Abstract
The hypothesis that stimulus familiarity generates positive motivation independent of aversive effects of novelty was investigated by offering animals three different degrees of familiarity, with novelty held constant. Preference was found to covary with degree of familiarity, regardless of sensory modality. The results tend to support J. McV. Hunt’s proposal that perceptual familiarity has independent motivational effects.
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HUNT, J. McV. Intrinsic motivation and its role in psychological development. In D. Levine (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation: 1965. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1965. Pp. 189–282.
HUNT, J. McV., & UZGIRIS, I. C. Cathexis from recognitive familiarity. In P. R. Merrifield (Ed.), Experimental and factor-analytic measurement of personality. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1968.
SHELDON, A. B. Preference for familiar or novel stimulation as a function of the novelty of the environment. Doctoral dissertation, George Washington University, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, 1968, No. 67-17, 303.
SHELDON, A. B. Preference for familiar versus novel stimuli as a function of the familiarity of the environment. Journal of Comparative & Physiological Psychology, in press.
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This research was funded in part by Public Health Service Predoctoral Fellowship No. 10,907 and in part by grants from the National Science Foundation to Dr. Richard D. Walk. Acknowledgement is made to Drs. Walk, Lila Ghent, and Jacqueline Goodnow for their unstinting help.
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Sheldon, A.B. Preference for familiar stimulation independent of fear of novelty. Psychon Sci 13, 173–174 (1968). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342466
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03342466