Positive peer pressure: the effects of peer monitoring on children's disruptive behavior.
Kindergarten peers can run a token economy that smooths transitions without adult prompts.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Bickel et al. (1984) set up a peer-run token economy in a kindergarten class. The kids had behavioral impairments and often acted out during transitions.
The teacher first taught a few children how to hand out tokens when classmates moved quietly from one activity to the next. After a week the peer monitors started the system on their own without adult reminders.
What they found
Disruptive behavior dropped and participation rose during every transition. The peer monitors kept the system going even when the teacher stepped back.
In short, five-year-olds can run a token economy and calm their own class.
How this fits with other research
Schroeder et al. (1969) did it first. A fifth-grader used a desk-light token system to boost study time for four first-graders. Bickel et al. (1984) moved the job down to kindergarten and focused on transitions instead of study.
Petursdottir et al. (2019) later topped both studies. They added a functional behavior assessment and a careful fade-out plan. Disruption fell 85 percent and engagement jumped 78 percent. Their design supersedes the 1984 method by showing how to get bigger, longer-lasting gains.
Glover et al. (1976) is a cousin study. Peers gave or withheld tutoring time as a token. Both papers cut disruption, but one used tutoring while the other used tokens alone.
Why it matters
You can let young students police transitions for you. Pick two calm kids, teach them the token rule, and fade yourself out. If you need stronger or faster change, pair the peer system with a quick FBA and a fade plan like Petursdottir et al. (2019) did. Either way you gain teaching time and build social skills.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Classroom peers can serve as powerful sources of reinforcement in increasing or maintaining both the positive and negative behaviors of their classmates. In two experiments, we examined the effectiveness of a peer-monitored token system on reducing disruption and nonparticipation during a transition period of a kindergarten class for behaviorally impaired children. Additionally, the effect of providing and subsequently withholding corrective feedback to peer mediators on the accuracy of their point awards was evaluated. Results in Experiment 1 suggest that both teacher- and peer-monitored interventions were successful in decreasing disruption and increasing participation of monitored peers. Experiment 2 further demonstrated that peer monitors could successfully initiate the token system without prior adult implementation. Analysis of the point awards in both experiments indicates that peer monitors consistently awarded points that were earned. However, when corrective feedback was withdrawn the peer monitors frequently awarded points that were not earned, i.e., they rarely withheld points for undesirable behavior. Even so, the monitored peers' disruptive behavior was maintained at low rates.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1984 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1984.17-213