Abstract
The effect of success and failure on interpretation of ambiguous feedback was examined under conditions in which the ambiguous feedback was on a task that was either similar or dissimilar to the one at which subjects succeeded or failed. Subjects who received success feedback were more likely than controls or failure subjects to interpret ambiguous feedback as indicating success. Failure subjects were less likely than controls to interpret the feedback as indicating success. Subjects who performed on a task similar to the original training were more likely to generalize on the basis of their previous experience than were those who performed on a dissimilar task. There was greater generalization to the dissimilar task on the part of failure subjects than success subjects. These results are interpreted in terms of previous findings on success and failure. Analogies between the results of failure subjects and reactive depression were examined.
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Underwood, B., & Froming, W. J.The mood survey: A personality measure of happy and sad moods. Manuscript submitted for publication, 1977.
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Moore, B., Underwood, B., Heberlein, P. et al. Generalization of feedback about performance. Cogn Ther Res 3, 371–380 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01184452
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01184452