Effectiveness of Direct Reward and Modeling in Establishment of Standards of Excellence

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Abstract
Two procedures, modeling and direct reward, were presented as possible methods for studying one aspect of achievement behavior, namely, the tendency to set standards of excellence. A comparison of these two procedures was made to determine their relative efficacy for inducing the hypothesized standards of excellence. 84 boys (ages 7 to 11 yr.) were tested under 1 of the 6 conditions of a 2 × 3 factorial design. The two main variables were (a) the method used to establish a standard of excellence (modeling or direct reward) and (b) the level of standard that was established (low, high, or none). An analysis of the results in terms of a standard setting score (based on the pattern of self-reward) showed that both the direct-reward groups and the modeling groups exhibited standard setting. The direct-reward group, if anything, showed more standard setting than the modeling group did, due mainly to the low level of standard setting in the high-standard modeling group. These results were interpreted as providing support for a social-learning explanation of the acquisition of standards of excellence in the development of achievement motivation.