Effects of reinforcement on children's academic behavior as a function of self-determined and externally imposed contingencies

This experiment was designed to compare the effects of contingent reinforcement under conditions of self-determined and externally imposed performance standards. A major purpose was to examine the maintenance of self-imposed performance standards over time. Children in one contingent reinforcement condition self-determined their academic performance standards. The same performance standards were externally imposed upon children in a second contingent reinforcement condition who were yoked to subjects in the first condition. Children in a no-reinforcement control condition performed in the absence of external reward. Behavioral productivity of the self-determination condition was greater than that of the no-reinforcement condition. Further, no attenuation of the efficacy of contingent reinforcement occurred when performance standards were self-determined rather than externally imposed. Over six sessions, children became progressively more lenient in their self-imposed performance demands in the absence of social surveillance.     

Procrastination,deadlines, and performance: self-control by precommitment

Procrastination is all too familiar to most people. People delay writing up their research (so we hear!), repeatedly declare they will start their diets tomorrow, or postpone until next week doing odd jobs around the house. Yet people also sometimes attempt to control their procrastination by setting deadlines for themselves. In this article, we pose three questions: (a) Are people willing to self-impose meaningful (i.e., costly) deadlines to overcome procrastination? (b) Are self-imposed deadlines effective in improving task performance? (c) When self-imposing deadlines, do people set them optimally, for maximum performance enhancement? A set of studies examined these issues experimentally, showing that the answer is "yes" to the first two questions, and "no" to the third. People have self-control problems, they recognize them, and they try to control them by self-imposing costly deadlines. These deadlines help people control procrastination, hit they are not as effective as some externally imposed deadlines in improving task performance.     

A test of the deadline model for speed-accuracy tradeoffs

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the deadline model for speed-accuracy tradeoffs. According to the deadline model, participants in speeded-response tasks terminate stimulus discrimination as soon as it has run to completion or as soon as a predetermined time deadline has arrived, whichever comes first. Speed is traded for accuracy by varying the time deadlines; short deadlines yield fast but sometimes inaccurate responses, whereas long deadlines allow for slow, accurate responses. A new prediction of this model, based on a comparison of reaction time distributions, was derived and tested in experiments involving the joint manipulation of speed stress and stimulus discriminability. Clear violations of this prediction were observed when participants made relative brightness judgments (Experiment 1) and when they made lexical decisions (Experiment 2), rejecting both the deadline model and the fast-guess model. Several alternative models for speed-accuracy tradeoffs, including random-walk and accumulator models, are compatible with the results.     

Effects of repetition and response deadline on item recognition in young and older adults

In the present study, we examined the joint effects of aging, repetition, and response deadline in a plurality discrimination task. Young and older adults studied lists of unrelated singular and plural nouns, with half presented once (weak items) and half presented five times (strong items). Test lists contained old (same) nouns, plurality-reversed nouns (changed lures), and unstudied nouns (new lures), and the participants were asked to respond old only to same items. In Experiment 1, the participants were tested with both short and long deadlines. In Experiment 2, the tests were unpaced. In both experiments, repetition increased hit rates for young and older adults. Young adults tested with a long deadline or no deadline showed invariant (Experiment 1) or reduced (Experiment 2) false alarms to changed lures when the nouns were studied more often. Young adults tested with a short deadline and older adults tested with both long and short deadlines had increased false alarm rates for strong changed lures; without time pressure to respond, older adults did not have a significant increase in false alarms for changed lures. Implications of these results for theories of cognitive aging are explored.     

