EFFECTS OF PERCEIVED REWARD AND PRACTICE ON ADOLESCENTS’ ARITHMETIC PROBLEM SOLVING

Abstract

The present experiment investigated the effects of reward and practice on adolescents’ solving of arithmetic problem. One hundred and twenty senior secondary school students, of equal numbers of males and females were participants in the experiment. Their ages ranged from 14 to 17 years (Mage = 15.48 years; SD =2.53). Two-way random-groups analysis of variance (ANOVA) was adopted. Results showed that participants in the reward condition significantly solved the arithmetic problem task (APT) better than participants in the no-reward condition (p < .05). Also, participants in the two-practice condition significantly outperformed participants in the single-practice condition on arithmetic problem task (p < .01). There was also a statistically significant interaction effect between reward and practice on arithmetic problem solving (p < .05). The effect size (ES) values of .29, .31, and .21 for reward, practice, and the interaction showed that the results were reliable. The major finding was that the effect produced by manipulating practice depends on whether participants received the reward or no-reward instruction. Implications of the findings were highlighted. Also, the limitation of the study and recommendation for future research were stated.