Effects of Social Reinforcement on Operant Crying

The application of reinforcement principles as a preschool guidance technique under field conditions has recently come under study (Harris et al., 1964, Johnston et al., 1963). Other applications made under field conditions in hospital situations include Wolf’s treatment of autism in a child (Wolf et al., 1964) and Ayllon’s work with psychotic patients (Ayllon and Haughton, 1962). The present paper deals with the application of reinforcement principles to two cases of “operant crying.”