Different groups of Es were led to expect that verbal conditioning either could or could not occur without awareness. Both groups tested independent sets of 19 Ss who constructed 100 sentences beginning with one of six pronouns and containing a past tense verb. For experimental Ss sentences beginning with I or We were reinforced by the word “good.” Conditioning effects were as predicted by the expectancies of Es. Ss who were unaware of the correct contingency conditioned only in the group tested by Es who were led to expect that result.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
DeanS. J.HiesingerL.Operant level, awareness and the Greenspoon effect. Psychological Reports, 1964, 15, 931–938.
2.
DixonP. W.OakesW. F.Effect of intertrial activity on the relationship between awareness and verbal operant conditioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1965, 69, 152–157.
3.
KrieckhausE. E.EriksenC. W.A study of awareness and its effects on learning and generalization. Journal of Personality, 1960, 28, 503–517.
4.
LanyonR. I.Verbal conditioning and awareness in a sentence construction task. American Journal of Psychology, 1964, 77, 472–475.
5.
LanyonR. I.DrotarD.Verbal conditioning: intelligence and reported awareness. Journal of Experimental Research in Personality, 1967, 2, 234–238.
6.
LevinS. M.The effects of awareness on verbal conditioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1961, 61, 67–75.
7.
RosenthalR.Experimenter effects in behavioral research. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1966.
8.
RosenthalR.PersingerG. W.Vikan-KlineL.FodeK. L.The effect of experiment outcome-bias and subject set on awareness in verbal conditioning experiments. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1963, 2, 275–283.
9.
SpielbergerC.The role of awareness in verbal conditioning. In EriksenC. W. (Ed.), Behavior and awareness: a symposium of research and interpretation. Durham, N. C.: Duke Univer. Press, 1962. Pp. 73–101.
10.
ThorndikeE. L.LorgeI.The teacher's word book of 30,000 words. New York: Columbia Univer. Press, 1944.
