The Effect of Race of Model and Response Consequences to the Model on Imitation in Children

Abstract

Summary Eighty Negro boys and girls, ages 3 to 5, were assigned to one of eight conditions. Race of model (Negro vs. white), type of consequence to model (reward vs. punishment), and percent of rewarded or punished responses (20 vs. 80 percent) were varied. The Ss viewed a television tape of a model (M) performing a simple two-choice discrimination task with either verbal reward or verbal punishment administered. After watching M make his choice, the S then made his own choice. When S's choice was the same as M's, imitative behavior was said to have occurred. There were significant effects of both race of M and type of consequence to M. Negro S imitated the white M more than the Negro M and imitated the rewarded M more than the punished M. The punished white M was imitated at approximately the same level as the rewarded Negro M. No significant effects of percent of reinforcement were found. Possible explanations of the experimental results were discussed.