Study tests the hypothesis that younger children's self-reinforcing tendencies would be governed by prior social comparison concerning the relative amounts of rewards each received by himself and a peer, while older children will take into account whether any observed discrepancy in rewards received is merited or arbitrary. (Author/CB)

Five studies are reported which examine the free vs. earned reward phenomenon in humans. The 420 subjects were distributed over all grade levels from preschool through college. Candies and coins were used as rewards. In preschool through sixth grade groups, black, as well as white subjects and experimenters were used. The California Psychological…

One of the differences in child development caused by the mother-dominant, father-absent structure of disadvantaged Negro families might be the differential development of resistance to temptation in male and female children. It would be expected that girls would be more resistant than boys, that girls would show no difference whether their father…