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Summary The locus of control construct was studied in relation to grade level on a digit-cancelling task where incentive instructions were employed. Boys in grades 4, 7, and 10, classified as internal or external in locus of control, were given skill or chance verbal incentives; their performance was studied over time. Contrary to prediction, no main effect differences were found as a result of incentives or on the locus of control dimension; however older subjects cancelled significantly more digits than younger children and a significant locus of control x time interaction was found, indicating that internals performed significantly better than externals over time. These findings were interpreted as support for Rotter's general expectancy theory.

We studied the performance on a number cancellation task given to 40 children from Grades 4 to 6. An equal number of boys and girls with internal or external locus-of-control orientation responded to a social or material incentive to test a hypothetical relationship between incentive and locus of control. Although the incentive conditions did not affect the overall results, significant differences were obtained between locus-of-control groups, in addition to complex trial-dependent sex interactions.

Classified by Warner's Index of Status Characteristics as either middle class (MC) or lower class (LC), 10- and 15-year-old children learned a list of five low association nonsense syllables by the anticipation method to a criterion of one perfect recitation under one of three incentive conditions: material, social approval, or no incentive. As predicted, 10-year-old LC children performed better when offered a material incentive, whereas their MC peers performed best under social approval. There were no significant differences in learning between 15-year-old MC and LC children, suggesting that with age older LC children become more responsive to nonmaterial reinforcers as they become increasingly exposed to MC norms.

Level of moral development was studied in relation to resistance to temptation on two performance tasks where various incentive instructions were employed. The subjects were boys and girls in Grades 2 and 3, classified by Medinnus's (1957) scale as either in the moral realism or mutual cooperation stage. As predicted, subjects in the moral realism stage transgressed more frequently than did those in the more mature stage, and there was significantly greater cheating under the high-temptation condition in comparison to the appropriate control group. Contrary to expectations, there was no significant sex effect. The findings were interpreted as support for Piaget's concept of moral development.

Previous research on moral development has been compartmentalized into two realms of enquiry: the study of moral judgment as a correlate of conceptual-cognitive development and the behavioral study of moral action based on social-environmental hypotheses. The present investigation addresses the relationship between cognitively based levels of moral development and overt moral behavior. Studying 72 children of approximately 7 and 11 years of age and of varying levels of moral development, I found that the manifestation of moral behavior under varying game conditions bore a direct but complex relationship to moral judgment. The study also revealed consistent differences in the influence of sex on moral judgment and behavior.

Ss lever pressed on FR 10 for points. Points were given reinforcing properties by E’s instruction. Results indicated no difference in variability or response rate for monetary or social reinforcement but large differences in variability for self competition. An incentive decrement effect hypothesis is discussed.