Effects of varying contingency and directness of rewards upon children's performance under implicit reward conditions

Abstract

The application of verbal praise as a reward for completion of a digit-symbol coding task was investigated under contingent versus noncontingent and direct versus implicit reward conditions. Results from two studies were compared with control (no-reward) data, all collected over eight trials of the coding task. Subjects were 84 third and fourth grade children, and results indicated that noncontingent rewards possessed no significant reinforcer effect under either direct or implicit reward conditions. By comparison, contingent rewards administered directly were reinforcing, but contingent rewards administered implicitly were not. Results are discussed in terms of the relative power of directness and contingency as determinants of reinforcer effect. Consideration of the detrimental effects which implicit rewards may have upon the success of child behavior modification procedures could explain the apparent “failure” of such strategies in some instances.