LEARNING AND FRUSTRATION OF RESPONSES BASED ON POSITIVELY AND NEGATIVELY CORRELATED REWARD IN CHILDREN

Investigated A. Amsel's (see 33:4) frustration effect (FE) under 3 seldom-explored conditions: using low- and high-amplitude responses, varying the similarity of the frustrated response and the index response, and using 20 children as Ss. Ss were rewarded for turning a joystick hard to 1 light stimulus and gently to another. After a definite discrimination had developed, nonreinforcement was introduced, with some Ss nonreinforced for the hard response and some for the gentle response. Results were (1) the usual FE was observed when the hard response served as the index response, (2) this FE was independent of which response was nonreinforced, and (3) no FE was observed when the gentle response served as the index response. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for Amsel's theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.