The purpose of the present study was to investigate the function of self-reinforcement (SR) in a situation where correct responses were objectively identified.
In Experiment I, reinforcing effect was examined in a recognition task situation which was able to determine correct responses beforehand. First, seventy- eight 6th graders were shown the following number of non-sense syllables in sequence, one by one, and only once: 5, 10 and 15. In turn, they were shown another set of syllable items and told to identify them with the former set of items. This recognition task was repeated six times.
The experimental conditions were as follows:
(a) SR
+ (positive self-reinforcement): In the process of identification, Ss marked a × on their answering sheet if they thought their identification was confidently correct.
(b) SR
- (negative self-reinforcement): In the process of identification, Ss marked a x on their answering sheet if they thought their identification was not correct.
(c) SR
+- (both positive and negative self-reinforcement): In the process of identification, Ss marked a circle or × on their answering sheet according to their confidence.
(d) N (non self-reinforcement): Ss identified each item only.
The main results were:
1) In SR
+ and SR
+- conditions, when a positive SR followed the first preceding response, the frequency of the same response to two consecutive presentations of the same items (SR
+ M
+ response) was significantly high. Thus, positive reinforcing effect was established (see FIG. 1).
2) In SR
- and SR
+- conditions, when a negative SR followed the first preceding response, the frequency of the different response to two consective presentations of the same items (SR
-M
- response) was significantly low. Thus, negative reinforcing effect was not established (see FIG. 1).
3) In N condition, the frequency of the same response to two consecutive presentations of the same items (M
+ response) was relatively high (see FIG. 1).
In Experiment II, the reinforcing effect of positive SR was examined more accurately. Ss were sixty 6- th graders. The task was the same as in the Experiment I except for the followings. There were 10 items to be identified with another set consisting of 10 items. And the identification was repeated ten times.
The experimental conditions were as follows:
(a) SR
++ (positive SR, high incentive level): In the process of identification, Ss pushed the button to turn a lamp on indicating correctness, if they thought their identification was confidently correct.
(b) SR
+ (positive SR, low incentive level): In the process of identification, Ss pushed the button to turn a lamp on indicating correctness, if they thought their identification was confidently correct.
(c) N (non SR): Ss only identified each item.
The major finding s were:
1) As Experiment I, SR
++ and SR
+ conditions demonstrated the positive reinforcing effect (see TABLE 3).
2) There was no difference between (a) and (b) conditions with respect to the reinforcing effect according to the incentive level (see TABLE 3 and 4).
3) In SR
++ and SR
+ conditions, the frequency of the same response (M
+ response) was relatively high (see TABLE 3) and the number of correct responses were relatively more stable (see FIG. 5 and TABLE 5) than in N condition.
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