A group of 40 fifth grade boys and girls worked at a wheel-turning task in which each child could select, on each trial, how many wheel turns would earn a token exchangeable for either two or ten seconds of cartoon-viewing time. (Author/JMB)

It was hypothisized that socialization within an achievement-oriented culture would encourage children to adjust the amount of self reward according to length and difficulty of a task. Task length but not difficulty was found to influence a self reward in second grade children. (ST)

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)