Fathers' Reinforcement and Task Persistence of Young Children

Summary

Using a simple persistence task (marble dropping) 20 four- and five-year-old children and their fathers participated in one of four treatments (father absent during task, father present but neutral, father intermittent reinforcement, and father continuous reinforcement). As measured by time spent on task and number of marbles dropped, boy Ss were more motivated with father intermittent reinforcement, while girl Ss were more motivated with father continuous treatment. There were no consistent significant differences between the exhibited persistence of boys and girls.