Effects of Attribution and Schedules of Reinforcement on Performance

Abstract

We examined the impact of attributional instructions and schedules of reinforcement on performance. Attributional instructions were designed to lead to an internal or an external attribution, whereas schedules of reinforcement were either variable ratio or variable interval. Results obtained from 31 American students indicated that the subjects given external attributional instructions made a greater number of responses but did not respond more correctly. The schedule of reinforcement did not influence either the number of responses or the correctness of responses.