ABSTRACT
There has been a recognition within applied behavioural research of particular dimensions of antecedent control of human behaviour (Risley, 1977; McNaughton, 1980;Glynn, 1982). These dimensions comprise the ecological context or the characteristics of settings within which contingencies of reinforcement operate to shape and maintain behaviour. Research reviewed in this paper suggests that such ecological conditions, or setting events, may exert just as powerful control over human behaviour in developmental and educational situations as do contingencies of reinforcement. Further, in many child development and educational contexts such as classrooms, playgrounds, daycare and residential institutions setting events may be more amenable to modification and hence may yield more efficient strategies for changing behaviour than strategies relying on contingencies or reinforcement alone.
