19 - Some Theories in Cognitive and Social Psychology

Summary

Let's begin by discussing the exercise in the previous chapter. As you learned if you read the Festinger and Carlsmith (1959) article, cognitive dissonance theory more accurately predicted the results of the experiment. And you may have noticed that in order to evaluate these theories and their predictions, you had to make assumptions about the difference between asking the subject to do something and requiring him or her to do it.

WORKING WITH THE THEORY OF BEHAVIORISM

First, what does reinforcement theory say about the difference between asking and requiring? Answer: Nothing in reinforcement theory says anything about the difference between asking and requiring a subject to do something. You might think it's reasonable to assume that if you're asked, you'll write a higher-quality essay than if you're required to do it – that being asked provides a greater incentive. That's a reasonable assumption, though it is certainly not a part of reinforcement theory. Reinforcement theory just says that when a behavior is observed and then reinforced, there will be a larger effect if the reinforcement is larger, repeated, or more intense. There are different qualities of reinforcement that will increase or decrease its impact, but the theory only refers to the quality of reinforcement given the behavior. The difference between being asked and being required concerns the behavior itself prior to reinforcement. What you'd say about the behavior itself is not part of reinforcement theory, though it could be part of other kinds of learning theories.