Effects of repetition and response deadline on associative recognition in young and older adults

The present study examined the joint effects of repetition and response deadline on associative recognition in older adults. Young and older adults studied lists of unrelated word pairs, half presented once (weak pairs) and half presented four times (strong pairs). Test lists contained old (intact) pairs, pairs consisting of old words that had been studied with other partners (rearranged lures), and unstudied pairs (new lures), and participants were asked to respond "old" only to intact pairs. In Experiment 1, participants were tested with both short and long deadlines. In Experiment 2, the tests were unpaced. In both experiments, repetition increased hit rates for young and older adults. Young adults tested with a long deadline showed reduced (Experiment 1) or invariant (Experiment 2) false alarms to rearranged lures when word pairs were studied more often. Young adults tested with a short deadline and older adults tested under all conditions had increased false alarm rates forstrong rearranged pairs. Implications of these results for theories of associative recognition and cognitive aging are explored.     

The substitutability of external control and self-control

Three experiments offered participants the opportunity to undertake an activity that had long-term benefits but either small or large short-term costs. The experiments investigated how self-control efforts to undertake the activity are affected by real or primed externally imposed controls. Two forms of self-control were assessed: bolstering the value of the offered activity and self-imposed penalties for failure to undertake it. The results showed that greater short-term costs elicited more self-control efforts when externally imposed controls were absent and less self-control efforts when externally imposed controls were present. Both externally imposed controls and self-control efforts prevented short-term costs from affecting participants’ intention to undertake the activity. The results were interpreted as suggesting that externally imposed control and self-control are substitutable means for pursuing activities with long-term benefits and short-term costs.     

Locus of control and the ability to tolerate gratification delay: When it is better to be an external

An experiment was conducted to investigate the relationship between the locus of control orientation of fourth-grade children and delay frustration experienced in self-imposed and externally imposed delay situations. Time estimation was used as the index of delay frustration, with greater time estimates being interpreted as indicating greater frustration. In a self-imposed delay situation, external subjects estimated a 5-min delay to be longer than did internal subjects, while in an externally imposed delay situation, internal subjects estimated a 5-min delay to be longer than did external subjects. The implications of the findings for an understanding of both the locus of control dimension and delay behavior are discussed.     

儿童自我延迟满足的视觉认知

采用眼动研究方法,以儿童的延迟等待时间及眼动特征为指标,通过两个实验考察儿童在自我延迟满足情境中的注意分配策略及自我延迟满足能力发展的年龄特点。实验结果表明：偏爱策略能促进学前儿童的自我延迟满足;小学1、2年级儿童的自我延迟满足能力显著高于学前儿童;延迟奖励物的彩色照片比黑白照片更有利于儿童的延迟等待;眼动方法是延迟满足研究的有效方法     

Can tutoring improve performance on a reasoning task under deadline conditions?

The present study examined the effectiveness of a tutoring technique that has been used to identify and address participants' misunderstandings in Wason's selection task. In particular, the study investigated whether the technique would lead to improvements in performance when the task was presented in a deadline format (a condition in which time restrictions are imposed). In Experiment 1, the effects of tutoring on performance were compared in free time (conditions in which no time restrictions are imposed) and deadline task formats. In Experiment 2, improvements in performance were studied in deadline task formats, in which the tutoring and test phases were separated by an interval of 1 day. The results suggested that tutoring improved performance on the selection task under deadline and in free time conditions. Additionally, the study showed that participants made errors because they had misinterpreted the task. With tutoring, they were able to modify their initial misunderstandings.     

Relative preference for external and self-controlled reinforcement in monkeys

Monkeys were tested for their relative preference for self-monitored and externally imposed systems of reinforcement. One monkey clearly preferred to self-reward his own performances. whereas a second monkey favored slightly the externally administered system but displayed a small gradual shift toward self-reward as the sessions progressed. Unlike previous findings. unmerited self-reward did not result in rapid discarding of self-imposed performance requirements. The level of work output and the interactive effects of multiple reinforcement control are possible operative factors in sustaining self-imposed contingencies long after punishment for unmerited self-reward has been discontinued.     

