Achievement motivation in a competitive situation: The older female graduate student

Abstract

AND CONCLUSIONSIn the Taffel verbal operant conditioning paradigm, High and Low GPA Ss evidenced similar I-We response increments over 80 trials. Also contrary t o expectation, High GPA Ss did not have a higher proportion of Aware Ss than Low GPA Ss. However, consistent with one of the experimental hypotheses, aware Ss, regardless of their GPA classification, revealed increments in their performance over the four trial blocks. The conclusions are that (1) grade point average is unrelated to performance increments or the Ss' ability to become aware of the experimental arrangements in the Taffel conditioning task, and (2) awareness of the response-reinforcement contingency is what the S primarily learns in the Taffel verbal operant conditioning paradigm. The present experiment is therefore considered to lend additional support for the cognitive-mediational position in verbal Conditioning.