Walters, 1963, p. 15)
These writers also suggest that since punishment
would be ineffective, the withholding of positive reinforce
ments may be the method to use in dealing with these sub
jects. "The withholding of positive reinforcers need have
none of these disadvantages" (Bandura and Walters, 1963,
p. 15) .
Contrasted to the delinquent's behavior, the control
group increased the use of aggressive verbs even with nega
tive reinforcement. The conditioned emotional response did
not lead to drive-reducing avoidance. Rather, it led to in
creased use of aggressive verbs and so to increased stimula
tion.
Social learning theory as propounded by Dollard and
Miller (1950) does not predict this behavior. Bandura and
Walters (1963) have seen some of the shortcomings of previous
181
social learning theory and emphasized the role of "imita
tive" learning. A number of other writers have also pro
posed theories which could be used to explain this effect
(McClelland, 1951; McClelland et al., 1953; Rotter, 1954;
Amsel, 1958, 1962; Festinger, 1961; Mowrer, 1960a, 1960b).
Mowrer's construct which he calls "hope" seems to
fit the behavior of these control subjects. His "fear" con
struct seems to fit the experimental group’s behavior.
Mowrer also gives extensive attention to the development of
language in his theory. For these reasons his theory was
chosen to amplify the results:
Revised two-factor learning theory assumes, as already
indicated, that all learning, in the final analysis,
is sign learning or conditioning— not conditioning in
the sense of overt responses (or as "cognitions") but
in the sense of positive and negative emotions, notably
those of hope and fear, which then mediate and guide
actual behavior. (Mowrer, 1960b, pp. 16-17)
Mowrer emphasizes an "autistic" theory of language
development rather than trial-and-error and operant "shap
ing." These latter two constructs were used by Dollard and
Miller (1950). Bandura and Walters (1963) lend their sup
port to Mowrer's autism theory. However, Mowrer acknowl
edges that Dollard and Miller had anticipated his theory:
Here [in Dollard and Miller's theory] one sees a clear
adumbration of the autism theory of word learning; but
it was made ancillary to trial-and-error . . . instead
of being put forward as the first and most basic
182
mechanism involved in the acquisition of word re
sponses. Subsequent developments, as regards both
theory and' research findings, seem to give greater
support to the autism theory of language learning than
to "babble-luck" theory, of which the main Miller-
Dollard theory is a variant. (Mowrer, 1960b, p. 108)
This "autism" theory holds that the child first
hears the sound made by parents. These words are in an emo
tional context which becomes "connected" to the sound.
There are two basic emotions involved in this process:
positive emotions called "hope" and negative emotions called
"fear." When the organism makes this sound itself, the con
nected emotions will be aroused. Consequently, the organism
does not need to depend entirely upon external secondary re
inforcement to learn to speak. He can furnish autistic
positive reinforcement. Negative self-reinforcement could
also inhibit speech development. From his experiments deal
ing with birds Mowrer writes:
Another, perhaps clearer, way to put this idea is to
say that the secondary reinforcement which has become
conditioned to the word stimulus as made by the train
er generalizes to the word stimulus as made by the
bird itself. And since our supposition is that habit
is just the secondary reinforcement, so-called, which
has become attached to response-correlated stimulation,
then, in "imitation" the bird acquires the "habit" of
making a particular sound, not by making it, but by
merely hearing it made. (Mowrer, 1960b, p. 73)
This is similar to the manner in which Bandura and
Walters (1963) theorize that socialization is learned and
183
imitative behavior is induced. Internalized self-rewards
for socially acceptable behavior are developed. This proc
ess sounds very much like what is traditionally referred to
as conscience.
Mowrer makes another assumption which seems to fit
the results and extend understanding. He writes:
There is a very widespread assumption, which we shall
later have occasion to question, that in the process
of spoken or written communication we, somehow, trans
fer meanings from mind to mind. (Mowrer, 1960b,
p. 137)
He continues with this argument:
Let us explore, instead, the proposition that in com
munication we are not transferring meanings from per-
. . son to person as much as we are transferring meanings
from sign to sign within a given person, within a sin
gle mind. (Mowrer, 1960b, p. 139)
Again:
Said a little differently, the suggestion is that in
order for us to communicate effectively with another
person, he must already have the meanings with which
we shall be dealing and that in the communicative act
we are, for the most part, merely changing the signs
to which particular meanings are attached, merely
shifting or transferring meanings from one sign to
another. (Mowrer, 1960b, p. 139)
Meaning then, for Mowrer, is the internal classi
cally conditioned emotional antidating goal responses which
are attached to cues. Mowrer points out that this is simi
lar to what Lumsdaine (1939) , Foley and Cofer (1943) , Osgood
(1953), and others have called a mediating response. In
184
fact, the Osgood and Suci work (1955) shows that the good-
bad dimension accounts for about 70 per cent of all the
meaning that words have (Mowrer, 1960b, p. 71). This could
account for the effectiveness of the meaningful experimental
effects which had negative and positive connotations.
Mowrer points out, in considering the work of Osgood and
Suci (1955) and Spitz (1958) that though a considerable por
tion of the meanings of words is evaluative (good-bad, emo
tional) , a sizable amount of variance is left. Mowrer con
cludes: "Here, presumably, lies the specifically denotative
or "cognitive" aspect of meaning" (Mowrer, 1960b, p. 164).
Mowrer also supports Bandura and Walters (1963.) when
he assumes in his theory that re-education depends upon ex
tinction:
And since extinction and counter-conditioning are the
recognized forms which unlearning takes where condi
tioned reactions are concerned, we here accept the
assumption that these are the major (perhaps only)
forms of unlearning. In the final analysis, extinc
tion and counter-conditioning may come down to the
same thing. (Mowrer, 1960b, p. 17)
Applying this model to the results we can theoreti
cally maintain that the delinquent subjects have been condi
tioned to have negative emotions attached to both dependent
and aggressive stimuli. Consequently, they emit avoidance
responses to both these classes of stimuli. The deduction
185
is strengthened when we consider that neutral stimuli did
not affect the delinquent subjects at all. Mowrer1s theory
is quite consistent with these results.
On the other hand, the control subjects have appar
ently been conditioned to give approach responses to aggres
sive stimuli when both positive and negative reinforcements
are administered. This tendency to approach appears to be a
key to the difference in verbal and problem solving effi
ciency between the two groups.
Thefrustration hypothesis" provided by Amsel
(1952) provides a close fit to the behavior of the control
subjects. Amsel points out the similarity of his theory
with that of Mowrer:
Mowrer, in his Learning Theory and Behavior [1960a],
makes frequent use- of the notion of nongoal events
arousing "frustration" or "anger," in addition to
"disappointment" and expresses agreement with the po
sition I favor in regard to frustrative goal events.
(Amsel, 1962, p. 309)
It is Amsel1s theory that non-reinforcement leads to
internal emotionally based frustration. However, partial
reinforcement simultaneously builds approach responses.
Thus, frustration can be conditioned to approach responses.
