Behavioral Momentum

Description of the Strategy

Behavioral momentum is a strategy used to increase compliance to requests, and it is also referred to as high-probability (high-p) intervention or treatment, or pretask request. To implement behavioral momentum, a series of requests that have a history or high probability of compliance is issued just prior to a request with a low probability of compliance. For example, students might be asked to complete three easy tasks: touch their nose, state their name, and sit down. After completing these tasks, they are requested to do something that has been difficult for them to complete, such as “review your vocabulary words.”

To use this strategy, first a pool of high-probability tasks is created. A task is considered to be high ...