Use of classical conditioning procedures to control aggressive behaviors in children: a preliminary report

This experiment tested the effectiveness of classical conditioning procedures in reducing children's aggressive behaviors in a classroom setting. As hypothesized, 11 boys and 14 girls who were shown pictures of aggressive scenes paired with the presentation of negatively evaluated words subsequently displayed significantly fewer aggressive responses than controls who had not experienced these conditioning procedures. A significant teacher/classroom effect was also found, which appeared to be a function of the level of the 3 teachers' permissiveness. Specifically, children's aggressive behaviors occurred more frequently in the classroom where a permissive atmosphere prevailed than in the classroom where a more restrictive atmosphere was maintained. In those classrooms where a permissive atmosphere prevailed, the children who were the same sex as their teacher tended to display more aggressive responses than those children who were the opposite sex from their teacher.