THE EFFECT OF INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC REINFORCEMENT CONTINGENCIES ON LEARNER PERFORMANCE
Abstract
Seventy-six AFROTC Cadets studied a revised version of the text, The Military Justice System, for four 50-minute class periods distributed over 2 weeks. Unit-mastery tests of about 12 multiple-choice items each were administered at 11 points throughout the text. Half of the subjects (Cadets) received no knowledge of the correctness of their responses on the unit-mastery test. The other half of the subjects used chemically treated answer sheets which immediately indicated whether or not the subject's answer was correct. A 100-item multiple-choice test over the text was administered to all subjects 2 days after the final instruction period. All subjects had been informed of the final test. Half of the subjects in each of the above groups had been assured payment of $2.50 for participation in the study. Each student in the other half had been told that he would receive $4.00 if he scored 80% or higher on the final test, $2.00 if he scored from 50 to 79% and nothing if he scored below 50%. Compared with other subjects using the chemically treated answer sheets completed the study of the text in less time and appeared to depend on the mastery test for additional instruction. They performed significantly poorer on the Unit-Mastery tests. On the final criterion test, however, none of the groups differed significantly. Rather complex factors must be considered in specifying the optimal conditions of reinforcement and incentives.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0647273
Entities
People
- Howard J. Sullivan
- Richard E. Schutz
- Robert L. Baker
Organizations
- Arizona State University