Effects of Value of Reinforcement upon Expectancy Statements in “Gambling” and Achievement Tasks

The effects of probability of reinforcement and reward value on expectancy of success were investigated in both learning and gambling tasks. Forty-eight college students were asked to predict their success rate in correctly anticipating which of four lights would next be turned on. For some Ss the pattern of lights was random. For others a systematic pattern was repeated, permitting learning. Different probabilities of reinforcement effectively varied the level of expectancy, as did the gradual learning of the pattern in the learning task. Amount of reward, using poker chips with cash value, did not significantly alter expectancies of success in either the learning or gambling (random pattern) task. The implications of the results for expectancy theories were discussed.