Children's achievement expectations and performance as a function of two consecutive reinforcement experiences, sex of subject, and sex of experimenter

• Published in: Journal of personality and social psychology 1969-10, Vol.13 (2), p.115-128
• Main Authors: Motanelli, Dale S, Hill, Kennedy T
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Elementary School Students; Expectations; Human; Learning; Task Analysis
• ISSN: 0022-3514; 1939-1315
• DOI: 10.1037/h0028066

54 10-yr-old Ss of each sex were divided equally into 9 groups according to their reinforcement condition (praise, nonreaction, criticism) during each of 2 parts of a simple operant task with 1 of 3 adult Es of each sex. S's achievement expectancy was obtained before and after each part of the task. Findings included: (1) during Part I achievement expectancies increased following praise and decreased more strongly after criticism, (2) during Part II these expectancy effects were reversed if E changed from praise or criticism to the opposite reaction but expectancies remained stable if E switched to nonreaction, (3) performance during Part I was higher under criticism than either praise or nonreaction, (4) across Part II the influence of the E's reactions on performance followed a general trend from a cross-sex to a same-sex effect going from praise to nonreaction to criticism, and (5) for both expectancy and performance measures, the effects of base-line level of the S were related to those found in earlier research. Developmental changes in effects of different kinds of social reinforcers are hypothesized. (16 ref.)