Amsel states:
' Nevertheless, the mechanism which has been outlined to
explain the PRE [Partial Reinforcement Effect], par
ticularly the conditioning of rF and the connection
186
of Sp to continued approach, is certainly a counter
part of "frustration tolerance" as employed in social
psychology and psychopathology- (Amsel, 1962, p. 315)
Amsel has brilliantly anticipated the results of the
present study in this statement.
On the other hand, Amsel rejects "cognitive" models
of this behavior- Festinger (1961) for instance, offers a
popular theory of this nature. Festinger1s writing suggests
that the non-reward situation develops positive attraction.
Amsel's S-R theory implies a decrease in attractiveness.
Thus, Amsel1s theory is one in which the subject is trained
to persist in behavior despite decreased attractiveness.
This is descriptive of the behavior of the control subjects.
If the theoretical model (adapted from Mowrer and
Amsel) is adequate, then the lack of social awareness, the
limited problem solving efficiency, and the inadequate ver
bal ability of the delinquent boy is primarily the result of
the failure of the conditioning of sufficient secondary re
inforcement 'value to significant persons. That is, basic
dependency motive does not adequately develop.
The reinforcement administered by parents is conse
quently less effective. However, as Bandura and Walters
have pointed out (1959), .there is probably some positive so
cialization in all persons. Thus, some of the behavior of
187
adults would have reinforcement value attached to it. In
the case of the delinquent, positive reinforcement adminis
tered by parents is effective but less so than for the con
trol group. The negative reinforcement of the parent be
comes attached to anxiety and leads to avoidance. Even more
important, the lack of dependency motive (Dollard and
Miller; Bandura and Walters) and inadequate autistic self-
reinforcement (Mowrer) cannot sustain the interest and at
tention of the delinquent through "frustrative non-reward"
(Amsel). Therefore, approach responses to unattractive
situations fail to develop.
Since all learning entails discrimination, learning
can be seen as a frustrating process because discrimination
comes about through non-reward. Consequently, the delin
quent would be unable to tolerate the frustration essential
to learning.
Furthermore, advanced forms of behavior would fail
to develop. These are such things as self-control, persist
ence, and responsibility. Of great importance is the lack
of "frustration tolerance" which is so directly related to
the impulsive behavior of the antisocial character.
Without the development of adequate internal emo
tional reactions, the subject becomes more at the mercy of
188,
outside agents for reinforcements. Learning to talk, ac
quiring socialized behavior, and developing essential dis
criminations and generalizations would all be less effective
because of the lack of sufficient internal positive rein
forcement.
On the other hand, the youngster who develops ade
quate "autistic" reinforcement would also experience as much
external reinforcement as the asocial child. Perhaps he
would receive more consistent positive reinforcement if we
can rely upon the reports of-family and school disruption
which asocial boys have experienced. Each external rein
forcement provided by the parents would tend to strengthen
the value of "autistic" reinforcements for the socialized
child. This would not be true for the delinquent. Conse
quently, development would stop at a level where the boy is
stimulus-tied (mostly dependent upon external sources for
reinforcement) ; lacks meaning (cannot transfer emotio'nal re
actions from sign to sign within himself); and is ineffec
tive in communicating behaviorally and verbally with others
(he doesn't really know what the signs are which act as cues
for socialized cultural behavior).
This theory has another implication toward under
standing delinquent subjects. The relatively good perform-
189
ance ability of the delinquent can be deceiving. For in
stance, many programs for these boys are centered around
training the ward in performance oriented vocations such as
mechanics, carpentry, and farming. This is based upon a
naive interpretation of the action proclivity of these sub
jects. According to the theory being proposed, the delin
quent is best in performance skills because this is where he
has achieved most positive reinforcement. Reinforcement for
performance is based in the external environment and they
are open to instrumental manipulation. Perhaps this is why
these boys have become known as such good "manipulators."
Manipulation of the external environment is possibly their
main source of reward.
In spite of this seeming success, his learning will
theoretically be inefficient. Relative success in non
verbal tasks does not necessarily indicate that the delin
quent has developed the same "meaning" about the skill.
Mowrer writes:
The older "bond" conception of habit implied that a
skill was just a well-practiced and somewhat over
learned habit. If we now adopt the "feedback" concep
tion of habit, which holds that behavior is "selected"
and "guided" by the positive and negative emotions
which have become conditioned to response-correlated
stimuli, skill reduces to a matter of discrimination.
(Mowrer, 1960b p. 27)
190
The lack of adequate conditioned emotional reactions
would thus actually cripple the delinquent in performance
skills as well as in verbal skills. The delinquent will
need more than sheer performance training for socialization
to take place. He will have to be given the meaning as
well. For example, on an overt level, this would mean that
he should feel like a carpenter, think like a carpenter, and
think of himself as a carpenter. This is the real challenge
in training these boys.
This theoretical extension also accounts for the
many variables which cluster together and provoked the
present dissertation. Bilingualism should hamper the child
in attaching internal emotional responses to cues provided
by the majority language. This would be especially true
where the native language is used by the parents for the
really meaningful (emotional) communications with the young
ster. In this case the majority language would be re
stricted to innocuous circumstances and not develop the emo
tional connotations.
Reading should be aided by having previously at
tached internal emotional responses to words as spoken and
heard. The meaning from spoken words could be transferred
*
to the printed words. This is equivalent to the theory of
191
transferring meaning from sign to sign. Therefore, reading
would have meaning. This is perhaps the lack of meaning
which leads to underachievement, dislike for school, truancy,
and many other negative experiences the delinquent child has
in school.
Unfortunately, the positive reinforcement value of
adults is apparently limited for the male adolescent delin
quents used in this research. Therefore, the problem is the
inability to condition these meanings with interpersonal re
inforcement, and the severe deficit which they have already
suffered.
Positive and negative reinforcement (Hypotheses
IV and V).— Hypothesis IV predicted that positive verbal re
inforcement would lead to increased verbal conditioning.
Hypothesis V stated that negative verbal reinforcement would
inhibit verbal conditioning. Neither one of these hypother-
ses could be sustained as proposed.
The literature regarding the use of "Right" and
"Wrong" as verbal reinforcement was controversial. It is
suggested from the present results that these words interact
with the stimulus and the subject to produce varied results.
The original hypotheses were predicated upon a strict oper
ational definition of reinforcement: A positive reinforcer
192
increases the performance of behavior and a negative rein
forcer decreases the behavior under consideration. This
model does not appear to fit the data.
Although there was some evidence that "Right" and
"Wrong" have reinforcement properties, a problem solving
model in which these words serve as discriminative cues
seems more appropriate. In this case, the verbal reinforce
ment actually pointed out the stimulus. The attention to
the stimulus brought about an internal, conditioned emo
tional response to this stimulus. The interaction between
the reinforcement and the emotional reaction mediated the
observed behavior. This seems to provide strong support for
Mowrer's theory of meaning. "Right" and "Wrong" mean dif
ferent things, at different times, depending upon the stim
ulus and the subject's conditioned emotional reaction to
that stimulus. Undoubtedly, the context in which the stim
ulus was presented would have much to do with the emotional
reaction.
