Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Date of Graduation
5-15-2025
Semester of Graduation
Spring
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Department of Graduate Psychology
First Advisor
Trevor Stokes
Second Advisor
Tonya Lambert Delp
Third Advisor
Krisztina Jakobsen
Abstract
The current study examined the effects of praise statements on students’ behavior by assessing how varied and non-varied behavior-specific praise statements effect student on-task behavior. An alternating treatment design was used to compare the treatment conditions of varied and non-varied BSP. During baseline, participants were not given feedback on their praise statements or their interactions. After baseline, participants were taught to a mastery criterion on varied and non-varied BSP conditions. In the experimental phase, the participants alternated between a condition providing non-varied BSP and a condition providing varied BSP. The results of this study showed that both varied and non-varied BSP increased on-task behavior.
