An investigation of the influence of student behavior on teacher behavior.
When students act better, teachers act nicer—no staff training needed.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Two disruptive students were taught to stay on task and keep quiet.
The researchers never told the teacher what they were doing.
They simply watched if better student behavior changed how the teacher acted.
What they found
When the students behaved, the teacher smiled more and scolded less.
She also made more friendly comments to those two kids.
The change happened without anyone coaching her.
How this fits with other research
Jones et al. (1977) took the idea further. They taught a student to hand out praise to teachers. The teachers then gave more praise back.
Hall et al. (1971) did the opposite. They trained teachers to ignore disruption and praise work. Student problems dropped.
Thompson et al. (1974) flips the arrow: fix the kids first, and teacher warmth follows naturally.
Why it matters
You can soften a tough classroom by starting with the students. Cut disruption with brief practice, timers, or token boards. The teacher may start smiling more without extra training. Try it during one reading group and watch the vibe shift.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The relationship between student behavior change and teacher reactions to the change was investigated. One fifth-grade teacher served as the subject and two students in her class were employed as teacher change agents. In a multiple baseline design, the students' disruptive behavior (the independent variable) was modified without the teacher's knowledge. The teacher's reactions toward the students (the dependent variable) was monitored on several dimensions including: teacher behavior, teacher attitude toward students, and the quality of teacher verbal statements. Results indicated that student behavior change influenced the teacher's behavior. Implications are that students possess potent reinforcing properties for teachers and that students should be trained to be effective students.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1974 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1974.7-11