Unconscious effects of reinforcement (Hypothesis
VI).— This hypothesis supported Dollard and Miller's theory
that the effects of verbal conditioning would be automatic
and unconscious. The previous discussion of the results
from the Awareness Inventory gives thorough consideration to
193
this hypothesis. However, it is worth-while to point out
the degree to which the inability of any of our subjects to
identify the stimulus-reinforcement contingency supports
Mowrer1s theory which has been used to extend the theoreti
cal model.
Life history disruption (Hypothesis VII).— In the
theoretical discussion it has been assumed that the emo- .
tional reinforcement histories of the subjects have been
different. This hypothesis suggested that the life history
data should reveal disrupted school and family backgrounds.
Both the theory and the literature support this. These re
sults add confirmation to this long known fact. This means
that this group was similar to groups selected for most
studies on delinquency and exhibits this same basic vari
able. It also gives support to social learning theory and
to the use of Mowrer's and Amsel's constructs to extend it.
Implications for Treatment and Education
There are some basic implications for the treatment
and education of delinquent boys in these results. This in
vestigation is extremely valuable in pointing out that the
verbal behavior of the delinquent can be experimentally
manipulated. This is so, even though the difficulty in
194
producing such change is also demonstrated, because this re
search leaves less excuse for the pessimistic attitude which
has developed toward the scientific analysis of antisocial
problems and the development of educational and treatment
programs.
Methods could conceivably be developed for handling
the avoidance response of the delinquent by setting up an
extinction situation. Therefore, the basic problem would
appear to be the underlying learning deficit or lack of
"meaning." To solve this problem, it would appear that a
parental surrogate must establish a dependency relationship
with the subject out of which a dependency motive can de
velop. Then this adult would have the secondary reinforce
ment property necessary to overtly reinforce the boy. Also,
when this relationship is established, the boy will be able
to develop positive emotion about "imitating" the language
and behavior of the model. This will provide the boy with
internal positive reinforcement. The dependency motivation
and the internal self-reinforcement would enable the subject
to maintain connection within a situation long enough for
positive external reinforcements to occur along with the
non-reward during discrimination training. Thus, approach
»
responses could eventually be conditioned to frustration and
195
adequate learning would be enhanced. The first difficulty
in bringing this about is that a dependency relationship
threatens the adolescent's need for independency, his ade
quacy, and his manhood. Secondly, the dependency relation
ship, if successful, could bring about regressive behavior
which is often unacceptable to adults. This regressive be
havior is often seen as failure in treatment and education.
Thus, the boy is rejected and the relationship broken off.
Another consideration in treatment and education of
these boys is the importance of not getting caught up in the
error of trying to understand or treat them on the overt be
havioral level. The acting-out is spectacular and hard to
ignore. This is the thing which disturbs society and indi
viduals. However, the most obvious is not always the basic
variable needed to understand phenomena.
Similarly, with regard to overt behavior, the per
formance oriented inclination of the asocial boy is probably
based upon his history of having been limited largely to the
experience of external reinforcement. Since he has received
some external reinforcement, his performance skill will be
relatively well developed. However, his skill will be lim
ited because he lacks the internal "feedback" to develop
highly efficient discriminations which lead to polished
196
skill. Performance oriented treatment without attention to
the delinquent's basic deficit will leave him unsocialized.
Recommendations
Recommendations were made in the light of further
research needed to investigate many provocative findings
from the present study. Some seemingly basic possibilities
follow:
1. Replication.--Replication Of the present study
is needed for at least two reasons. First, to provide added
generalization to the present results. Second, to manipu-'
late, a few significant variables according to the proposed
model to extend theoretical understanding.
2. Verbal skills research.--Research dealing with
the development of verbal skills with these subjects should
be arduously fostered. Since language apparently not only
conveys ideas but also shapes behavior, one would wonder if
a program designed for developing verbal skill arid verbal
meaning might not be needed. Bruner makes this proposal:
"For one thing improvement in language should aid this type
of problem solving. This remains to be investigated"
(Bruner, 1964, p. 5). Certainly, this could not be the typ
ical language course offered in the public school. A com
pletely new approach would be needed probably beginning with
197
preschool courses for culturally deprived and bilingual
children.
3. Verbal conditioning as an independent variable.—
On the basis of the present study it might be worth-while to
study whether amenability to verbal conditioning (as an in
dependent variable) would be effective in identifying poten
tial drop-outs, truants, or delinquents. Maybe early read
ing problems could be studied with this technique.
4. Automated instruction.— Perhaps teaching ma
chines and programed instruction of various kinds could be
used to teach these boys. The machines and programs have
the advantage of being non-personal. Therefore, they may
not trigger the internally conditioned avoidance behavior.
Also, primary reinforcements could be used without making
the subject feel infantile. This seems to be a practical
possibility as well as theoretically promising.
5. Validity studies.— Various validity studies are
also needed. These would involve the question whether the
manipulation of verbal behavior leads to changed overt be
havior. The present study is only suggestive and explora
tory; however, the validity problem cannot continue to be
avoided.
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A P P E N D I X E S
APPENDIX I
PRE-TEST DATA
APPENDIX I
PRE-TEST DATA
The following page is a copy of the form used to
record the information obtained for each subject previous to
experimental testing. The data were used to select subjects,
place them in categories, and substantiate statements made
by subjects. This material was collected from official
records. In the absence of official data, the subject sup
plied the information and confirmation was not possible.
2 1 6
217
PRE-TEST DATA (FROM RECORDS)
I. CALIFORNIA TEST OF MENTAL MATURITY
Date: Non-verbal:
Verbal:
Total:
Grade Placement:
II. CALIFORNIA ACHIEVEMENT TEST
Date: Reading:
Arithmetic:
Languages:
Grade Placement:
III. ACHIEVEMENT
Expected Achievement:
Overachievement:
Underachievement:
IV. SOCIO-ECONOMIC LEVEL (Father's Occupation)
GROUP I Professor
GROUP II High School Teacher
GROUP III Auto Salesman
GROUP IV Factory Foreman
GROUP V Carpenter
GROUP VI Truck Driver
GROUP VII Farm Laborer
V. HISTORY OF OFFENSES
VI. NOTES OF SIGNIFICANCE'FROM THE RECORDS
APPENDIX II
BIOGRAPHICAL INVENTORY
APPENDIX II
BIOGRAPHICAL INVENTORY
The following page is a copy of the Biographical
Inventory. 'This was used to record the initial information
requested from each subject in the individual session.
