Volitional control of marijuana intoxication: A study of the ability to "come down" on command.

Studied the ability of experienced marihuana users to offset the behavioral consequences of marihuana smoking, using objective and subjective indices of intoxication. In a repeated test design, 10 Ss smoked placebo and 10 marihuana containing 1.2% tetrahydrocannabinol. The dependent variables were subjective rating of intoxication, pulse rate, and several performance measures. In a high-motivation condition, Ss were instructed to try and overcome the effects of the drug; in a low-motivation condition no special instructions were given. High-motivation Ss compensated for intoxication more than low-motivation Ss in a time-estimation task but not in short-term memory. Subjective intoxication and pulse rate were not differentially affected. Although compensation was task specific, the results demonstrate that in principle the ability to come down exists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drugs and placebos: The effects of instructions upon performance and mood under amphetamine sulfate and chloral hydrate.

The experiment reports the effects of appropriate and inappropriate instructions and 2 drugs (.5 g chloral hydrate and 10 mg racemic amphetamine sulphate) on motor performance and mood measures. The Ss were 90 older men randomly assigned to 9 experimental groups. The design used was expansion of a model design involving Drug Disguised groups, Placebo groups (300 mg lactose), an Untreated group, and Amphetamine, Chloral Hydrate, and Neutral instructions. The drugs and placebos were given to the Ss in capsules, and all Ss received orange juice, which was also the vehicle for the disguise. The Untreated group received orange juice only. Instructions alone affected performance, but had little or no effect on mood. Instructions appropriate to the presumed drug effects produced performance deterioration on the simple motor tasks used. Instructions inappropriate to the presumed drug effects counteracted much of the drug produced decrement. A slight decrement in performance was found in the Placebo group which received Amphetamine instruction. Amphetamine treated Ss produced reports of greater comfort on the mood index than did chloral hydrate. On the other hand, the chloral hydrate instructions resulted in greater comfort than the Amphetamine instructions. There was no interaction between drug effects and instructional effects. The 2 Placebo groups did not differ significantly on the mood index. The effects of instructions on mood were found only when the drug was present. Several suggestions are offered for further research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Vicarious acquisition of learned helplessness.

In a study with 75 female undergraduates, the performance of Ss following either direct or vicarious experience with a noncontingent training task was compared with the performance of Ss who experienced contingent outcomes on the same task. Ss given no experience with the training task served as an additional control group. Relative to Ss experiencing either no prior training or contingent training, Ss exposed to noncontingency manifested performance deficits on a subsequent test task. Moreover, the magnitude of these deficits was comparable for Ss who had directly experienced noncontingency and those who had merely observed someone else experience noncontingency. These findings suggest that perceiving a low degree of contingency in a given situation may be a result of either direct or vicarious exposure to noncontingency. Thus, learned helplessness effects may be induced by a modeling procedure. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test anxiety and the passage of time.

Conducted 3 experiments with 168 female and 108 male undergraduates to assess the relationship of test anxiety and achievement-oriented instructions to time perception. Ss were rated as high-, middle-, or low-test-anxious using the Test Anxiety Scale. After being given either achievement-orienting or neutral instructions, Ss waited for an undesignated period of time and then performed an intellective task. The dependent measures were Ss' estimates of the duration of the waiting and performance periods and their scores on the assigned task. High-test-anxious Ss' time estimates were significantly greater than the estimates of the other Ss, and their performance was at a relatively low level. Evidence is presented supporting the hypothesis that highly anxious persons under stress experience cognitive interference and preoccupation that makes time pass slowly and results in poor performance. Implications are discussed particularly in terms of the need for training programs capable of fostering improved cognitive skills requiring self-control. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The use of group contingencies for behavioral control: A review.

