Adult performance as a function of sex of experimenter and sex of subject.

Abstract

8 male and 8 female Es each tested 8 male and 8 female Ss in a simple sorting task. During an initial 1.5 min. each S's base rate of response was ascertained; following this, the E delivered a supportive statement every 30 sec. for the next 5.5 min. Performance did not increase as a function of the introduction of the supportive statements. Significant differences in base rate and in performance after the base rate period were found as a function of sex of E and of the interaction between sex of E and sex of S. Highly reliable differences appeared in the performance of Ss tested by different Es. The rankorder correlations of men and women tested by men and by women were significant, indicating a similar hierarchy in level of performance of male and female Ss tested by the male Es and a similar hierarchy for Ss tested by female Es.In recent studies (i.e., Stevenson, 1961) of the effectiveness of adults as reinforcers of children's performance, social reinforcement delivered by women has been found to have a greater effect on the performance of boys than of girls and social reinforcement delivered by men has been found to have a greater effect on the performance of girls than of boys. In addition, significant differences have been found among adults of each sex in the degree to which they are effective in modifying children's performance. It is the purpose of this study to determine whether a significant interaction between sex of experimenter and sex of subject is found when adults are the subjects, and to determine whether there are reliable differences among adults in their effectiveness in modifying the performance of other adults. METHOD SubjectsThe subjects were 128 men and 128 women recruited as volunteers from summer school classes at the University of Minnesota. The mean CA of

Religious Symbols and the WISC-R Performance of Roman Catholic Parochial School Students

“…, race (Katz & Greenbaum, 1963), and sex (Stevenson & Allen, 1964) may affect the quality of examinee performance. On a related theme, interviewers wearing various articles of religious clothing (Long, 1978) or religious symbols (Saigh, 1979(Saigh, , 1981b have induced changes in interviewee or examinee behavior.…”

Patterns of Learning in Verbal Discrimination as an Interaction of Social Reinforcement and Sex Combinations

“…While the observation of sex differences in various learning tasks is not new (cf 10,11,24,25,26), little is known about the complex interactions of sex differences with various parameters of learning. On the assumption that social reinforcement is a common source of reinforcement for adults, as Stevenson (25) has assumed for children, the following studies were undertaken to explore the hypothesis that the effectiveness of verbal reward and punishment varies both with the sex of 5 and the sex of E.…”

Variables associated with adults' effectiveness as reinforcing agents1

“…The sex of E m relabon to the sex of S was vaned m botii studies, for significantiy higher levels of performance have been found when the E was a member of the opposite sex rather than a member of the S's own sex (eg, Stevenson & Allen, 1964) In addibon, the age of the E was also vaned m the first study, for reanalysis of earlier data mdicated a tendency for older adults to be more effecbve reinforcmg agents than the Ss' peers METHOD …”

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In several recent studies of social remforcement employmg both adults (Stevenson & Allen, 1964) and children (Hill, 1965, Stevenson, 1961, Stevenson & Hill, 1965 as Ss, significant differences have been found among mdividual adults m theur effectiveness as Es In the Stevenson and Allen (1964) study, for example, there were significant differences in the average mitial level of performance of the Ss tested by different Es Further, males who were effective m eliciting a high level of performance from men were effective m elicitmg a high level of performance from women and, similarly, women who were effective with women were also effective with men. The characteristics of effective reinforcmg agents were not readily apparent, for such factors as appearance, pnor expenence, and scores on the MMPI did not seem to play a significant role m determmmg whether the adult would or would not be effective Despite the fact that differences m the performance of Ss tested by different Es have been found m widely divergent types of studies (Kmtz, Delpratto, Mettee, Parsons, & Schappe, 1965), httle information is available concermng the charactenstics that differentiate effective from less effective Es

The present report consists of two studies that were designed to mvestigate whether charactenstics of more effective and less effective £s could be isolated An attempt was made m the for their assistance m the organizabon and conduct of thij study We also wish to express our appreciabon to all of the mdividuals who served as Es and to those who acted as Ss We wish to thank Rosemary Hartup who served as the director in the second study 3 Now at the Umversity of Denver

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