Effects of Sex of Teacher and Schedule of Child’s Correct Responses on Teaching Behavior

Abstract

The reinforcing behaviors of 25 female and 15 male college students were studied using an analog social interaction situation developed by Berberich (1971). The subject taught a simulated “child” to drop marbles through the correct one of four tubes by varying the use of two different colored marbles. The child gave a correct response when the subject used the correct reinforcer marble on the previous trial. The acquisition criterion was 10 correct marbles for 10 consecutive correct responses from the child. Fifty trials of extinction were given to those subjects who reached the acquisition criterion within 100 trials. Ten of 15 females and 4 of 15 males reached the acquisition criterion within 100 trials, when reinforced by the child for every correct marble. Ten females were reinforced by the child on a 50% partial reinforcement schedule, and two of these reached the acquisition criterion. These two subjects gave more responses in extinction than those females who had reached the acquisition criterion in the continuous reinforcement condition. Sex differences in responsiveness to “child effects” were discussed.