Positive Peer Reporting

Description of the Strategy

Social attention in the form of acknowledgment from one's peers can be a powerful positive reinforcer, particularly for students who are rejected or neglected by their peers. Unfortunately, peers may be more likely to attend to and reinforce antisocial behaviors [Page 1429]of their peers than to attend to and acknowledge prosocial behaviors. Positive peer reporting is a strategy designed to address this issue by increasing the availability of peer acknowledgment for the display of appropriate behavior and social interactions for a target individual or group of students. More specifically, this strategy involves training peers to notice and subsequently acknowledge positive aspects of the behavior of a targeted student or group of students. To promote the occurrence of peer acknowledgment, ...