A comparison of pacing contingencies in classes using a personalized system of instruction

This study compared the effects of multiple versus single deadline contingencies on distribution of unit-mastery test taking by students in four university classes taught using the personalized system of instruction. Rate of test taking was most uniform when multiple deadlines were imposed throughout the course. When deadlines were infrequent, a scalloped pattern of test taking developed.     

Response deadline and subjective awareness in recognition memory

Level of processing and generation effects were replicated in separate experiments in which recognition memory was tested using either short (500 ms) or long (1500 ms) response deadlines. These effects were similar at each deadline. Moreover, at each deadline these effects were associated with subsequent reports of remembering, not of knowing. And reports of both knowing and remembering increased following the longer deadline. These results imply that knowing does not index an automatic familiarity process, as conceived in some dual-process models of recognition, and that both remembering and knowing increase with the slower, more controlled processing permitted by the longer response time.     

Behaviour of Rats During Selfinitiated Pauses in Feeding and Drinking, and During Periodic Response-Independent Delivery of Food and Water

In Experiment I rats deprived of either food or water were given free access to food or water respectively, and their behaviour was observed during self-imposed pauses in feeding or drinking. In Experiment II food or water were delivered according to fixed-time 30-s and fixed-time 60-s schedules, and the behaviour of the rats was observed during the interreinforcement intervals imposed by these schedules. In both experiments the temporal pattern of those activities that occurred during pauses in eating differed from the pattern of activities occurring during pauses in drinking; and with both food and water the temporal pattern of activities during self-imposed pauses in consummatory behaviour in Experiment I proved a good predictor of the pattern of activities during schedule-imposed interreinforcement intervals in Experiment II. This suggests that intermittent schedules permit the occurrence of those activities that are normally closely associated with the consummatory behaviour in question. In Experiment II certain activities that occurred towards the end of the interreinforcement interval were found to be enhanced relative to baseline level, but there was no enhancement of activities occurring near the beginning of the interval. This is contrary to Staddon's (1977) account of schedule-induced behaviour, and suggests that schedule-induction is not as common as has sometimes been supposed.     

The unexpected benefits of final deadlines in negotiation

Two experiments explored actual and predicted outcomes in competitive dyadic negotiations under time pressure. Participants predicted that final deadlines would hurt their negotiation outcomes. Actually, moderate deadlines improved outcomes for negotiators who were eager to get a deal quickly because the passage of time was costly to them. Participants’ erroneous predictions may be due to oversimplified and egocentric prediction processes that focus on the effects of situational constraints (deadlines) on the self and oversimplify or ignore their effects on others. The results clarify the psychological processes by which people predict the outcomes of negotiation and select negotiation strategies.     

Prejudice and perception: the role of automatic and controlled processes in misperceiving a weapon

Two experiments used a priming paradigm to investigate the influence of racial cues on the perceptual identification of weapons. In Experiment 1, participants identified guns faster when primed with Black faces compared with White faces. In Experiment 2, participants were required to respond quickly, causing the racial bias to shift from reaction time to accuracy. Participants misidentified tools as guns more often when primed with a Black face than with a White face. L. L. Jacoby's (1991) process dissociation procedure was applied to demonstrate that racial primes influenced automatic (A) processing, but not controlled (C) processing. The response deadline reduced the C estimate but not the A estimate. The motivation to control prejudice moderated the relationship between explicit prejudice and automatic bias. Implications are discussed on applied and theoretical levels.     

Myopic prediction, self-destructive secrecy, and the unexpected benefits of revealing final deadlines in negotiation

Three studies explored the psychology of social prediction by examining negotiators’ predictions of the effects of time pressure and comparing those predictions with actual outcomes. The results show that revealing final deadlines in negotiation can lead to better outcomes for the negotiator with the deadline because revelation speeds concessions by the other side. However, both naïve and experienced negotiators consistently predicted the opposite. As a result, when given the choice of revealing their final deadlines to their negotiating opponents, negotiators chose not to. The reasons for these erroneous expectations can be explained by myopic processes of prediction in which people anticipate the effects of constraints like deadlines more on their own behavior than on the behavior of others.     

