Abstract
In an attempt to account for the poor test performance of lower‐SES children, two conflicting theories were examined: (a) the early damage theory holds that lower‐SES children have undergone such early and intensive deprivation that they cannot perform in testing situations; (b) the alienation theory contends that the public schools are middle‐class institutions with middle‐class intrinsic rewards which do not motivate lower‐SES children. When faced with the testing situation the children choose not to perform. In order to test these theories, upper‐ and lower‐SES students (N = 250) were randomly assigned to extrinsic and conventional reward conditions. The multivariate analysis of co‐variance techniques indicated a significant (.01 level) improvement in the test performance of lower‐SES children when extrinsic (money, food) rewards, as well as conventional rewards, are offered. Extrinsic rewards did not significantly improve the test performance of upper‐SES children.
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