219
2 2 0
BIOGRAPHICAL INVENTORY
Subject No:
1. Birthdate:
2. City and residence:
3 . Telephone:
4. Who do you live with?:
5. Father' 's occupation:
6. Father 1 's education:
7 . Mother 1 's employment:
8. Mother 1 's education:
9. Number of schools attended:
10. Grades skipped:
11. Grades repeated:
12 . Number of brothers and sisters:
13 . Position in the family:
14. Involvement with the law:
15. Health problems:
APPENDIX III
PROCEDURE FOR RATING VERBS AS AGGRESSIVE,
NEUTRAL, OR DEPENDENT
APPENDIX III
PROCEDURE FOR RATING VERBS AS AGGRESSIVE,
NEUTRAL, OR DEPENDENT :
The following instructions were given to the four
judges who rated the initial verbs as being either passive,
aggressive, or neutral.
You are being ashed to help in the preparation of
a dissertation dealing with the verbal conditioning
of delinquent adolescent males. To develop the neces
sary stimulus words, you are asked to rate words as
being Aggressive, Dependent, or Neutral.
The entire dissertation will rest upon how well
these lists or words reflect the psychological differ
ences between these concepts. Therefore, your careful
reflection about each word will be greatly appreciated.
You have been given a set of cards with a word on
each card. These are the words you are to judge.
Also you are being given four envelopes. On each enve
lope is a definition stating how each one of the cate
gories is to be judged. If the word fits with that
definition, place it in that category.
Perhaps you could proceed with the four envelopes
on the table before you. Thus, the definitions would
constantly be available for reference. As each word
is judged you can stack the card on the proper enve
lope. Then I will record your decision when you re
turn the filled envelopes.
Consider this a forced choice task and make deci
sions on as many cards as you can. This is because a
great many words will be needed. Thank you.
2 2 2
223
The four envelopes had the following definitions
r
typed upon them:
CARD I. UNCERTAIN OR AMBIGUOUS. Place in this cate
gory those words about which you cannot make a deci
sion. Attempt to force yourself into a decision,
keeping this category as small as possible.
CARD II. AGGRESSIVE. To place a word in this category
it should meet the following criteria:
1. Forceful attacking action, physical, verbal,
or symbolic.
2. Interpersonal aggressiveness.
3. Connotations:
Self-assertive
Self-protective
Self-preservative
Realistically evoked by threat
Not realistic for self-preservation
Passive aggressive behavior
CARD III. DEPENDENT. To place a word in this category
it should meet the following criteria:
1. Acted upon: affected by outside force or
agency or person.
2. Interpersonal relationships of dependency.
3. Receiving or enduring without resistance or
emotional reaction: submissive, patient.
4. Inactive.
5. Lacking motivation.
6. Depending upon others.
7. Connotations:
Mothering.
Affection
Shelter
Protection
Security
Food
224
Warmth
Indecisiveness
Emotional dependency
CARD IV. NEUTRAL. In order to classify a word as
neutral it should meet the following criteria:
1. All of the words in this category should be
thought of as non-personal.
2. These words should have none of the implica
tions related to the definitions of the other
categories.
3. Verbs reflecting activity with things.
4. Common behavior with connotations of universal
participation.
5. Care should be taken not to confuse neutral
with passive.
»
APPENDIX IV
STIMULUS VERBS SELECTED BY THE JUDGES
APPENDIX IV
STIMULUS VERBS SELECTED BY THE JUDGES
AGGRESSIVE NEUTRAL DEPENDENT
Act Add Admit
Battle Aid Agree
Beat Aim Allow
Began Are Answer
Bite
Arrive Ask
Blame
Attend Beg
Block Bake Believe
Blow
Be Belong
Boil
Became Bless
Boss
Become Born
Break Been Carry
Burn Being Caught
Burst
Brush Cling
Charge Build Come
Choke
Building Consent
Chop Buy Consider
Claim Came Copy
Complete Can Cry
Control Can11 Desire
Cover Check Dream
Crush Cheer Drift
Cut
Clean Drink
Dare C1 imb Eat
Dash
Connect Expect
Declare Cook Fail
Defeat Cross Fall
Demand
Crossing Fallen
Destroy Deal Fear
Develop Did Feed
Dig Didn't Feel
Drag
Discover Fell
Drive Display Felt
Enter Divide Flee
2 2 6
AGGREE SSIVE NEUTRAL DEPENDENT
Escape
Extend
Fight
Flew
Fought
Go
Harm
Hate
Hunt
Hurt
Hurry
Judge
Jump
Kick
Kill
Knock
Lead
Leap
' Lock
Leading
Murder
Meeting
Match
Object
Open
Order
Pick
Pound
Protest
Prove
Pull
Push
Race
Ran
Rap
Remove
Rise
Roar
Rub
Run
Rush
Sell
Send
Do
Does
Doesn1t
Dress
Drew
Elect
Fill
Filling
Finish
Finished
Fishing
Flashing,
Fly
Fold
Free
Goes
Going
Grew
Grow
Had
Has
Have
Haven11
Is
Know
Live
Living
Look
Made
Make
Mark
Mix
Nod
Pack
Paint
Park
Pass
Plan
Plant
Pour
Practise
Prepare
Print
Float
Flow
Follow
Following
Forget
Found
Gaze
Give
Given
Hear
Heard
Help
Hide
Hold
Hope
Keep
Keeping
Kept
Kiss
Laid
Lay
Lean
Led
Lie
Listen
Lose
Love
Lying
Miss
Need
Obey
Observe
Owe
Pray
Promise
Protect
Rolling
Receive
Remain
Report
Repeat
Rest
Ride
228
AGGRESSIVE
Shake
Shout
Show
Shut
Slap
Smash
Spent
Stare
Start
Steal
Stick
Stop
Strike
Strip
Struck
Take
Tear
Test
Threw
Throw
Took
Tug
Went
Win
NEUTRAL
Printing
Provide
Read
See
Sing
Spend
Study
Talk
Teach
Think
Tie
Touch
Trade
Train
Travel
Turn
Visit
Walk
Was
Wash
Wave
Will
Work
Write
DEPENDENT
Riding
Saving
Seek
Seen
Sent
Serve
Sleep
Slept
Smile
Stay
Stood
Suffer
Taken
Taste
Thought
Thrown
Tremble
Trust
Wait
Want
Watch
Weep
Wi sh
Worry
APPENDIX V
ASSIGNMENT OF STIMULI TO CARDS AND
POSITION ON THE CARD
APPENDIX V
ASSIGNMENT OF STIMULI TO CARDS AND
POSITION ON THE CARD
POSITION
CARD --------------------------------------- —
I II III
1 DRAG ADD SLEPT
2 GIVE LOOK DESTROY
3 PLANT FORGET DRIVE
4 GREW COMPLETE FOLLOW
5 SAVING CROSS CLAIM
6 DECLARE BE KISS
