The role of choice in learning as a function of meaning and between- and within-subjects designs

Abstract

Examined the effect of giving Ss the opportunity to choose learning materials in a paired-associate paradigm. 4 studies using high- and low-meaning materials and employing between- and within-Ss designs were conducted with 40 undergraduates in the 1st 2 and 21 Ss in the others. Use of a between-Ss design showed that A-B learning was facilitated by choice with high-meaning but not low-meaning materials. Using a within-Ss design in which Ss chose 5 stimulus-response (S-R) pairs and were forced to learn 5 others, results show performance on the forced pairs was elevated to the level of the choice pairs. These data suggest that allowing Ss the opportunity to choose at least some S-R pairs generally facilitates performance through the operation of a proposed motivational mechanism which may also benefit learning of nonchosen S-R pairs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Full text

Journal
of
Experimental Psychology
1972,
Vol.
94, No. 2,
235-238
THE
ROLE
OF
CHOICE
IN
LEARNING
AS A
FUNCTION
OF
MEANING
AND
BETWEEN-
AND
WITHIN-SUBJECTS
DESIGNS1
RICHARD
A.
MONTY
"
Human
Engineering
Laboratories
LAWRENCE
C.
PERLMUTER
Bowdoin
College
The
effect
of
giving
5s the
opportunity
to
choose
the
materials they wish
to
learn
in a
paired-associate paradigm
was
examined with high-
and
low-meaning
materials employing between-
and
within-Ss
designs.
Use of a
between-5s
design showed
that
A-B
learning
was
facilitated
by
choice with high-meaning
materials
but not
with low-meaning materials. Using
a
within-5s design
in
which
5s
chose
five S-R
pairs
and
were forced
to
learn
five
other
S-R
pairs,
the
results
showed
that
performance
on the
forced
pairs
was
elevated
to the
level
of
the
choice pairs.
These
data
suggest
that
allowing
5s the
opportunity
to
choose
at
least
some
S-R
pairs generally facilitates performance through
the
operation
of a
proposed motivational mechanism which
may
also
benefit
the
learning
of
nonchosen
S-R
pairs.
Perlmuter,
Monty,
and
Kimble
(1971)
have
demonstrated
that
if 5s are
allowed
to
choose
S-R
responses
to be
learned
on a
subsequent paired-
associate
task
(Choice
group),
performance
is
better
than
if
they
were given responses
to
learn which
were
not of
their
own
choosing (Force group).
The
strength
of
this
effect
was
found
to be
related
to the
rate
of
presentation
(i.e.,
the
faster
the
rate
the
greater
the
effect)
and to the
meaningfulness
of
>the
materials (the
benefits
derived
from
the
choice
procedure were greater
for the
low-meaning
ma-
terials).
The
differences
with respect
to
meaning,
'however,
were
not
conclusive owing
to the
fact
that
meaning
was
included
as a
within-5
variable.
Thus,
with
a
10-word list,
half
of the
pairs were
of
high meaning
and
half
of
low. With
a
maximum
score
of five on
each
half
list,
there
was
evidence
of a
ceiling
effect
with
the
high-meaning materials.
Stated
differently,
differences
in
performance
be-
tween
the
Choice
and
Force
groups with
the
high-
meaning
materials
may
have been limited
by the
fact
that
both groups approached asymptotic
performance with high-meaning stimuli.
In
addi-
tion, insofar
as
meaning served
as a
within-5
variable,
it is
possible
that
the
presence
of the
high-
meaning materials
influenced
performance with
the
low-meaning materials
or
vice
versa.
Thus
one
purpose
of the
present study
was to
avoid
the
problems inherent
in the
within-5 design
and
1
This
research
was
supported
in
part
by
Grant
MH
15315
from
the
National Institute
of
Mental
Health
to the
second author.
All of
these experi-
ments were conducted
at the
University
of
Delaware.
Thanks
go to F.
Loren Smith
for
making laboratory
space
available. Special
thanks
are
given
to
Margie
:
Rosenberger,
who ran 5s in the
experiments.
Data
reduction
was
performed
by
Mary Bosse
and
Patricia
Reese.
The
paper
may be
reproduced
in
full
or in
part
for any
purpose
of the
United
States
Government.
2
Please
address
requests
for
reprints
to
Richard
A.
Monty, Behavioral Research Laboratory, Human
Engineering Laboratories, Aberdeen Proving
Ground, Maryland 21005.
reexamine
the
extent
to
which
the
opportunity
to
exercise choice facilitates learning with both
high-
and
low-meaning materials.
Since
the
previous experiments have demon-
strated
that
performance
is
facilitated
by
affording
5 the
opportunity
to
choose, presumably
as a
result
of
enhanced motivation,
is it
reasonable
to
expect
that
motivation might generally
benefit
the
learning
of
nonchosen materials
as
well
? The
second purpose
of
the
present paper
was to
examine
the
extent
to
which
the
motivational mechanisms postulated
by
Perlmuter
et
al.
(1971)
would
enhance performance
of
nonchosen materials embedded
in a
list
of
chosen
materials.
EXPERIMENT
I
In the first
experiment,
the
effect
of
choosing
the A-B
responses
on
learning
of the A-B
list
was
examined using
a
relatively easy (high-meaning)
word
list.
It was
hoped
that
use of the
10-word
list
would
avoid
the
problems
of the
ceiling
effect
noted
in the
earlier experiments (Perlmuter
et
al.,
1971)
and
hence allow
for a
more direct assessment
of
the
role
of
meaning.
Method.—The
5s
were
40
male
and
female
students, aged
19-25,
from
the
University
of
Delaware,
who
were paid $2.00 each
for
their
participation
in the
experiment.
They
were
alternately assigned
to two
groups
of 20 5s
each
in
order
of
their appearance.
The
apparatus
and
general procedures were
identical
to
those employed
by
Perlmuter
et al.
(1971).
Briefly,
the
words
and
paralogs used
in
this
study were
the
last
70 five-letter
items
taken
from
a
list generated
by
Taylor
and
Kimble (1967)
and
were designated
as
high-meaning stimuli.
These
70
items were assembled into
10
groups
of 7
each. Within each group,
1
item
was
designated
arbitrarily
as the
stimulus word
and 1
item desig-
nated
arbitrarily
as the A-C
response word.
The
remaining
5
items served
as the five
potential
response
words
on the A-B
list.
The
Choice group
was
first
presented with
10
slides,
1 at a
time. Each
slide contained
a
stimulus word centered
on the
235