Intensity and orientation of reasoning: Motivational determinants of children's compliance to verbal rationales

The effects of varying the motivational content of verbal rationales on children's compliance to a prohibition were investigated. Sixty-four 7- to 10-year-old children received an explanation that focused either on the consequences of their behavior for themselves or on the consequences of their behavior for the experimenter. The intensity of these explanations was manipulated verbally by varying the severity of the self- or other-oriented consequences. Preratings of the rationales by an independent sample of 42 children indicated that children's perceptions of the aversiveness of the rationales increased as a function of intensity. Intensity was a determinant of children's compliance but females were more likely to increase in resistance to deviation as a function of intensity than males. Children who received other-oriented rationales performed a greater amount of work and were less likely to show decrements in working over time than subjects who received self-oriented rationales. The results were explained in terms of a model of reasoning effects in which the kind and amount of motivation aroused are two separable determinants of children's compliance.     

The interaction of cognitive styles and classroom environment in determining first-graders' behavior

This study investigates the importance of two “person” variables, reflection impulsivity and divergent thinking, and one “situation” variable, the classroom climate of first-grade classrooms, for the classroom adaptation of first-graders. Three types of classrooms differing in classroom climate were selected: open, intermediate, and traditional. Subjects were the children (n = 189) in these classrooms. Classroom adaptation variables included self concept, school attendance, and teacher ratings of classroom behavior, overall academic rank, and personal preference. Both main effect and interactional relationships between “person” and “situation” variables and classroom adaptation were hypothesized. Classroom environment was found to affect degree of classroom disturbance manifested by the children with students in open classrooms exhibiting most and students in the intermediate classrooms exhibiting least. Boys in the open classrooms had higher achievement anxiety and lower teacher preference ratings than boys in traditional or intermediate classrooms. Reflective children obtained higher ratings as self-reliant learners and, for boys, reflection was related to low classroom disturbance and high achievement anxiety. Interactional relationships between classroom environment and reflection-impulsivity were also found for boys. Divergent thinking was not related to classroom adjustment for boys. Girls high in divergent thinking were higher in school involvement and achievement anxiety and more preferred by teachers.     

Dimensional separability or flexibility of attention? Age trends in perceiving configural stimuli

The hypothesis that perceptual development proceeds from less to greater dimensional separability was tested by giving a speeded classification task to first and fouth graders. In Experiment 1, children sorted line drawings of a cartoon figure into two piles according to his eyes (open or closed) or his mouth (smiling or frowning). First graders exhibited the pattern characteristic of integral dimensions: An interference effect was found when dimensions were combined orthogonally and a facilitation effect when dimensions were correlated, relative to a condition in which only one dimension varied. Fourth graders exhibited an optional separable pattern: There was facilitation in the correlated condition but no interference in the orthogonal condition. These results support the hypothesis that development proceeds toward greater flexibility of attention rather than simply toward increasing separability. A flexible field hypothesis of visual attention was suggested to explain how older children can exercise such optional separability. This hypothesis correctly predicted the asymmetrical relation between dimensions found in Experiments 2 and 3: For both first and fourth graders, the eyes of a cartoon figure (open or closed) and his location (right or left) were nonseparable when the eyes were relevant and separable (or optional separable) when location was relevant.     

Effect of an auditory stimulus on the processing of a visual stimulus under single- and dual-tasks conditions

The Sternberg Additive Factor Method was used to draw inferences about the flow of information under single- and dual-tasks conditions which were identical in terms of the stimuli involved but different in terms of response requirements. In both conditions, subjects pressed a left- or right-hand key in response to the onset of an X or O (intact or degraded) which was accompanied by a monaural or binaural tone. In the dual-tasks condition, subjects responded verbally to the tone location while also making the key-press response, whereas, in the single-task condition, no response to the tone was required. The pattern of main effects and interactions suggested that the same model of information flow described both single- and dual-tasks conditions; i.e., visual and auditory stimuli were encoded separately but shared capacity at the response selection stage.     

Reinforcement and the organization of behavior in golden hamsters: Punishment of three action patterns

Golden hamsters received free shock (Experiment 1) or they were partially (Experiments 2 and 3) or continuously (Experiments 4 and 5) punished with mild electric shock for face washing, open rearing, or scrabbling. Punishment immediately and enduringly reduced the time engaged in scrabbling and the number and length of its bouts. Face washing was also clearly associated with shock, since effects specific to the contingency between face washing and shock were retained when shock was discontinued, but under some conditions punishment increased the number of bouts of face washing. Open rearing was the most refractory of the three activities to suppression and showed least evidence of retaining the effects of punishment. This pattern of results differs from that found previously when food reinforcement was given for the same activities. It is discussed in terms of constraints on performance of learned associations by a variety of response-specific and reinforcer-specific motivational factors.     

A developmental study of the effect of familiarity on short-term visual memory

An attempt was made to specify whether previously reported limitations on young children's full-report capacity lay in a smaller amount of available information, in a shorter trace duration of information in visual information storage (VIS), or in poorer coding of information into permanent storage. Five- and 8-year-olds and adults were shown an eight-item array of figures. followed at varying intervals by an indicator signaling the subject to report the figure to which the indicator had pointed. The effects of three levels of familiarity or “labelability” were examined. While no age differences were revealed in amount of information available nor in the trace duration of information in VIS, strong age differences emerged in coding of information into permanent storage. Data on latency to verbal labeling and familiarity suggested that verbal labeling could not account for the age trends. Rather, the differences seemed to lie in the use of organized visual coding and rehearsal strategies by adults and their relative lack of use by children.     

Enhancing the social skills of an unpopular girl: A social learning intervention

The use of a social learning approach to reduce the unpopularity of an 11-year-old girl, Rene, at a summer camp was studied. Two social skill deficiencies were suggested to be the cause of Rene's unpopularity by her bunk house counselors: her lack of contact with bunkhouse members during free choice times, and her negative, interfering conversational style. A multiple baseline design was used by the counselors to successively implement reinforcement contingencies on each class of social skill. Substantial improvements in performance were noted concurrent with the application of each contingency. These outcomes were maintained after reinforcement contingencies were withdrawn. Sociometric ratings of Rene's popularity by her bunkhouse mates improved after intervention. These outcomes are discussed from a social learning perspective.     

The effects of value confrontation and reinforcement counseling on the career planning attitudes and behavior of adolescent males

An experiment was conducted to compare the relative effectiveness of a value confrontation procedure and a procedure based on verbal operant conditioning in enhancing career development attitudes and increasing the frequency of information-seeking behavior in rural adolescent males. Ninety subjects were identified as internally controlled or externally controlled based on their locus of control scores and then randomly assigned to one of the two experimental treatment groups or a control group. The value confrontation procedure involved developing an awareness of self-dissatisfaction about one's career planning and relating this self-dissatisfaction to the importance one gave to the values logical and responsible. These values had been identified empirically in this study as having a relationship to career planning. The reinforcement counseling treatment involved the interpretation of individual career maturity data followed by the verbal operant conditioning of responses indicative of career maturity. Post tests administered 7 weeks after the treatments showed that the value confrontation procedure resulted in significantly greater frequency of information seeking for internally controlled subjects when compared to the reinforcement counseling and control procedures. No treatment was significant in increasing the maturity level of career development attitudes.