7 STRIKE GROW LIE
8 STRUCK CLIMB ASK
9 SEEN DEVELOP ARE
10 ANSWER FISHING RACE
11 TEACH COVER DRIFT
12 CHOKE KEEP PAINT
13 EAT PREPARE KILL
14 REST SEE BURST
15 SEEK EXTEND PARK
16 ATTEND CHARGE HOLD
17 LEAN ACT WAS
18 KNOW RIDE SEND
19 OBEY SING REMOVE
20 BLESS MIX HARM
21 LIVE POUND PROTECT
22 DREW WAIT LEAD
23 LEADING BELONG GOING
24 CLEAN FLEE MURDER
25 FAIL FLEW AIM
26 RIDING TUG HAS
27 LIVING LEAP FOLLOWING
230
231
28 STOOD HAVE STICK
29 PROMISE SHAKE STUDY
30 DESIRE BATTLE AID
31 HEAR BEAT DID
32 FALL TRADE ESCAPE
33 STRIP SERVE TIE
34 DOESN'T STARE TASTE
35 FEEL COOK BREAK
36 DO TREMBLE DASH
37 DEMAND BEG WASH
38 MEETING FREE SENT
39 PLAN ORDER FLOW
40 FOLD DARE AGREE
41 CAN PRAY SPENT
42 START FILLING CRY
43 HUNT LED CHECK
44 REPORT RISE FILL
45 DEAL GIVEN BITE
46 - OPEN FINISHED THOUGHT
47 SLEEP FLASHING PUSH
48 GAZE IS RUB
49 SUFFER NOD BEGAN
50 FELL CAN'T THROW
51 PROTEST HAD DREAM
52 FEED BEING FOUGHT
53 PROVE TAKEN WAVE
54 WILL LOSE CRUSH
55 PRINT CHOP LAY
56 FALLEN CAME CONTROL
57 HURRY BRUSH DRINK
58 WORRY SHOW BECOME
59 LOVE PASS SHOUT
60 COME VISIT CUT
61 TOOK TURN TRUST
62 STOP CAUGHT BAKE
63
MATCH BUY WEEP
64 TEST READ REPEAT
65 SMASH PRINTING BORN
66 RUSH OWE MARK
67 EXPECT DISPLAY WIN
68 BURN BECAME HELP
69 ROLLING KICK DIDN1T
70 TOUCH WATCH TEAR
71 ENTER CROSSING HOPE
72 ROAR PACK NEED
73 HIDE TAKE BUILDING
232
74 LISTEN DOES HURT
75 STEAL SPEND FLOAT
76 HEARD TRAVEL RAN
77 WORK REMAIN LOCK
78 WRITE JUDGE CARRY
79 ALLOW ARRIVE BLAME
80 CONSENT PICK FLY
81 ' DEFEAT CONSIDER MADE
82 THREW KEPT PRACTISE
83 BOSS RECEIVE CHEER
84 BOIL HAVEN 1T ADMIT
85 TALK STAY WENT
86 JUMP BUILD WISH
87 FOUND FIGHT CONNECT
88 DIG DISCOVER FEAR
89 FELT BEEN SLAP
90 WANT RAP WALK
91 GO THROWN FINISH
. 92 DRESS PULL CLING
93 POUR RUN MISS
94 GOES KNOCK COPY
95 TRAIN KEEPING BLOW
96 ELECT OBJECT LYING
97 OBSERVE SELL PROVIDE
98 SMILE SHUT DIVIDE
99 THINK HATE ■ BELIEVE
100 LAID BLOCK MAKE
APPENDIX VI
AWARENESS INVENTORY
APPENDIX VI
AWARENESS INVENTORY
What do you think the purpose of these sentences
might have been?:
What did you talk about most during the sentences?:
Did you notice anything I said or did during the
sentences?:
What connection did it have with the sentences?:
Do you believe I influenced your sentences in any way
How?:
Did you notice any changes in the kinds, or types of
sentences you were making? :
Do you have any other comments to make concerning the
experiment?:
APPENDIX VII
INTERPERSONAL CHECK LIST
APPENDIX VII
INTERPERSONAL CHECK LIST
The following pages comprise a copy of Leary's
Interpersonal Check List. This was used to study the rela
tionship between verbal conditioning and the subject's de
scription of himself and the examiner. The subject checked
those items he felt described the object of the rating (him
self or the examiner) .
2 3 6
237
INTERPERSONAL ADJECTIVE CHECK LIST
Able to criticize self
Able to doubt others
Able to give orders
Able to take care of self
Accepts advice readily
Acts important
Admires and imitates others
Affectionate and under
standing
Agrees with everyone
Always ashamed of self
Always giving advice
Always pleasant and agreeable
Apologetic
Appreciative
Big-hearted and unselfish
Bitter
Boastful
Bossy
Businesslike
Can be frank and honest
Can be indifferent to others
Can be obedient
Can be strict if necessary
Can complain if necessary
Clinging vine
Cold and unfeeling
Complaining
Considerate
Cooperative
Critical of others
Cruel and unkind
Dependent
Dictatorial
Distrusts everybody
Dominating
Eager to get along with
others
Easily embarrassed
Easily fooled
Easily led
Egotistical and conceited
Encourages others
Enjoys taking care of others
Expects everyone to admire
him
Firm but just
Fond of everyone
Forceful
Forgives everything
Frequently angry
Frequently disappointed
Friendly
Friendly all the time
Generous to a fault
Gives freely of self
Good leader
Grateful
Hardboiled when necessary
Hardboiled
Hardly ever talks back
Hard to impress
Helpful
Impatient with'other's mis
takes
Independent
Irritable
Jealous
Kind and reassuring
Lacks self-confidence
Lets others make decisions
Likes everybody
Likes responsibility
Likes to be taken care of
238
Likes to compete
Loves everyone
Makes a good impression
Manages others
Meek
Modest
Obeys too willingly
Often admired
Often gloomy
Often helped by others
Often unfriendly
Outspoken
Overprotective of others
Oversympathetic
Passive and unaggressive
Proud and self-satisfied
Rebels against everything
Resentful
Resents being bossed
Respected by others
Sarcastic
Self-confident
Selfish
Self-punishing
Self-reliant and assertive
Stern but fair
Straightforward and direct
Stubborn
Tender
Thinks only of himself
Timid
Too easily influenced by
friends
Too lenient with others
Too willing to give to
others
Touchy and easily hurt
Tries to be too successful
Tries to comfort everyone
Trusting and eager to please
Wants everyone's love
Wants everyone to like him
Wants to be led
Warm
Well thought of
Will believe anyone
Will confide in anyone
Usually gives in
Very anxious to be approved
of
Very respectful of authority
Self-respecting
Self-seeking
Shrewd and calculating
Shy
Skeptical
Slow to forgive a wrong
Sociable and neighborly
Somewhat snobbish
Spineless
Spoils people with kindness
APPENDIX VIII
RAW DATA
APPENDIX VIII
RAW DATA
Key.— (1) Subject; (2) Stimulus: A = aggressive,
N = neutral, D = dependent; (3) Reinforcement: W = wrong,
R = right; (4) Operant level score; (5) Conditioning score;
(6) Extinction score; (7) Chronological age; (8) Socio
economic level; (9) California Test of Mental Maturity Non
verbal score; (10) CTMM Verbal score; (11) CTMM Full Scale
score; (12) California Achievement Test grade placement.
