Experimental Performance and Self-Evaluation of Subjects Sampled Early, Middle, and Late in an Academic Term: Sex and Task

Abstract

Student volunteers from introductory psychology classes who received credit for participation were sampled near the beginning, middle, and end of the quarter. Half the subjects were given a hidden-figures task; half a visual-search task. All 174 subjects then rated several concepts using a semantic differential and completed a social desirability and an authoritarianism scale. A significant performance decrement was found for later samples on the visual-search task but not on the hidden-figures task. There was a significant decline in favorableness of self-evaluation over quarters for subjects given the visual-search task but not for those given the hidden-figures task. Females evaluated themselves more favorably when given the hidden-figures task; males did not. The hidden-figures task was rated more favorably, and females rated research more favorably. Results are discussed in terms of varying motivations in early vs late volunteers and in terms of the level of interest evoked by the tasks.