Effects of brief observation of model behavior on conceptual tempo of impulsive children

100 3rd grade children of impulsive conceptual tempo observed 6th grade models who showed differing patterns of reflective and/or impulsive response and experienced different reinforcement contingencies as they responded to items of a visual discrimination task. Boys and girls who observed a reflective model and girls who observed the contrasting patterns of 2 models or a model who changed her response pattern from impulsive to reflective showed increases in response latency in an immediate posttest. These increases were maintained over a 21/2-wk period only for girls who observed a model who changed in response pattern. Ss who showed increased latencies in the immediate posttest made significantly fewer errors than those whose latencies did not change. (17 ref.)