Direct and indirect effects of and preferences for feedback during the Good Behavior Game in elementary classes
Kids prefer GBG with both vocal and visual feedback, and that combo still cuts disruptive behavior dramatically.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Chotto et al. (2024) ran the Good Behavior Game in four late-elementary classes. They tried four ways to give feedback: both voice and chart, voice only, chart only, or no feedback.
Each day the class picked the feedback style. The team used an alternating-treatments design. They counted disruptive acts like talking out of turn or leaving a seat.
What they found
Any version with feedback cut disruption by at least half. Voice-plus-chart feedback worked fastest and kids liked it best.
When feedback stopped, problems crept back up. Kids said the double feedback felt 'fun' and 'fair.'
How this fits with other research
Jenkins et al. (1973) used tokens plus timeout in preschool. Their early group plan also slashed disruption, showing classroom-wide systems work across ages.
Walmsley et al. (2013) mixed a lottery with visual feedback for hand-washing in special-needs young adults. Both studies show adding a small prize or chart boosts the effect, but Chotto proves you do not need extra prizes in regular ed.
Hattier et al. (2011) warned that teacher prompts can punish play. Chotto’s data say the opposite for feedback tied to clear rules: here, adult-delivered feedback helped, it did not hurt.
Why it matters
You can run GBG tomorrow and get quick calm with almost any feedback. If you want the fastest drop and happy kids, use both a quick verbal count and a public chart. No extra prizes or tokens needed—just your voice and a marker board.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The Good Behavior Game (GBG) is an effective procedure for reducing disruptive classroom behavior. Students in three fifth-grade classes selected the rules of the GBG and then experienced the GBG with different forms of feedback for rule violations (vocal and visual, vocal only, visual only, no feedback). Following an initial baseline, the four feedback versions of the GBG and a baseline condition were alternated across sessions in a multielement design. All versions of the GBG substantially reduced disruptive behavior below baseline levels. Additionally, in one of the three classes losing the GBG produced an increase in negative peer interactions immediately following the GBG. Following the multielement comparison, we implemented a group-arrangement concurrent-chains preference assessment in which students selected one of the conditions to experience each day. The most selected condition across all classes was the GBG condition, which included both vocal and visual feedback.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 2024 · doi:10.1002/jaba.2902