Money Reinforcement and Human Operant (Work) Behavior: II. Within-Subject Comparisons
Five groups each of 10 college male Ss were given the same frequency of reinforcement (1/1000): a control group received 10¢ each reinforcement, two groups were given different systematically increasing amounts and two groups were given systematically decreasing-sized payment schedules. The last 4 groups began at the same level as the control group, i.e., of 10¢ for each of the first 3 payments. The work was that of repetitively pulling a manipulandum against a constant-tension spring requiring 25 lb. of force, horizontally, through a ⅝-in. distance, for 1 hr. Compared with control group performance, the decreasing-magnitude schedules elicited more markedly decreasing performance over time as predicted. The increasing-magnitude groups were at first inconsistent in performance, but upon repetition of one of the increasing schedules and adding a third, it was found that increasing schedules evoked performances generally higher than those of the control group, although the differences in performance compared with that of the control group were not statistically significant.