Two types of group contingencies have been developed to control academic and disruptive behavior in the classroom, in which reinforcement is dependent on (a) a selected individual's or (b) the entire group's performance. Comparisons of group and individual contingencies have generally reported them to be equally effective, with some suggestion that individual Ss characteristics may be of importance. The sociometric status of target S is reportedly affected by group consequences; in 2 experiments, Ss increased in popularity, whereas in 1 report they showed a decline. Other studies have shown an increase in cooperative behavior on an academic task involving group-contingent reward. Absence of or noncontingent reinforcement does not usually produce behavioral control, although a combination of instructions and feedback without extraneous reward has been partially effective. Future research is needed on the interrelation of group contingencies and S characteristics, combinations of group and individual contingencies, and the effects of feedback, instructions, and contingent and noncontingent extraneous reward. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance and motivational deficits of helplessness: The role of motivational orientations.

Examined the hypothesis that the effect of failure feedback in producing learned helplessness would depend on the motivational orientation of a child. 53 4th–6th graders completed a scale of intrinsic vs extrinsic orientation in the classroom and were randomly assigned to success, failure, or control conditions, with the restriction that an approximately equal number of Ss with different motivational orientations were assigned to the different conditions. Extrinsically motivated Ss were predicted to exhibit performance decrement following a failure experience, whereas the opposite was predicted for intrinsically motivated Ss. Success feedback was predicted to enhance subsequent performance only for the intrinsic group. Following success, failure, or no feedback on an activity reflecting spatial skills (an incomplete picture task), Ss' performance on an activity tapping different skills (i.e., anagrams) provided by a 2nd experimenter served as the primary measure of helplessness. Ss' intrinsic motivation in performing the incomplete picture task, a similar task (embedded figures) and a dissimilar task (dots-to-dots) was also examined. Results support the predictions on both performance and intrinsic motivation measures. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A two-process theory of learned helplessness.

160 college students solved button-pushing problems under feedback conditions designed to differ systematically in the amount of information they conveyed and the amount of motivation they produced. During a pretest series of trials, 1 group received response-contingent feedback designed to enhance both information and motivation. A 2nd group was yoked to the contingent group and thus received low information and low motivation. A 3rd group experienced noncontingent success (low information, high motivation), and a 4th group received noncontingent failure feedback (low information, low motivation). A 2-process model that gives equal weight to information and motivational cues correctly predicted that the performance of the noncontingent success group on a transfer task would fall in between that of the contingent group and the failure/yoked groups. As a more stringent test of the model, 4 interventions were factorially combined with the pretreatments. The intervention treatments involved giving either no information, information about the contingencies, praise, or derogation. As predicted by the model, simply giving Ss information about the contingencies removed the debilitating effects of learned helplessness. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of censure on schizophrenic reaction time: Critique and reformulation of the Garmezy censure-deficit model.

80 male schizophrenics and 40 male nonpsychiatric patients performed a reaction time task in which 40 Ss heard a tone after randomly selected trials and the other Ss heard the tone only after trials on which their response was slower than their baseline reaction times. Half of the Ss were told that the tone was a meaningless sound, while the others were told that the tone meant their response had been too slow on the last trial. Censure instructions improved the reaction times of all Ss, regardless of whether the tone was in fact contingent upon poor performance. This result is contrary to predictions from N. Garmezy's 1966 censure-deficit model and requires a reformulation of this model. (26 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of instructions and reward conditions on the generalization of a prohibition.

Studied effects of instructions and reward contingency on conformity to a prohibition in 48 male and female preschoolers. Ss built with blocks of graduated sizes but were told to use only big (little) blocks. Some were given explicit information as to the permitted sizes; some were not. For some Ss, a prize was contingent upon following instructions; for others, it was not. All groups conformed, displaying a gradient for blocks used according to size. Interactions between instruction and reward conditions are discussed in terms of the effects of task difficulty on performance under threat of negative consequences for errors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of extrinsic financial rewards on intrinsic motivation.

Utilized a chess-problem task to evaluate E. L. Deci's hypothesis that contingent extrinsic rewards will decrease intrinsic motivation. After observing the amount of time 28 undergraduates spent working on the task in a free period, one group was offered a financial incentive for performing the task while another group was not. One week later, Ss were again observed in a free period and then performed the task again with no financial incentive. Results support the hypothesis, and data that rule out specific methodological criticisms of Deci's paradigm are presented. Findings are discussed in terms of whether extrinsic rewards and motivation interact with intrinsic motivation. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Drug choice as a self-handicapping strategy in response to noncontingent success.

