Abstract
Forty college Ss learned to discriminate among four nonsense syllables, each associated with a different reward contingency: 100% reward, 50% reward, no reward, and loss of reward. Subsequently, measures were made of the “pleasantness” and reward expectancy that these syllables had acquired. The results offer considerable support for three major conclusions: as compared with a neutral object associated with reward 100% of the time, an object associated with reward 50% of the time (a) is seen as somewhat less pleasant, but still pleasant in an absolute sense, (b) has a lower expectancy as a cue to future reward, but elicits a positive expectancy in an absolute sense, and (c) is seen as relatively mysterious or difficult to understand. These results are discussed as being more readily explained in terms of classical conditioning rather than in terms of frustration or cognitive dissonance theories.
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1. While this research was in progress, the first author was receiving stipend support from PHS Training Grant No. MH08528 from the National Institute of Mental Health to the Department of Psychology. The study also was supported, in part, by a research grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, No. HD03083, to the second author.
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Kendall, K.A., Nunnally, J.C. Effects of reward schedules on the acquisition of conditioned reward value. Psychon Sci 12, 239–240 (1968). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03331289
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03331289