The Utility of Self-Report in Determining Reinforcement Priorities of Primary School Children

Abstract
The study attempts to assess the validity and reliability of a self-report instrument designed to ascertain reinforcement preferences of individual Ss. The instrument contains pictorial representations of nine types of stimuli : three social, three tangible, and three knowledge of progress. The total sample was comprised of 288 third graders of urban and rural, Negro and Caucasian, and middle and lower socioeconomic status families. The instrument yielded significantly (p < .01) reliable measures over a period of 2 weeks but failed to accurately predict response patterns when the stimuli represented on the instrument were actually used as reinforcers. The study also demonstrated that most Ss expressed similar reinforcement preferences regardless of sex, race, or social class.

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