Abstract
The pourpose of the present investigation was to examine the effect of the combinations of vicarious reinforcement in developing assertive behavior using covert modeling. Thirty six female high school and junior college students participated in the experiment as subjects receiving four inventories and one behavioral rehearsal test (BRT). Following pre-treatment measures each S was assigned randomly to one of four groups and received four treatment modeling sessions (1) positive vicarious reinforcements for model's assertive behaviors and negative vicarsous reinforcements for non-assertive behaviors (PN-Group), (2) positive vicarious reinforcements only (P-Group), (3) negative vicarious reinforcements only (N-Group), and (4) wating-list control group (WL-Group). The differences between pre- and post-treatment measures within each group were examined by matched t-test. The results revealed that while the treatment procedures of three experimental groups were all effective in developing the assertive behaviors, the results of analysis of variance showed no significant differences among three experimental groups. PN-Group, however, tended to show greater assertiveness compared with either P- or N-Group. Both informational and motivational functions of vicarious reinforcement were discussed, and the efficacy of covert modeling plus positive and negative vicarious reinforcement was suggested.
