A study to determine the relationship between verbal operant conditioning (VOC) and awareness as measured by Dulany's post-conditioning interview. 76 Ss were given instructions for either a Speed Set or Non-speed Set. Taffel's sentence-completion task was used with an intertrial color-naming task. Reinforced Ss showed a significant increase in VOC (p < .01), while the Nonreinforced Ss showed no increase in VOC (p > .05). Speed Set vs Non-speed Set had no significant effect upon either VOC or awareness (p > .05). The results supported the position of Spielberger and DeNike, in which awareness is considered to be a necessary mediating factor for VOC.
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