Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Orthographically Mediated Inhibition Effects: Evidence Of Activational Feedback During Visual Word Recognition, Jason F. Reimer

Student Work

According to the multistage activation model of visual word recognition (Besner & Smith, 1992a, 1992b; Borowsky & Besner, 1993), during visual word recognition, activation can spread from semantic to orthographic representations via a feedback mechanism. Two experiments were conducted in order to test directly whether or not such feedback occurs, and if so, under what conditions. In order to directly measure feedback, a mediated priming paradigm was utilized. In this paradigm, participants named aloud targets that were preceded either by a semantically related prime (e.g., dog - cat! or by a prime that is related to the target via a …

Influence Of Feedback Specificity And Simultaneous Goals On Task Performance, David W. Furst

Student Work

A laboratory experiment was conducted examining the influence of feedback specificity and simultaneous quantity and quality goals on the performance of an assembly task including the effect of feedback specificity on perceptual and behavioral measures of intrinsic motivation. The hypotheses were framed in terms of a traditional goal setting model and a control systems-goal conflict model. Neither model was supported for the quantity performance measure in that varying the specificity of quantity of performance feedback did not result in differential quantity of performance. The traditional goal setting model was supported based on results from the quality performance measure . These …

The Effects Of Feedback Referent And Content Upon Self-Determination, Rated Task Interest, And Intrinsic Motivation, Kerry L. Sheehan

Student Work

This study was an attempt to determine if verbal feedback could be used to convey information about feedback referent and feedback content to individuals in an experimental setting, and if so, if that information would influence their perceptions of perceived task competence, self-determination, task-interest, and intrinsic motivation. Eighty subjects were used from psychology classes. The majority were college freshmen or sophomores. Results showed that subjects did attend to the feedback referent, but that the referent had no subsequent influence on any of the dependent variables. Additionally, the feedback content manipulation did not produce the predicted effects upon the dependent variables. …

The Effect Of Feedback On Low-Goal Task Performance, Jeffrey David Klawsky

Student Work

This experiment was conducted to study the effect of feedback on task performance under a low performance standard (goal). Fifty-two undergraduate students were presented with the task of mentally summing seven single-digit numbers to solve a problem. Subjects either received a high or low goal for the number of problems to solve in 15 minutes, and continuous feedback or no feedback about how many problems they had solved. It was predicted that feedback would result in higher performance for high goal subjects and lower performance for low goal subjects. A marginal main effect of goal difficulty (p<.067) in the predicted direction was obtained, but no goal difficulty-feedback interaction. Possible explanations for the observed results are discussed along with implications for future research.

Differential Effects Of Praise Types, Ronald M. Kennedy

Student Work

Sixty-two male Caucasian undergraduate Psychology students were randomly divided into four treatment groups wherein they all performed an identical task under the direction of a "supervisor." The supervisor dispensed either non-evaluative verbal feedback, Structured Praise, Considerate Praise, or a combination of Structured and Considerate Praise to subjects in treatment conditions one through four respectively. Considerate praise is characterized as aperiodic, unlinked (to the giving of a formal performance appraisal), informal (not required by the "system"), spontaneous, generally unwritten, "from the heart" type praise while structured praise is essentially just the opposite.

The dependent variables of task quantity, task quality, task …

The Effects Of Visual Feedback And Level Of Aggression On The Application Of Noxious Stimuli, Gary W. Rawson

Student Work

Sixty-four male undergraduate students who were enrolled in an introductory psychology course were used as subjects to determine the effect which visual feedback and level of aggression have on the application of a noxious stimulus to another human being. Equal numbers of high and low aggressive Ss, based on Edwards Personal Preference Schedule scores, were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups, defined by type of visual feedback. The Ss were permitted to select the intensity and duration of hypothetical electric shock which they could apply to a male confederate as punishment for supposedly incorrect responses in a learning …

The Effectiveness Of Information Feedback On The Conformity Behavior Of Children, John Jay Wicks

Student Work

This paper summarizes a developmental study concerning the effects of correctness feedback on the conformity behavior of children. Specifically, the study proposes to test the following assumption: (1) that conformity is a positive function of age on ambiguous stimulus tasks and (2) that the effectiveness of correctness feedback is greater for older than younger Ss. To test these assumptions, the Ss were divided, at each grade level, into three groups: (1) a reward conformity group where the Ss received a "correct” signal for agreeing with the group and a "wrong" signal for disagreeing, (2) a reward nonconformity group where Ss …