Abstract
Twenty-seven students from a high school Sunday School department were randomly assigned to one of three groups, money reinforcement group, verbal reinforcement group, and control group. The purpose of this experimental procedure was to evaluate the effect of two different types of positive reinforcement upon the rate of daily Bible reading behaviors, personal attitudes related to those behaviors, and comprehension of what has been read in this sample of adolescents. The major finding of this study was the general effectiveness of money as a reinforcer for this group of adolescents. Money given as a reward for reading by the parents was able to significantly increase the Bible reading of the subjects as well as positive attitudes toward themselves in relation to their Bible reading. On the other hand, verbal praise given as a reward for reading by the parents had no significant effect on the rate of Bible reading or on the attitudes of the young people toward their reading. One possible explanation for this finding is that verbal praise as a social reinforcer might be confounded during adolescence with the adolescent's movement toward establishing independence from his parents in a way that money as a reinforcer does not.
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