Self-Recording, Instructions, and Public Self-Graphing

This experiment systematically replicated a study by McKenzie and Rushall, who reported that a self-recording intervention enhanced swimming workout performance. In that study, anecdotal evidence suggested that reactive effects resulted at least partially from concomitant increases in coach prompting and praise. In the present study, young competitive swimmers self-recorded during 10-min sessions. Their coach observed but interacted with the swimmers only in a limited, scripted fashion. After a baseline condition in which negligible swimming occurred, instructions to perform, self-recording, and public self-graphing of self-recorded data were introduced in different conditions using a modified multiple-baseline (across-subjects) design. Instructions produced transient increases in swimming rates, whereas self-recording increased and maintained swimming above terminal rates in the instructions-only condition. The self-graphing condition produced no further rate increases but disrupted recording accuracy. The results suggest that direct reactive effects could have been present in McKenzie and Rushall's study and add to a body of literature indicating that reactivity can be independent of immediate social influences.

Verbal self-reports of delayed matching to sample by humans

Undergraduates participated in two experiments to develop methods for the experimental analysis of self-reports about behavior. The target behavior was the choice response in a delayed-matching-to-sample task in which monetary reinforcement was contingent upon both speed and accuracy of the choice. In Experiment 1, the temporal portion of the contingency was manipulated within each session, and the presence and absence of feedback about reinforcement was manipulated across sessions. As the time limits became stricter, target response speeds increased, but accuracy and reinforcement rates decreased. When feedback was withheld, further reductions in speed and reinforcement occurred, but only at the strictest time limit. Thus, the procedures were successful in producing systematic variation in the speed, accuracy, and reinforcement of the target behavior. Experiment 2 was designed to assess the influence of these characteristics on self-reports. In self-report conditions, each target response was followed by a computer-generated query: "Did you earn points?" The subject reported by pressing "Yes" or "No" buttons, with the sole consequence of advancing the session. In some cases, feedback about reinforcement of the target response followed the reports; in other cases it was withheld. Self-reports were less accurate when the target responses occurred under greater time pressure. When feedback was withheld, the speed of the target response influenced reports, in that the probability of a "Yes" report increased directly with the speed of accurate target responses. In addition, imposing the self-report procedure disrupted target performance by reducing response speeds at the strictest time limit. These results allow investigation of issues in both behavioral and cognitive psychology. More important, the overall order in the data suggests promise for the experimental analysis of self-reports by human subjects.