Effects of Affect Induction on Expectancies for Serendipitous Positive Events, Success on Task Performance, and Beliefs in Internal or External Control of Reinforcement.

This study explored the relationship between young children's affective states and general expectancies for rewarding or punishing events. Subjects were 24 children, ages 4 and 5, from middle-class families. Positive, neutral, or negative affect was induced by having the children think happy, neutral, or sad thoughts for a short period. Two tasks were then given to the children (a maze and a matching problem) to determine if affect induction influenced expectancies for success or failure at a task. Following the tasks, psychometric instruments measuring children's expectancies for serendipitous positive or negative events and locus of control were administered to the subjects. Results indicated that outcome expectancies were independent of locus of control benefits or success anticipations. Positive affective states led to higher scores on the measure of expectancy for serendipitous positive or negative events, but negative states did not produce lower scores. (BRT)