In 2 experiments, college student Ss were instructed to choose between a drug that allegedly interfered with performance and a drug that allegedly enhanced performance. This choice was the main dependent measure of the experiment. The drug choice intervened between work on soluble or insoluble problems and a promised retest on similar problems. In Exp I with 68 males and 43 females, all Ss received success feedback after their initial problem-solving attempts, thus creating one condition in which the success appeared to be accidental (noncontingent on performance) and one in which the success appeared to be contingent on appropriate knowledge. Males in the noncontingent-success condition were alone in preferring the performance-inhibiting drug, presumably because they wished to externalize probable failure on the retest. The predicted effect, however, did not hold for female Ss. Exp II, with 87 Ss, replicated the unique preference shown by males after noncontingent success and showed the critical importance of success feedback. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Task difficulty, cardiovascular response, and the magnitude of goal valence.

Studied the impact of expected task difficulty on anticipatory cardiovascular (CV) responsiveness and the anticipatory reactivity under difficult task conditions in 64 female undergraduates. Ss performed an easy, moderately difficult, or extremely difficult memory task to earn a small incentive for good performance. CV and subjective measures were taken immediately prior to task performance. Both systolic blood pressure (SBP) responses and ratings of goal attractiveness were nonmonotonically related to expected task difficulty, with the most pronounced SBP elevations and highest goal attractiveness in the moderately difficult task condition. CV response measures revealed a strong positive association between systolic and diastolic pressure (but not heart rate) change in the easy condition, positive relationships among measures in the moderately difficult condition, and no significant correlations in the extremely difficult condition. Subjective measures of arousal were not affected by task difficulty. Principal findings are discussed in terms of J. W. Brehm's theory that motivation varies as a nonmonotonic function of the difficulty of goal attainment. Intercorrelations among CV response variables are considered in terms of their possible indication of the mechanisms underlying blood pressure changes associated with variations in motivation. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physiological need, set, and visual duration threshold.

The interaction between the effect of deprivation level and set-inducing instructions on the thresholds of need-related words is investigated by presenting tachistoscopically to two groups of Ss, one group soon after mealtime and the other after about 9 hours food and water deprivation, a list of neutral words and then a list of need-related words, half of the Ss in each group receiving set instructions before the second list. The results indicate that while Ss given set instructions exhibit a significantly lower threshold for need-related words than did non-set groups, there is no difference in performance between satiated and deprived Ss, even among Ss not given set instructions. A second study, similar to the first, save that the set variable is eliminated and the words presented in mixed order showed no differences in the threshold for need-related words in the two groups of Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of probability of forthcoming success on sex differences in goal setting: A test of the fear of success hypothesis.

96 college females and 95 college males were randomly assigned to either a high or a low subjective probability of outstanding performance condition. Half of each group was presented a digit symbol task under sex-appropriate instructions and half under sex-inappropriate instructions. After receiving feedback of their initial performance, Ss set goals for future performance. The effect of sex, task appropriateness, and subjective probability of outstanding performance on discrepancy score (goal minus past performance) was tested. Significant main effects were found for Sex and Subjective Probability: males and Ss in the low probability condition produced larger discrepancy scores. Also, a significant Sex * Probability interaction was found: Females produced smaller discrepancy scores than males in the low subjective probability condition only. The task appropriateness variable had no effect on discrepancy score size. Findings are contrary to predictions based on the fear of success hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hypnosis, task-motivating instructions, and learning performance.

40 Ss, including 30 who had been previously rated as suggestible and 10 as nonsuggestible, were pretested and then retested on equivalent forms of 3 learning tasks: digit symbol substitution, memory for words, and abstract reasoning. All Ss received the pretests in the same way. The 30 suggestible Ss were retested under 1 of the following 3 experimental treatments with 10 Ss assigned at random to each treatment: task-motivating instructions, hypnotic induction procedure with task-motivating instructions, and control. The 10 nonsuggestible Ss were retested under a task-motivating-instructions treatment. Analyses of covariance indicated that (a) task-motivating instructions given alone or following a hypnotic induction procedure did not significantly affect performance on the memory for words or abstract reasoning tasks; and (b) task-motivating instructions produced a comparable enhancement of performance on the digit symbol substitution task in hypnotized and nonhypnotized Ss and in suggestible and nonsuggestible Ss. (33 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships of measures of anxiety and experimental instructions to word association test performance.

