Social reinforcement as a determinant of performance, performance expectancy, and attributions

The effects of positive, negative, and nonreinforcement were examined during performance of a fine motor task to observe any expectancy and performance differences. Female high school subjects first learned the task and then were given a series of 30 trials in which social reinforcement was administered noncontingently. Positive social reinforcement had a significant effect on performance, while both positive and negative reinforcement had significant effects on expectancy. In addition, disparate attributions were made by each treatment group.     

Reinforcing value of physical activity as a determinant of child activity level.

This study examined whether the relative reinforcing value of physical activity (RRVPA) measured in the laboratory predicted physical activity measured in the natural environment in 32 6-11-year-old children. RRVPA correlated with physical activity level (r = .42, p < .05), and contributed to the prediction of physical activity level along with child obesity. RRVPA was related to the number of moderate to vigorous physical activity exercise bouts (r = .35, p < .05), not to the duration of those bouts. These results suggest that RRVPA is a determinant of child physical activity level, and that it may be naturally more reinforcing for children to engage in multiple, short exercise bouts than fewer, more extended bouts.     

Prior task failure as a determinant of biofeedback and cognitive task performance

In a study of the effects of controllability of outcomes upon behavior in a biofeedback context, 40 college students were assigned to four groups differing in pretreatment: (1) a success-failure group, given false feedback in a fictitious blood-vessel control task for two sessions designed to convey success followed by two sessions of failure feedback; (2) a failure-failure group, given false failure feedback throughout pretreatment; (3) a contingent failure group, receiving actual feedback in a temperature biofeedback task with criteria that assured failure throughout pretreatment; and (4) a control group, given no specific task during this phase. In a subsequent phase, all subjects received actual frontal (forehead) electromyographic (EMG) response training with biofeedback. In analyses of the results, during EMG training, the contingent failure group attained lower levels than the other three groups. By contrast, on a cognitive (anagram) task, interpolated between pretreatment and EMG training, the contingent failure group demonstrated relatively poorer performance than the other groups. The results are discussed in terms of reactance and learned helplessness theories of perceived loss of control in this context.Some of the data reported here were included in a thesis submitted by the second author in partial fulfillment of requirements for the master's degree in psychology, University of Hawaii, 1981. The entire paper was the basis for a presentation at the annual meeting of the Biofeedback Society of America, Albuquerque, 1984.     

The analysis of performance criteria defining course grades as a determinant of college student academic performance

A series of five experimental conditions were designed to investigate the influence of minimum performance criteria and grade labels on college student academic performance. A college course in abnormal psychology was taught in an individualized manner so that each student could perform on each unit of subject matter in individual performance sessions whenever he wished. In each of the five experiments the minimum performance criteria that had to be attained before progressing to the next unit were varied during the quarter and the resulting changes in performance were recorded. In Experiment I there were no criteria; in Experiments II, III, and IV three levels of criteria (High, Medium, and Low) were varied but all of the criteria defined a course grade of "A". In Experiment V, the three criteria defined course grades of A, B, and C. The results showed that the criteria controlled performance to a high degree, so that regardless of what quality of performance had been demonstrated previously or was being produced currently, performance was immediately changed to attain new criteria put into effect. Students in Experiment I produced very poor performance compared to the other conditions.     

Regulatory fit as a determinant of sport performance: How to succeed in a soccer penalty-shooting

ObjectivesAccording to regulatory focus theory, goal pursuit can be achieved by either keeping a promotion or a prevention focus [Higgins, E. T. (1997). Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist, 52, 1280–1300; Higgins, E. T. (2000). Making a good decision: value from fit. American Psychologist, 55, 1217–1230]. Moreover, it has been assumed that people experience fit when they pursue a goal in a manner that sustains their chronic orientation and that fit has a positive impact on performance. In two studies, we investigated the significance of regulatory focus and fit in the realm of sports performance, such as the success rate in a soccer penalty-shooting task.Methods and ResultsIn a pilot study, we assessed the chronic regulatory orientation of 211 athletes from different sports. Among others, we found more promotion focus with attackers than with defenders. In the main study, we assessed the chronic regulatory orientation of 20 soccer players who took part in a penalty-shooting task. For half of them, the task was described in terms of promotion, for the others in terms of prevention. We found a positive impact of regulatory fit on scoring performance.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrate a great potential of regulatory focus theory for the understanding and enhancement of sport performance. The assessment of athletes' chronic regulatory orientation could be of importance for the selection of athletes, the adjustment of tactics and strategies, and coaches' framing of instructions.     

Language as a determinant of Welsh identity

The study was designed, using the ?matched-guise' technique, to determine how different groups of Welshmen perceive members of their own national group who use various linguistic codes. Three matched groups of adult Welsh Ss were used: Bilinguals, those who were learning Welsh and those who could not speak Welsh and were not learning it either. These Ss were asked to evaluate on 22 scales the personalities of various Welsh speakers they heard reading the same passage of prose on tape. Essentially, the stimulus tape consisted of two male bilinguals reading the passage once each in Welsh, in English with a Welsh accent and in English with an RP accent. It was found, despite the fact that the groups differed in their language skills and self-perceived Welshness, that Ss as a whole upgraded the bilingual speakers on most traits. Indeed, the RP speakers were evaluated most favourably on only one trait - self-confidence. It was suggested that language to a large extent serves as a symbol of Welsh identity, and the results were discussed in relation to how other ethnic groups appear to view their own linguistic codes.     

Appraisal as a pervasive determinant of anger

L. Berkowitz and E. Harmon-Jones (2004) challenge appraisal theories of emotion by describing 2 sets of conditions (physical discomfort and anger-related muscle actions) in which anger appears to be elicited in the absence of theoretically predicted appraisals. In response, the authors discuss the ability of the specific appraisal model they have developed (e.g., C. A. Smith & L. D. Kirby, 2000, 2001; C. A. Smith & R. S. Lazarus, 1990) to account for such instances of anger. First, a number of issues are clarified relevant to the authors' model, including the nature of both the cognitive operations underlying appraisal and the specific appraisals hypothesized to evoke anger. The authors then describe how their model can account for the instances of anger described by L. Berkowitz and E. Harmon-Jones and how both accounts might be tested.     

Distraction as a determinant of processing speed

Processing speed is often described as a fundamental resource determining individual (e.g., I.Q.) and group (e.g., developmental) differences in cognition. However, most tests that measure speed present many items on a single page. Because many groups with slowed responding are also distractible, we compared younger and older adults on high-distraction (i.e., standard) versus low-distraction versions of two classic speed tasks. Reducing distraction improved the performance of older adults but had little or no effect on younger adults, suggesting that the ability to limit attentional access to task-relevant information can affect performance on tests designed to measure processing speed.