Effectiveness of Direct Reward and Modeling in Establishment of Standards of Excellence

Abstract

Two procedures, modeling and direct reward, were presented as possible methods for studying one aspect of achievement behavior, namely, the tendency to set standards of excellence. A comparison of these two procedures was made to determine their relative efficacy for inducing the hypothesized standards of excellence. 84 boys (ages 7 to 11 yr.) were tested under 1 of the 6 conditions of a 2 × 3 factorial design. The two main variables were (a) the method used to establish a standard of excellence (modeling or direct reward) and (b) the level of standard that was established (low, high, or none). An analysis of the results in terms of a standard setting score (based on the pattern of self-reward) showed that both the direct-reward groups and the modeling groups exhibited standard setting. The direct-reward group, if anything, showed more standard setting than the modeling group did, due mainly to the low level of standard setting in the high-standard modeling group. These results were interpreted as providing support for a social-learning explanation of the acquisition of standards of excellence in the development of achievement motivation.