Response acquisition of Indian and non-Indian jail inmates

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to evaluate response acquisition of Indian Ss relative to non-Indian Ss and to examine the relationships between questionnaire and performance data. A questionnaire, based on Harding's (1964) study, was used to evaluate Ss' attitudes towards work authority, aspirations, family and the like. Performance measures were also employed in order to provide data with which to assess whether attitudinal differences have significant behavioural consequences. In order to assess rural-urban biases, a paired-associate task similar to that designed by Havron and Cofer (1957) was used. An attempt was also made using a verbal conditioning technique (Taffel, 1955) to evaluate whether or not the two groups would perform differentially under positive and negative verbal reinforcement.