The Role of Power in the Adoption of Sef-Reward Patterns

This experiment investigated the efect of a model's power upon childrens' adoption of self-reward patterns which the model had displayed or imposed previously. All subjects were exposed to an adult model who exhibited a lenient self-reward pattern but imposed a stringent pattern on the child. The independent variable was the model's power, in the form of his ostensible ability to dispense a valuable reward. As predicted, children who had interacted with a potentially rewarding model showed greater stringency in their own self-reward when subsequently performing alone than did control subjects. The self-reward behavior shown by the experimental group did not increase after the power attributed to the model had been negated.