Abstract
Having in view the importance of self-reinforcement which is indispensable to human beings in social learning, we performed this experiment to apply the effects of self-reinforcement to the problem of child discipline.
We experimented the power effect on the self-reinforcement in relation to the intelligence, one of the children's capacities which can accept the power.
The subjects were 36 fourth graders. We classified them into upper and lower I. Q. groups. Half the number of each group was exposed to the experimental power treatment.
We let each subject try the “bowling-game” -the apparatus of this research-by himself after having experienced the discrepancies between modeled and imposed reward criteria.
We obtained the following results :
The criteria of self-reward set down by the children were higher not only in the power treatment group, but also in the upper I. Q. group.
The level of their criteria scarcely lowered even after they experienced the model of the lower self-reward.
