PERSONALITY FACTORS IN DISCRIMINATION LEARNING IN CHILDREN

Trained high and low need for approval groups of 122 5th and 6th graders on an initial discrimination and shifted to 2 subsequent discrimination problems involving the same (intradimensional) or different (extradimensional) stimulus dimensions. Other variables included heart rate and response time, the latter considered a measure of impulsivity. Approval-dependent Ss performed significantly more poorly on the initial discrimination and the extradimensional shift, showed higher heart rate, and were more impulsive than the low need for approval group. Impulsivity, but not heart rate, was related to discriminative acquisition. Results were interpreted from the point of view of an attention theory of discrimination learning: approval-dependent children learn less well as a function of the effects of anxious arousal on attention to the dimensional aspects of stimuli. (35 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.