Parental Behavior Ratings by Subjects Classified as Reward-Seekers or Punishment-Avoiders
Summary.-The present study was an exploratory examination of differences in ratings of parental behaviors by 48 male and 48 female college Ss who had previously been classified as having a reward-seeking or a punishment-avoidance orientation on a concept learning task. Some significant differences were obtained between the male and female Ss, and between the father and mother rarings, but these differences failed to differentiate berween the two groups. Some suggestive differences berween father and mother ratings by the two groups indicated that greater punitiveness by the mother is associated with a punishmentavoidance orientation, while greater rewarding behavior by the mother is associated with a reward-seeking orientation. The need for further evidence to substantiate these suggestive findings was emphasized. Two recent experiments investigating individual orientations to reward and punishment in a concept learning cask have yielded results suggesting that individuals can be differentiated on the basis of whether they attempt to obtain a reward or to avoid receiving punishment as a result of their responses. Lewis ( 1962) gave female college Ss a concept learning task in which a critical cue associated with reward and a second critical cue associated with punishment were eq~~ally available. A correct response to the cue associated with reward resulted in the onset of a light labelled "right," whereas an incorrect response to this cue resulted in the light labelled "right" remaining off. A correct response to rhe cue associated with punish~nent resulted in a light labelled "wrong" remaining off, while an incorrect response to this cue resulted in the onset of the light labelled "wrong." Each of the critical cues was presented alone one-fourth of the time, both cues were presented together one-fourth of the time, and neither cue was presented one-fourth of the time. The stimuli were letters from the English alphabet, arranged in 3 X 3 matrices, and presented by a slide projector. Ss were told to figure out a relationship between the lights and the letters. They were instructed to guess whether a critical letter was present or absent in each slide and to indicate their decision by pulling one of two swicches labelled "present" and "absent," respectively. They were told that the lights would inform them as to the correctness of their responses. They were not informed that there were two critical ales which would result in both lights being lighted on some occasions.