This study (N=160 males) examined the cognitive and behavioral effects of overt success feedback on subjects high and low in resultant achievement motivation (RAM). The cognitive effects of overt success feedback were investigated by requesting attributions to effort, ability, luck, and task difficulty concerning performance on a digit-symbol…

When we communicate we are participating in a relationship with another person we value. (JH)

A project was undertaken to investigate the effects of tootling on social skills, self-concept, interpersonal relations, and classroom environment. The tootling intervention reinforces students for engaging in acts of kindness. Two fifth-grade classes participated in the study over a seven-week period. The Social Skills Rating System, the…

The research reported here supports existing research demonstrating the greater effectiveness of behavioral counseling over traditional methods. (Author)

The present study attempts to assess whether black children's evaluations of their own achievement efforts are indeed acquired in response to prior adult approval or disapproval. (Author)

A comparison of three treatments (training students to take tests, training teachers to administer tests, and reinforcing reading test score improvement) showed that group achievement scores more accurately indicate what students know if motivated to do their best in tests and take tests from teachers trained to administer standardized tests.…

Practice and repetition are necessary for the acquisition of motor skills. Effective practice depends on: (1) a clearly defined goal or purpose; (2) a carefully structured, gamelike progression of practice opportunities; and (3) the provision of feedback or knowledge of the results of the motor performance. (JN)

Using task choice to measure information-seeking behavior, two studies examined situational determinants of choice among anagram tests varying both in difficulty and diagnosticity (information about one's ability). Subjects took a preliminary test before choosing. Study 1 manipulated pretest performance level. Study 2 varied payment for pretest…

The term self-worth protection describes a tendency on the part of certain students to underachieve and at other times to perform well on academic tasks of similar difficulty. The development and maintenance of self-worth protection may be attributed to messages implicit in unproductive evaluative feedback used by teachers. (SLD)

Summarizes and discusses findings on two hypotheses predicting interaction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: extrinsic rewards are those which provide satisfaction independent of the actual activity itself and are controlled by someone other than the employee, whereas intrinsic rewards are those over which the employee has a high degree…

Research supported by U.S. Public Health Grant No. 293-60 to D.O. Hebb and Grant No. 298-3980 of the Medical Research Council of Canada to Virginia I. Douglas. Part of a PhD thesis submitted to McGill University (Friebergs, 1965).

This study tests the hypothesis that individual differences in locus of control orientation may mediate elementary school students' responses to positive verbal feedback. A total of 30 kindergarten through fourth grade subjects were assessed for locus of control orientation using the Bialer Children's Locus of Control Questionnaire. To establish a…

Intrinsic motivation and self-reinforcement can be used identically to explain behavioral persistence in the absence of external reward. Yet the relationship between these concepts has not been adequately explored. Since intrinsic motivation appears to be dependent on an interesting task and self-reinforcement independent of task, it was…

Eighty-six Negro and Mexican-American children were divided into experimental and control groups in a study designed to learn the effects of an 8-week summer Head Start program on the achievement motive of these children. The study was based on McClelland's theory of achievement motive and the models of Atkinson and Aronson. Children were…