Ss from reformatory, vocational school, and college settings were presented with a rating task to determine how they would react to positive, negative and neutral reinforcers (good, mmm-hmm, or poor) in relation to the source of reinforcement (boss, friend, and stranger), and the difficulty of the task (changing a tire, adjusting brakes, and grinding valves). As compared with the vocational and college Ss, convicted felons (both psychopathic and non-psychopathic) consistently assigned more neutral values to both positive and negative verbal reinforcers. In addition, felons also showed an inability to differentiate various sources of reinforcement.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
KintzB. L.PappasJ.A scaling evaluation of the effectiveness of verbal reinforcers. Journal of Psychology, 1965, 59, 359–365.
2.
McDavidJ. W.Immediate effects of group therapy upon response to social reinforcement among juvenile delinquents. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 1964, 28, 409–412.
3.
McDavidJ. W.SchroderH. M.The interpretation of approval and disapproval by delinquent and non-delinquent adolescents. Journal of Personality, 1957, 25, 539–549.
4.
PantonH.The identification of habitual criminalism with the MMPI. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 1962, 18, 133–136. (a)
5.
PantonH.The use of the MMPI as an index to successful parole. Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science, 1962, 53, 484–488. (b)
6.
SherifM.SherifC.Social psychology. New York Harper & Row, 1969.
