Abstract
Seventy-five Grade 5 students were divided into three experimental and two control groups, and were required to construct sentences following the Taffel procedure. In the experimental groups, E said “good” whenever S began a sentence with the pronoun “they”. Three groups, two experimental and one control, received an intertrial activity (ITA): naming the colors of poker chips. One of the experimental ITA groups was reinforced before the ITA, and the other was reinforced after the ITA. A post-experimental interview was employed to assess awareness. The results indicate there was evidence for conditioning without awareness only when S’s response to the Dixon & Oakes (1965) type of interview was used for inferring awareness. When a more detailed and specific question was used as the basis for inferring awareness, conditioning was seen to occur with awareness.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Dixon, P. W., & Oakes, W. F. Effect of intertrial activity on the relationship between awareness and verbal operant conditioning. J. exp. Psychol., 1965, 69, 2, 152–159.
Dulany, D. E. The place of hypotheses and intentions: An analysis of verbal control in verbal conditioning. J. Pers., 1962, 30, (Suppl.), 102–129.
Hare, R. D. Cognitive factors in transfer of meaning. Psychol. Rep., 1964, 15, 199–206.
Levin, S. M. The effects of awareness on verbal conditioning, J. exp. Psychol., 1961, 61, 57–75.
Spielberger, C. D., & Levin, S. M. What is learned in verbal conditioning? J. verbal Learn. verbal Behav., 1962, 1, 125–132.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wong, R., Harrison, J.A. & Stopper, H. Intertrial activity, awareness, and verbal conditioning of children. Psychon Sci 6, 55–56 (1966). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03327954
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03327954