Modification of Biases Held by Teacher Trainees Toward the Disturbingness of Child Behaviors

The effect of an intensive camp counseling experience with institutionalized emotionally disturbed adolescents on the perceptions of camp counselors regarding the disturbingness of certain child behaviors was investigated. Comparisons were made between the ratings of teacher trainees who served as counselors and teacher trainees who did not on the Disturbing Behavior Problem Checklist. Analysis of the data indicated that the counselors tended to view the deviant child behaviors as less disturbing at the end of the camp week than did the controls.