Date of Award
8-1984
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Dr. Alan D. Poling
Second Advisor
Dr. Norman Peterson
Third Advisor
Dr. Fred Gault
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
Two groups of preschool children were studied in a discretetrial concept formation task involving identification of stimulus cards which shared a common feature (e.g., picture a color, or a facial expression). During training, one group (rule-given) was given a verbal description which delineated the aspect of the stimulus card that should control responding. The second (self-derived rule) group was exposed to the same cards, without a rule (verbal description) being given. Members of each group were reinforced for correct responses (i.e., identifying which of two pictures had the relevant stimulus property), and accuracy of description was recorded for each trial. After training with several different concepts, both groups were tested in a situation where no rule was given. It was found that students from the self-derived rule group performed better in this situation than those from the rule-governed group.
Recommended Citation
Roy, Susan F., "The Effects of Given Versus Self-Derived Rules on Children's Performance of a Complex Discrimination Task" (1984). Masters Theses. 1552.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/1552