Influence of Age and Incentive Conditions on Children's Self-Rewards

Abstract

Two experiments investigated the effects of age, incentives, and class-standing on frequency of self-reinforcement (SR) in children. In Exp. I children in classes rewarded themselves for anticipating E's response correctly, when chances for successful guessing were near zero. Younger children gave more inappropriate SRs, as did children who were rewarded with candy, and others who also observed a model's self-rewards. Children who were ranked in the lower half of their classes exceeded high-ranking Ss in self-rewards in the candy and model groups. In Exp. II, SR was taken for correct responding after a simple partially learned visual discrimination in individual sessions. Low-ranking Ss performed equally well as high ranking Ss but took more undeserved self-rewards Incorrect SRs correlated 0.45 in Ss across Exps. I and II. The relationship of age, class-standing, and tendency to take undeserved self-reinforcements was discussed.