Feedback effects on the performance and self-reinforcing behavior of elderly and young adult women.
A total of 64 college-aged and elderly women participated in an experimental study of the effects of noncontingent positive feedback on simple speeded performance, performance self-evaluations, and self-reinforcing behavior (i.e., the number of S&H Green Stamps taken following feedback). Younger women self-reinforced more and held higher self-evaluations of their performance than elderly women. The treatment produced increases in all three dependent measures, and greater increases in self-reinforcing behaviors and self-evaluations were demonstrated for the elderly than for the younger women. The results are discussed in terms of age-associated differences in the susceptibility to external feedback.
D000124:Achievement; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment; D014888:Wechsler Scales