The Informational and Motivational Influence of Social Reinforcement on Motor Performance

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of social reinforcement on the performance of a motor task. Subjects for both experiments were seventh-and eighth-grade girls from a public junior high school. Experiment 1 examined the influence of knowledge of results (KR) and social reinforcement on 25 initial acquisition trials of a novel motor task in a KR × social reinforcement × experimenter blocks (2 × 2 × 2 × 5) factorial design. Experiment 2 examined the influence of KR and social reinforcement on 40 later performance trials in a KR × social reinforcement × blocks (2 × 2 × 8) factorial design. Actual and estimated performance scores were analyzed with MANOVA, discriminant function analyses, and step-down F tests. Experiment 1 suggested a combination of informational and motivational effects, with both KR and social reinforcement facilitating performance. Social reinforcement did not significantly affect performance in Experiment 2.