Date of Award:
5-1972
Document Type:
Thesis
Degree Name:
Master of Science (MS)
Department:
Human Development and Family Studies
Department name when degree awarded
Family and Child Development
Committee Chair(s)
Don Carter
Committee
Don Carter
Committee
Caroll Lambert
Committee
Malcolm Allred
Committee
Blain Morgan
Abstract
The motivating effects of positive and negative verbal reinforcement and researcher attitude on the performance of preschool children were studied in relation to socioeconomic level. Forty children from the Utah State University Child Development Laboratory and forty from Head Start classrooms in northern Utah served as subjects. Each child performed the simple task of placing pegs in a pegboard during a 60- second time interval; once under conditions of positive verbal reinforcement and positive attitude, and again, under one of four experimental conditions: control; positive reinforcement/positive attitude; negative reinforcement/positive attitude; or negative reinforcement/ negative attitude.
The findings seemed to indicate that the effectiveness of verbal reinforcement and researcher attitude on the motivation of preschool children varies with socioeconomic level. The variance tends to be one of greater response to either of the four experimental reinforcement conditions by children from the lower socioeconomic class than by those from the middle class. Differences in the effectiveness of various reinforcement conditions were not significant.
Checksum
c61bbbe81076f5c5174414662d8fd5ac
Recommended Citation
Byrnes, Carol Hunter, "The Role of Verbal Incentives and Researcher Attitude in the Motivation of Preschool Children from Different Socioeconomic Levels" (1972). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023. 2348.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/2348
Included in
Copyright for this work is retained by the student. If you have any questions regarding the inclusion of this work in the Digital Commons, please email us at .