WHEN REPRIMAND CONSISTENCY MAY AND MAY NOT MATTER

The present study examined the importance of discipline consistency by varying not only the probability of punishment but also the nature of the discipline agent's response to nonpunished transgressions. Eighte en first through third graders attending a remedial summer school were assigned to one of four feedback conditions in a 2 (Low vs. High Repr imand Consistency) x 2 (Ignore vs. Attend) design. An analysis of the simple effects of reprimand consistency indicated that consistency was important only when the teacher's alternative response was attending. Thus the nature of the adult's response to nonpunished transgressions is important for understanding how discipline consistency affects chi ldren's behavior. The importance of conceptualizing discipline consist ency as a multivariate construct and of understanding the variables an d parameters that may interact with the probability of punishment are discussed.