The speed of metacognition: Taking time to get to know one’s structural knowledge

The time course of different metacognitive experiences of knowledge was investigated using artificial grammar learning. Experiment 1 revealed that when participants are aware of the basis of their judgments (conscious structural knowledge) decisions are made most rapidly, followed by decisions made with conscious judgment but without conscious knowledge of underlying structure (unconscious structural knowledge), and guess responses (unconscious judgment knowledge) were made most slowly, even when controlling for differences in confidence and accuracy. In experiment 2, short response deadlines decreased the accuracy of unconscious but not conscious structural knowledge. Conversely, the deadline decreased the proportion of conscious structural knowledge in favour of guessing. Unconscious structural knowledge can be applied rapidly but becomes more reliable with additional metacognitive processing time whereas conscious structural knowledge is an all-or-nothing response that cannot always be applied rapidly. These dissociations corroborate quite separate theories of recognition (dual-process) and metacognition (higher order thought and cross-order integration).     

The effect of developmental regulation on visual attention: The example of the "biological clock"

The current study investigated the attentional mechanisms associated with goal engagement and disengagement in a lifespan context. Women approaching the end of their childbearing years (N = 29) were compared with women who had passed that deadline (N = 28). Participants' goal engagement was measured with a goal nomination task, an incidental recall task of goal-relevant sentences, visual attention to goal-relevant vs. goal-irrelevant images, and a memory task of goal-relevant images. The attention data indicated that women approaching the deadline had a longer first fixation on baby images than women who had passed the deadline. This novel finding was supported by a replication of the previous finding that women approaching the deadline were more engaged with the goal of childbearing than women who had passed the deadline. The connection between attention and memory of goal-relevant information is explored as evidence of cognition working in the service of motivation and developmental regulation.     

胜任需要挫败的“双刃剑”效应及干预策略：行为和认知神经科学视角

胜任需要挫败是指个体觉得自己很失败或者感觉不能胜任工作。随着知识经济的快速发展, 越来越多的新生代知识型员工在工作中遭受了短期或长期的胜任需要挫败。在经历胜任需要挫败后, 员工在后续的工作中会越挫越勇还是一蹶不振?如果员工会越挫越勇, 如何强化这一积极效应?如果员工会一蹶不振, 如何规避这一消极后果?已有研究无法清晰地解答这些问题。因此, 本研究基于自我决定理论, 综合运用行为实验、认知神经科学实验和现场实验的方法, 依次考察短期和长期的胜任需要挫败对后续任务自主动机的跨期影响, 进而探讨并检验组织层面的发展性反馈、自主性支持以及个体层面的成就目标导向等干预策略的有效性。研究结果拓展了胜任需要挫败和自主动机的相关研究, 有助于指导企业对员工的胜任需要挫败问题进行科学管理和干预, 有益于员工有效应对胜任需要挫败, 充分激发其自主工作动机。     

Effects of response time deadlines on adults' strategy choices for simple addition

In this investigation of adults' solution strategies for simple arithmetic, participants solved addition problems (e.g., 2 + 3, 8 + 7) under fast and slow response deadlines: The participants were instructed either to respond before a 750-msec warning beep, or to wait for a 2,500-msec beep before responding. After each trial, they indicated whether they had solved the problem by direct memory retrieval or by using a procedural strategy (e.g., counting, transformation). It was predicted that the fast deadline condition should curtail the use of procedural strategies, which generally are slower than direct retrieval. Furthermore, this deadline effect should be exaggerated for numerically larger problems because procedural strategies are especially slow for the larger problems. As predicted, we observed a deadline x size interaction whereby the fast deadline increased reported use of retrieval, especially for large problems. The results confirm that reported use of direct retrieval decreases systematically with elapsed time, and they provide additional evidence that young, educated adults rely substantially on procedural strategies even for simple addition.