Two studies involving college students examined mechanisms responsible for observed self-reinforcement effects. Results seemed to support the view that self-reinforcement procedures work by setting a socially available standard against which performance can be evaluated. (CL)

Observed liberal-stringent model behavior significantly affected both the subject's subsequent self-reward behavior and performance. (Authors)

Beginning with preschool years, children compare the rewards they receive with those received by other children. These comparisons have powerful effects upon subsequent self-rewarding behavior, evaluation of rewards and the sharing of rewards with others. A key process in these developments, social comparison," is reviewed in this article.…

In a series of three experiments involving eight mentally retarded adults, the effectiveness of social skills training in a therapy room and self monitoring and reinforcement in a natural setting were compared as methods of promoting generalization to the ward. (Author/SB)

In comprehensive wieght loss program, overweight women exposed to instruction in self-standard setting and to situational management techniques lost more weight than those instructed only in situational management techniques. Findings illustrate facilitative effect of teaching individuals to set specific, objective, and realistic goals for eating…

Author states that Csikszentmihalyi's flow model seems to be contradictory in distinguishing play as an activity undertaken for the individual's enjoyment of the process itself and play as an extrinsically motivated, goal-oriented activity. (RW)

In reply to Barnett's article, Csikszentmihalyi states that the individual's intrapsychic needs and response to external stimuli are interwoven and cannot be separated into two distinct motivating factors. (RW)

A longitudinal study of the expectations of nurse practitioner (Primex) students at UCLA and their job evaluations (before, during, and after training and preceptorship) reported more interest, variety, and creativity without corresponding salary increases in their new roles. However, the role of nurse practitioner was more stressful and less…

Much research has investigated the processes by which individuals gain information about themselves through comparison with others. The simultaneous influence of different sources of social comparison referents and the level of relative performance on subjects' (N=60) allocation of rewards and satisfaction was examined. Male undergraduates,…

This series of papers was presented in a symposium on behavior therapy. Each paper represents a separate study focusing on one aspect of behavior modification. The issue of reinforcement is prominant with regard to its type and source. Methods of self-reinforcement and older-peer modeling are studied. The suggestion that subjects who reinforce…

Smokers (N = 90) were assigned to 10 treatment conditions; another 20 smokers were included in a no-apply control group. The treatment effects of aversive conditioning were negligible, and in some instances they were surpassed by the effects of controls for nonspecific treatment factors and placebo effects. (Author)

Assessed the motivational effects of criterion-setting in self-reinforcement and compared the effects of external criteria with self-imposed criteria and self-presented rewards in undergraduates (N=180). Results indicated that criterion-setting and rewards are both important components of self-reinforcement procedures; and self-imposed criteria…

Paper presented at Conference on New Approaches to Behavioral Research on Smoking sponsored by the American Cancer Society in Tucson, Arizona, on March 30 and 31, 1972. (DS)

Results of the present study show that children by the age of 7 have internalized systematic if not complex rules concerning the conditions under which they may engage in self-gratification. (Author)