Hayes, S. C., Munt, E. D., Korn, Z., Wulfert, E., Rosenfarb, I., & Zettle, R. D. (1986). The effect of feedback and self reinforcement instructions on studying performance. The Psychological Record, 36, 27-37.
The present study reports the results of two studies designed to reveal variables responsible for the effects of "self-reinforcement" procedures. Experiment 1, using a studying task, showed that with external feedback (but not without it) a self-reinforcement procedure was effective, whether or not the students actually set or evaluated a contingency. Goal-setting appeared to be the important part of a self-reinforcement procedure. Experiment 2 showed that consequences such as those used in Experiment 1 could function as reinforcers for studying behavior in students like those in Experiment 1 when the consequences were delivered externally.