The absolute and relative interpretations of incentive magnitude were examined. 80 Ss aged 20 to 67 yr. sorted cards for 20 trials. During Trials 1 to 13, Ss responded under either high or low reward (25¢ vs $3.00) and were either aware or unaware of the alternative incentive size. Rewards were earned for a women's club. Neither interpretation was supported, as no differences were found. Half of each group was shifted to the alternative size and all Ss sorted for 7 more trials. No effects of shift were found. Failure to find differences in either phase was discussed in terms of the incentive used and its delivery to the organization.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BlackR. W.Shifts in magnitude of reward and contrast effects in instrumental and selective learning: A reinterpretation. Psychological Review, 1968, 75, 114–126.
2.
BlankH. D.The effect of reinforcement value on performance in normal and retarded children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Syracuse Univer., 1967.
3.
BrackbillY.JackD.Discrimination learning in children as a function of reinforcement value. Child Development, 1958, 29, 185–190.
4.
BruningJ. L.Effects of magnitude of reward and percentage of reinforcement on a lever movement response. Child Development, 1964, 35, 281–285.
5.
CantorG. N.HottelJ. V.Discrimination learning in mental defectives as a function of magnitude of food reward and intelligence level. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1955, 60, 380–384.
6.
CrespiL. P.Quantitative variation of incentive and performance in the white rat. American Journal of Psychology, 1942, 55, 467–517.
7.
HanlonC.Response variability in children as a function of age, pretraining, and incentive conditions. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 1960, 53, 267–269.
8.
HeberR.Motor task performance of high grade mentally retarded males as a function of the magnitude of incentive. American Journal of Mental Deficiency, 1959, 63, 667–671.
9.
HelsonH.Adaptation-level theory. New York: Harper & Row, 1964.
10.
HullC. L.Essentials of behavior. New Haven: Yale Univer. Press, 1951.
11.
LewisD. J.DuncanC. P.Effects of variable magnitude of reward on a lever-pulling response. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1961, 62, 203–205.
12.
MillerL.EstesB.Monetary reward and motivation in discrimination learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1961, 61, 501–504.
13.
RosenthalR.Experimenter effects in behavioral research. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1966.
14.
RossiA. M.SolomonP.Button-pressing for a time-off reward during sensory deprivation: III. Effects of varied time-off rewards. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1964, 18, 794–796.
15.
SpenceK.Behavior theory and conditioning. New Haven: Yale Univer. Press, 1956.
16.
ZipfS.The effects of amount of reward, requirement, anad several related probabilities on human performance. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1961, 62, 503–509.
