Instructions, beliefs, and adjustment in human learning

Abstract

This experiment evaluated the effects of two types of adjustments, predictive and effective, and two types of instructions, true or false, on the performance of high school students. Predictive adjustment was studied in probabilistic choice tasks involving four different probability distributions: 0.5-0.5 (random), 0.8-0.2 (random), 0.5-0.5 (periodic), and 0.8-0.2 (periodic). Effective adjustment was studied in simulation tasks involving altered electromagnetic or physical-mechanical properties. In either case, subjects were presented with instructions that proposed four distinctive criteria of adjustment: by «dogma», by «reference», by «training», and by «faith». The type of criterion proposed by the instructions affected the subjects' level of adjustment in predictive as well as effective situations. In the latter case, the two types of instructions that implied factors dependent on the subject's own behavior «training» and «faith» instructions) corresponded with the highest percentaje of adjustment to the experimental situation. By contrast, in predictive tasks a higher level of adjustment was observed with «reference» instructions.