The performance of Ss of differing anxiety levels on a word association task under 2 instructional conditions was questioned. The two sets of instructions used… differed in that one set informed S, prior to the word association task, he was about to take a personality test, whereas the other set of instructions was neutral. These instructions and the anxiety measures were then related (a) to S's ability to remember word associations he had given and (b) to the agreement of S's responses with those of normative group… . The results were discussed in terms of an interfering response interpretation of anxiety." 15 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Additivity versus nonadditivity of intrinsic and extrinsic incentives: Implications for work motivation, performance, and attitudes.

80 male Ss were randomly assigned to either an intrinsically appealing or an intrinsically nonappealing assembly task. Half of the Ss were paid according to a highly salient, continuous, contingent reward schedule, while the other half were paid according to an extremely noncontingent payment schedule. Thus, 20 Ss worked for both intrinsic and extrinsic incentives, 20 for extrinsic only, 20 for intrinsic only, and 20 for minimal incentives of either type. Data on 4 dependent variables (performance, intrinsic motivation, orientation toward the task, and intrinsic satisfaction) provided convergent support for E. L. Deci's (see record 1968-02190-001) hypothesis that intrinsic and extrinsic incentives are not additive in determining attitudes and behavior. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of fear of success on intrinsic motivation, causal attribution, and choice behavior.

Examined the extent to which fear of success (FOS) moderates effects of choice and task outcomes on intrinsic motivation, causal attribution, and subsequent choice behavior. 139 undergraduates worked either on puzzles of their choice or puzzles that were assigned to them and were then informed that they had performed either better or worse than the majority of other Ss. Measures of intrinsic motivation (task engagement during a free-choice period) and of attribution for performance were obtained. Ss then indicated how much choice they wanted to have over similar tasks that they were going to perform. Finally, Ss completed the Fear of Success Scale and a resultant achievement motivation measure. Results show that following success, low FOS Ss (in comparison to high FOS Ss) showed higher intrinsic motivation, made more internal attributions, and wanted to have more choice if initially they had been given choice and less choice if initially they had been given no choice. There were no significant differences between low and high FOS Ss following failure. Results could not be accounted for by resultant achievement motivation that was unrelated to FOS. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ego involvement: A critical examination of some methodological issues.

To further explore the parameter of ego involvement, college Ss were given tasks on conditions of high and low ego involvement. The results confirmed that degree of ego involvement can facilitate task performance, but not to the degree heretofore thought. Ss have a higher level of aspiration on tasks in which they are ego-involved, but ego-involvement instructions are most effective when S realizes he is participating in an experiment where the dimension of ego-involvement is being explored, i.e., he has the appropriate set. Interest in doing well on a task was seen as a valid measure of ego involvement for at least some Ss. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An experimental study of "hypnotic" (auditory and visual) hallucinations.

78 unselected female volunteers were individually pretested on response to direct suggestions designed to evoke auditory and visual hallucinations. In the same experimental session each S was retested on equivalent hallucination suggestions after the administration of 1 of the following 3 experimental treatments, with 26 Ss assigned at random to each treatment: standardized hypnotic induction procedure, brief task motivating instructions, control (no hypnotic induction or task motivating instructions). On the pretests (base level tests), 54% stated that they heard the suggested sounds and 33% reported that they saw the suggested object. Analyses of covariance indicated that: (a) the standardized hypnotic induction procedure and the brief task motivating instructions both facilitated response to the suggestions to hallucinate, (b) the group given the hypnotic induction and the group given task motivating instructions did not differ significantly from each other, and (c) both of these groups were significantly more responsive to the suggestions than the control group. (30 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)