240
241
RAW DATA
A. Scores for Delinquent Subjects
Sub St Rein Op Con Ext Age SE
CTMM
NV
CTMM
V
CTMM
FS
CAT
281 A W 3 -2 0 195 5 72 71 68 7.9
111 A w 5 -11 -3 195 5 101 63 78 6.5
161 A W 3 -7 -2 193 5 82 77 77 6.3
471 A W 3 -5 -3 209 4 103 106 105 7.6
421 A W 2 3 4 195 7 87 95 90 8.7
221 A W 3 -1 0 206 4 105 100 104 10.5
61 A W 3 -2 2 200 5 114 109 112 13.3
341 A W 4 0 -10 172 5 86 105 97 7.5
381 D W 5 -9 2 189 5 87 103 96 9.2
31 D w 4 -6 0 207 5 98 89 94 8.2
91 D w 6 -11 3 205 5 86 95 92 7.8
131 D w 3 -3 6 193 7 91 102 97 6.4
261 D w 4 -3 5 199 5 109 78 92 8.7
2il D w 4 -2 -5 203 5 113 108 112 10.0
431 D w 3 0 1 204 5 89 87 88 6.9
11 N w 3 9 -2 197 5 114 72 93 6.2
71 N w 5 -3 -2 207 6 107 106 107 12.2
141 N w 7 -11 2 212 5 95 54 75 3.7
271 N w 4 -5 3 194 6 87 98 93 8.0
321 N w 4 -7 8 180 6 129 103 117 11.6
201 N w 2 7 5 190 5 90 90 90 7.5
371 N w 3 -3 11 186 5 105 107 106 6.1
461 N w 0 13 .1 194 4 113 106 110 11.4
451 A R 3 0 -4 197 5 91 119 103 9.2
151 A R 3 0 5 174 7 92 110 103 9.5
21 A R 0 10 6 202 1 92 108 100 10.3
81 A R 1 10 -4 200 6 90 77 84 4.4
191 A R 5 -8 5 188 5 110 86 98 9.3
331 A R 2 7 -10 174 6 117 123 124 9.1
251 A R 1 4 -1 195 4 91, 85 87 8.2
391 A R 3 0 0 187 6 84 85 83 5.8
51 D R 3 8 -2 103 5 120 107 114 11.9
121 D R 5 -3 -1 202 5 112 112 114 11.2
171 D R 6 -11 0 189 6 92 81 85 8.2
351 D R 2 9 -3 193 5 97 118 110 13.3
241 D R 8 -16 -2 201 5 91 78 82 7.9
291 D R 6 -5 2 191 6 105 73 86 8.7
242
Sub St Rein Op Con Ext Age SE
CTMM
NV
CTMM
V
CTMM
PS
CAT
441 D R 3 5 -8 189 6 96 92 102 6.4
401 D R 4 -4 1 170 6 55 64 56 5.4
41 N R 6 -9 -7 201 5 86 87 87 7.5
101 N R 5 -7 0 205 5 122 10.4 113 10.3
181 N R 5 -7 5 180 2 97 105 102 6.8
231 N R 2 2 10 201 7 95 60 74 7.8
301 N R 4 -3 8 194 6 87 71 76 3.3
411 N R 4 1 7 182 3 119 109 117 13.9
361 N R 2 15 -3 183 5 101 114 109 9.4
481 N R 3
B.
5 -10 185 6
Scores for Control
57 81
Subjects
69 6.7
442 A W 4 -2 4 199 6 114 94 105 8.8
322 A W 1 7 2 194 4 71 69 71 5.4
262 A w 4 0 -5 198 5 73 82 78 8.6
192 A w 2 5 -3 181 5 101 114 107 7.6
142 A w 1 11 -4 181 4 111 107 109 9.5
92 A w 2 2 4 200 6 — — 109 8.7
12 A w 0 12 6 190 5 98 102 101 7.9
392 A w 4 -4 4 188 6 86 102 94 7.0
432 D w 3 4 3 201 6 98 102 100 8.8
372 D w 7 -16 0 199 5 103 101 102 11.9
332 D w 6 -13 0 186 4 103 111 107 9.0
252 D w 4 -5 4 189 7 92 95 94 7.1
202 D w 4 2 2 202 6 — — 106 8.7
82 D w 1 15 -13 178 5 95 100 98 6.8
32 D w 4 1 4 199' 7
—
— 79 7.5
132 D w 2 -1 4 180 1 122 120 121 7.7
452 N w 3 -1 3 196 7 — — 102 8.9
382 N w 5 -4 9 196 7 82 89 86 7.3
272 N w 2 0 7 201 6 — 101 8.5
312 N w 3 2 -4 191 6 92 97 95 7.1
212 N w 3 1 -1 195 6 112 101 107 8.1
152 N w 2 8 6 205 7 88 112 100 7.6
72 N w 3 1 -3 198 6
—
— 108 8.8
22 N w 2 4 7 196 4 106 91 99 8.0
472 A R 1 7 7 195 4
— . —
103 7.7
342 A R 2 7 -8 206 5 89 80 85 6.8
302 A R 4 -7 3 181 4 ■ 1,04 90 97 8.3
243
Sub St Rein
Op
Con Ext Age SE
CTMM
NV
CTMM
V
CTMM
FS
CAT
222 A R 2 2 3 192 7 100 93 97 9.3
162 A R 1 14 11 182 5 101 104 102 8.2
112 A R 1 13 -5 203 6 77 67 72 6.2
62 A R 1 11 2 186 6 98 83 91 7.6
422 A R 3 3 -3 195 5 — — 103 8.5
402 A R 4 -3 7 187 7 87 94 91 7.8
282 D R 2 4 -6 181 4 85 109 97 8.3
182 D R 2 7 -5 192 6 — — 83 8.3
122 D R 6 -5 1 194 7 — — 112 10.0
42 D R 4 -4 -4 190 3 100 85 93 7.2
482 D R 5 -5 -2 200 1 —
—
107 11.3
492 D R 5 -1 1 196
n
/ 113 95 105 8.6
462 N R 1 8 0 204 5 — — 91 6.7
412 N R 3 5
-2
197 5 100 115 108 9.8
362 N R 3 11 -5 202 6 70 83 77 7.0
292 N R 5 -10 5 200 3
— —
83 7.5
232 N R 4 -7 10 185 4 108 127 117 9.6
17 2 N R 6 -8 -16 197 2
—
— 85 8.5
102 N R 3 4 -9 205 4 — — 92 7.8
52 N R 2 7 -3 192 5 112 85 98 6.8
C . The Number of
the Three
Verbs used by
Phases of the
Each Subject
Experiment
. During
Sub Stim Rein
Operant Conditioning Extinction
