Social Behavior of Children

Abstract

tions determine the effectiveness of social rewards in a given situation. As yet, however, psychologists have not developed a parsimonious set of integrating principles (a theory, in other words) which will effectively serve to organize and clarify the rapidly accumulating empirical evidence. Thus, Horowitz (1963) suggested that a reader of this literature may well feel that while much is known, little is understood. Most of the recent studies of children's responsiveness to adult reinforcement have utilized simple, short laboratory tasks. Factors influencing the effectiveness of social reinforcement have been observed most frequently with such tasks for the child as dropping marbles through holes and pulling levers. Much has been learned by observing children's performance on these simple tasks, but the degree to which the findings may be generalized to life situations is restricted. Also, most of the recent research has involved adult reinforcement of children's behavior; little is presently known about such significant phenomena as children's reinforcement of adult behavior or of peer behavior.