The nature of equity-restoration: Some approval-seeking considerations

Subjects performed a proofreading task and evaluated its difficulty both beforehand and afterwards. They were overpaid or equitably paid by an experimenter who was or was not directly responsible for the level of pay they received, and who they believed would or would not see their post-test ratings. All subjects knew the experimenter would grade their task performance. Consistent with equity theory, overpaid subjects rated the task as having been more difficult than they had expected and did higher quality work than did equitably paid subjects. However, subjects who thought the experimenter would see their ratings (Aware condition) rated it as more difficult and performed more poorly on it than those who thought she would not see them (Unaware condition). Reported task difficulty increased among overpaid subjects under aware conditions, remained stable among overpaid subjects under unaware conditions, and decreased for equitably paid subjects. These findings suggested that what appears to be “equity-restoration” may be a self-presentation strategy designed to win the experimenter's approval, and that task ratings rather than performance will be used for this purpose when they can be communicated to the experimenter. The experimenter's responsibility for the subject's pay had no effect in the present study.     

Discriminative activation and maintenance of contingent self-reinforcement

The present experiment studied the process by which environmental events come to exercise some degree of control over the activation of contingent self-reinforcement. Through differential training, animals learned to impose performance requirements for self-reward in certain environmental contexts but not in others. Both contextual influences and periodic negative consequences for noncontingent self-reward increased adherence to response requisites for self-reinforcement.     

Effects of inadmissible Evidence on the Decisions of Simulated Jurors: A Moral Dilemma

In a 2 × 3 design, simulated jurors received either weak or strong evidence against a defendant in a murder case. Within each evidence condition, subjects were given either additional evidence ruled admissible, additional evidence ruled inadmissible, or no additional evidence. Results indicated that ( a ) jurors were biased by inadmissible evidcnce in the weak-evidence but not in the strong-evidence condition, ( b ) strong evidence resulted in more guilty verdicts than did weak evidence, ( c ) confidence in verdict was influenced by strength of evidence, and ( d ) confidence of guilt was positively correlated with severity of punishment. Implications of the results are discussed within the context of the judicial process.     

A high-speed computer-coinpatible event recorder

Design considerations, construction information, and programming considerations of a high-speed event recorder are presented. The device records discrete events on magnetic tape for later processing by a large computer. Although the design information is general, the instrument has 120 event channels, a time resolution of up to 100 microsec, and can record 60 or more events per second.     

The effect of texture oil the magnitude of

The magnitude of simultaneous brightness contrast was measured while the coarseness of the textural overlay was varied. Remits from 10 Ss indicate that as the size of elements in the texture increases, the amount of obtained contrast decreases. An interpretation of these results in terms of the spread of lateral inhibitory effects is offered.     

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.     

Overpaid or Overworked? Cognitive and Behavioral Reactions to Inequitable Rewards1

Although early studies support the equity theory prediction that increasing rewards for task performance enhance the effort devoted to the task, these findings may be challenged on a number of counts. Social exchange theory suggests, for example, that when rewards exceed what is felt to be equitable, the recipient may increase his perception of task difficulty and his estimate of what is a fair return for his efforts. In this case, there should be little need to devote increased energy to task performance. The present study, conducted in both Italy and the United States, supports this reasoning. Compared with equitably rewarded subjects, those rewarded by either 40% or 80% over their estimate of what was fair, altered both their perceptions of task difficulty and of a fair return. No performance differences were found.