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
281 A W 2 1 3 3 1 3 3 3 2 4
61 A w 2 2 3 . 2 4 2 2 2 2 4
111 A w 4 4 5 2 2 1 4 4 2 3
161 A w 3 2 3 0 2 1 2 0 2 2
471 A w 4 2 3 1 1 2 3 3 1 2
421 A w 4 5 2 4 3 2 2 3 5 2
221 A w 1 2 3 2 5 3 ' 2 3 2 1
341 A w 4 1 4 3 4 4 5 2 2 1
381 D w 6 5 5 2 3 4 2 3 4 1
31 D w 4 2 4 2 2 3 3 3 0 6
91 D w 1 4 6 4 4 1 4 4 6 5
131 D w 2 3 3 1 1 4 3 6 6 3
261 D w 4 2 4 4 4 3 2 4 4 3
244
Operant Conditioning Extinction
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
o
I —1
211 D W 0 5 4 2 4 3 5 3 4 3
431- D W 3 5 3 2 3 4 3 3 3 4
311 D W 4 5 5 4 3 6 4 5 3 5
11 N W 4 4 3 7 5 4 5 5 4 4
71 N W 6 5 5 7 2 4 4 4 4 2
141 N W 2 5 7 4 3 6 4 6 5 3
271 N W 0 4 4 3 3 3 2 2 2 5
3 21 N W 2 4 4 2 2 4 1 4 3 4
201 N W 5 5 2 5 4 3 3 7 1 6
371 N W 5 3 3 3 4 1 1 3 6 5
461 N W 2 4 0 3 5 3 , 2 2 2 3
451 A R 1 1 3 3 3 2 4 1 2 5
151 A R 6 5 3 6 2 2 2 2 4 5
21 A R 4 3 0 3 4 2 1 3 3 3
81 A R 1 3 1 3 6 3 4 3 2 3
191 A R 3 5 5 5 3 3 1 4 3 1
331 A R 4 4 2 2 3 3 7 2 6 2
251 A R 3 2 1 0 4 0 3 3 2 3
391 A R 3 4 3 3 1 6 2 4 2 0
51 D R 5 5 3 7 6 3 4 2 5 3
121 D R 3 5 5 5 3 5 4 5 2 4
171 D R 3 5 6 3 4 2 4 4 6 2
351 D R 6 2 ^2 3 6 4 4 3 4 2
241 D R 1 3 8 4 5 2 5 4 3 6
291 D R 6 6 6 6 6 3 4 3 5 6
441 D R 5 4 3 5 3 3 6 3 4 3
401 D R 4 4 4 3 5 3 1 1 2 1
41 N R 2 6 6 4 4 1 6 4 1 6
101 N R 3 6 5 2 3 4 4 4 5 3
181 N R 3 4 5 2 3 5 3 4 4 6
231 N R 2 4 2 1 3 5 1 4 5 4
301 N R 3 4 4 4 4 4 1 5 4 2
411 N R 4 4 4 7 2 5 3 6 7 3
361 N R 3 2 2 4 7 8 4 2 4 3
481 N R 1 4 3 4 4 3 6 3 1 4
12 A W 3 4 0 3 5 4 0 2 2 2
92 A W 4 4 2 2 4 2 2 4 2 4
142 A W 5 2 1 2 4 5 4 2 4 2
192 A W 3 3 2 3 4 1 5 4 4 4
262 A W 4 2 4 5 3 4 4 4 1 2
322 A W 2 4 1 4 4 1 2 3 0 5
245
Sub Stim Rein
Operant Conditioninq Extinction
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
392 A W 7 3 4 2 3 4 3 4 4 5
442 A w 2 4 4 3 6 3 2 2 2 6
32 D w 5 2 4 6 4 5 2 3 3 4
82 D w 3 5 1 4 4 3 8 5 4 2
132 D w 1 3 2 1 1 3 2 2 6 0
202 D w 2 5 4 6 5 3 4 4 6 4
252 D w 4 34 4 3 4 2 2 4 3 3
332 D w 3 4 6 2 4 2 3 4 2 3
372 D w 4 3 7 4 3 1 4 5 4 3
432 D w 3 4 3 4 5 4 3 5 4 3
22 N w 2 4 2 3 4 4 1 3 2 5
72 N w 4 4 3 2 4 4 3 3 2 1
152 N w 3 4 2 5 2 5 4 8 6 4
212 N w 5 4 3 3 4 3 3 4 2 2
272 N w 1 3 2 3 2 2 1 3 4 3
312 N w 4 4 3 1 3 5 : 5 4 4 3
382 N w 4 3 5 3 5 7 1 2 6 4
452 N w 4 5 3 3 2 4 2 5 3 1
422 A R 1 2 3 3 3 5 4 2 2 5
62 A R 6 4 1 4 6 2 3 3 4 4
112 A R 2 1 1 2 6 5 4 2 2 3
162 A R 4 2 1 7 6 4 0 4 4 3
222 A R 6 4 2 3 1 . 4 2 4 2 3
302 A R 4 1 4 2 1 3 3 3 5 4
342 A R 5 3 2 5 1 4 7 3 5 4
472 A R 2 0 1 4 3 3 1 5 4 1
402 D R 2 5 5 5 6 5 3 4 4 3
352 D R 5 6 4 0 7 4 2 4 6 3
282 D R 4 1 2 3 2 3 4 3 3 0
182 D R 3 2 2 4 2 3 6 5 5 3
122 D R 3 5 6 5 5 6 3 2 5 3
42 D R 5 2 4 1 4 4 3 1 1 3
482 D R 2 2 5 6 4 1 4 2 5 3
492 D R 2 4 5 2 6 7 4 3 4 6
52 N R 2 1 2 2 5 4 4 3 3 3
102 N R 2 2 3 2 4 4 6 2 2 5
172 N R 3 3 6 2 2 4 8 2 3 3
232 N R 5 3 4 2 2 4 1 7 4 2
292 N R 5 4 5 2 3 3 2 5 3 3
362 N R 2 3 3 6 5 6 6 5 2 6
412 N R 1 3 3 5 4 5 3 4 1 2
462 N R 4 3 1 5 2 2 3 4 3 2
APPENDIX IX
RAW DATA FOR THE INTERPERSONAL CHECK LIST
y*
APPENDIX IX
RAW DATA FOR THE INTERPERSONAL CHECK LIST
A. Delinquents
Subject
Self Examiner
DOM LOV Category DOM LOV Category
281 -.7 7.0 2 NO 8.0
1.7 2BC
111 1.0 -3.4 1FG 1.0 .0 1BC
161 -1.4 9.0 2 NO 4.4 1.0 1BC
471 -10.8 8.2 3LM 4.1 11.1 3AP
421 -1.4 -10.4 3FG 9.6 3.4 3BC
221 6.0 14.6 3AP 11.9 6.5 3BC
61 -10.7
I
H
U>
•
o
3HI
1.7 1.3 1AP
341 4.8 3.6 2AP 10.6 -.4 3BC
381 .0 2.0 1BC 4.8 -6.2 2DE
31 -2.8 3.0 1NO 7.4 -3.4 2DE
91 -1.2 6.6 2 NO 5.1 -1.1 2DE
131 -1.0 4.4 1NO 3.4 4.0 2AP
261 -3.5 .7 1JK 6.5 4.7 2AP
211 -8.1 .6 2JK 7.1 6.8 3AP
431 .4 10.0 2JK 9.6 3.8 3AP
311 -7.2 . 2 2JK 9.9 .7 2BC
11 2.1 11.9 3 NO 7.1 7.5 3AP
71 -6.9 -8.0 3LM 5.2 11.2 3AP
141 3.8 8.2 2AP 12.8 1.0 3BC
271 .4 13.0 3 NO 7.1 11.1 3AP
321 -3.7 -3.7 2HI 6.1 .7 2BC
201 -3.7 4.1 2LM 3.4 6.0 2AP
371 -13.8 6.6 3LM 3.4 -4.8 2DE
461 -4.0 5.4 2LM 5.8 3.8 2BC
451 -3.8 4.8 2LM 2.3 -.3 1BC
151 -5.5 -2.1 2JK 8.2 -.4 2BC
21 -.4 -6.2 2FG 11.9 8.8 3AP
81 -2.0 8.2 2 NO — — —
191 -1.2 5.2 2NO 6.8 4.6 2AP
247
248
ubject
Self Examiner
DOM LOV Category DOM LOV Category
331 .3 10. 9 3AP 6.5 3.7 2BC
251 1.3 9.4 2NO 8.2 6.2 3AP
391 3.1 3.3 IDE 3.5 1.1 1BC
51 -5.7 -7.5 2HI 1.9 -5.1 2FG
121 4.4 10.8 3AP 8.8 9.2 3AP
171 -6.1 5.5 2LM 6.7 '11.3 3AP
351 -1.3 4.5 1NO 5.1 3.5 2AP
241 9.1 -11.3 3DE 8.8 6.8 3AP
291 .3 6.3 2NO 5.1 3.5 2AP
441 2.7 4.7 2AP 8.4 8.4 3AP
401 3.7 12.9 3AP
—
— —
41 -11.2 -6.8 3JK 10.5 5.1 3BC
101 -4.3 8.1 2 NO 9.8 1.4 2BC
181 -4.8 3.0 2LM 8.6 1.4 2BC
231 .0 4.3 1BC 3.2 4/4 2AP
301 -5.6 2.4 2LM — — —
411 .0 7.2 2 NO 2.7 1.7 1BC
361 -8.9 3.7 2LM 4.1 -.3 1BC
481 2.5 5.3 2AP 10. 5 7.2 3AP
442 2.2
B.
1.4
Controls
1BC 7.8 7.8 3AP
322 6.8 12.8 3AP 6.9 6.7 2AP
262 .7 1.3 1AP 4.1 -.5 1BC
192 8.9 -.7 2BC 10. 5 -.5 3BC
142 5.4 -3.8 2DE 9.5 2.3 2BC
92 9.1 9.4 3AP 10.6 5.8 3BC
12 4.5 7.2 2AP 7.5 7.5 • 3AP
392 -1.0 -.9 1HI 8.8 -.3 2BC
432 -1.0 7.8 2 NO 5.4 -3.4 2DE
372 1.0 . 1.5 1AP 9.2 .6 2BC
332 2.0 1.4 1AP 13.7 -1.1 3BC
252 7.0 13.1 3AP 2.3 15.1 3 NO
202 -1.7 -.7 1JK 2.0 -2.0 IDE
82 -2.0 -4.8 2HI 9.8 5.8 3BC
32 3.1 15.3 3AP .2 4.8 1NO
132 -1.2 -4.4 1HI 6.5 3.1 2BC
452 3.7 4.9 2AP 13.3 3.3 3BC
382 -1.3 2.5 1NO 2.1' 6.7 2AP
b j e
272
312
212
152
72
22
472
342
302
222
162
112
62
422
402
352
282
182
122
42
482
492
462
412
362
292
232
172
102
52
249
________ Self__________
DOM LOV Category
6.2 .0 2BC
3.6
00
•
r-
2AP
-1.0 .8 1LM
-6.5 .0 2JK
-6.8 .2 2 JK
-9.9
t —1
4
r —1
i
3JK
-5.4 1.2 2JK
-4.4 3.4 2LM
4.7 4.5 2AP
-6.8 -1.0 2JK
-8.4 14.8 3 NO
-14.2 11.6 . 3LM
-6.4 -5.9 2HI
7.0 4.6 2BC
2.4 1.2 1BC
3.4 7.9 2AP
1.0 7.6 2 NO
5.1 3.9 2AP
.0 -15.8 3FG
-3.1 -4.5 2HI
-7.7 -.1 2JK
6.8 11.2 3AP
3.0 3.0 IDE
-4.0 -. 6 1 JK
4.1 .7 1BC
-7.1 7.1 3LM
-5.4 2.4 2LM
6.0 10.6 3AP
-1.7 1.1 1LM
7.9 16.3 3AP
______ Examiner_______
DOM LOV Category
7.5 4.1 2BC
4.1 9.5 3AP
5.4 3.4 2BC
11.2 4.0 3BC
9.6 8.4 3AP
6.9 .7 2BC
4.1' 4.7 2AP
5.1 -3.3 2DE
10.1 4.9 3BC
4.2 -. 6 1BC
6.1 3.7 2BC
8.9 15.7 3AP
8.2 5.8 3AP
5.8 6.8 2AP
13.4 5.0 3BC
5.4 9.6 3AP
5.8 8.8 3AP
6.8 -7.8 3DE
.0 -.4 1 JK
4.1 6.9 2AP
6.5 2.1 2BC
15.3 10.5 3AP
9.9 8.5 3AP
4.4 .4 1BC
13.0 8.2 3BC
7.1 3.1 2BC
5.9 .7 2BC
6.9 10.9 3AP
7.2 6.0 2AP
8.6 2.4 2BC
C. Raw Data for the Interpersonal Check List Categories
(Number of Subjects in Each Class)
Groups
Diaqnostic Octants Octant Summaries
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 3218 4567 2345 1876 3456 234 678 218 456
Delinquent
Self Des.
8 2 2 3 3 5 10 15 27 21 10 38 13 7 30 25 11
Controls
Self Des.
16 6 2 1 5 8 6 4 20 14 34 32 16 9 18 26 14
Delinquent
Exam. Des.
20 20 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 25 20 40 5 25 0 40 1
Controls
Exam. Des.
17 25 3 0 0 1 .0
1
2 1 28 20 44 4 28 3 44 1
to
in
o

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Asset Metadata

Creator Mallory, Charlie Eugene (author)

Core Title Positive And Negative Verbal Reinforcement In The Conditioning Of The Verbal Behavior Of Adolescent Underachieving Delinquents With Dependent, Neutral, And Aggressive Stimuli

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Educational Psychology

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education, educational psychology,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Metfessel, Newton S. (committee chair), Hopkins, Kenneth D. (committee member), Lefever, David Welty (committee member), Longstreth, Langdon E. (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c18-160523

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Legacy Identifier 6508917.pdf

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