fei75766_ch18_569-609.indd 595  02/24/20 10:50 AM
Chapter 18     Rotter and Mischel: Cognitive Social Learning Theory595
situation andanindividual’s expectancy forsuccess wereimportant. These investiga -
torsfirstasked 8th-grade boystoratetheirexpectancies forsuccess onverbal reason -
ingandgeneral information tasks. Later, afterthestudents worked onaseries of
problems, some were toldthattheyhadsucceeded onthose problems; some were 
informed thattheyhadfailed; andthethird group received noinformation. The
boyswerethenasked tochoose between animmediate, lessvaluable, noncontingent 
reward andadelayed, more valuable, contingent reward. Consistent withMischel’s 
interaction theory, students whohadbeen toldthattheyhadsucceeded ontheearlier 
similar taskweremore likely towaitforthemore valued reward thatwascontin -
gentontheirperformance; those whowereinformed thattheyhadpreviously failed 
tended tochoose animmediate, lessvaluable reward; andthose whohadreceived no
earlier feedback made choices based ontheiroriginal expectancies forsuccess; that
is,students intheno-information group whooriginally hadhighexpectancies forsuc-
cessmade choices similar tothose whobelieved thattheyweresuccessful, whereas 
those whooriginally hadlowexpectancies forsuccess made choices similar tothose 
whobelieved thattheyhadfailed. Figure 18.2shows howsituational feedback inter-
actswithexpectancy forsuccess toinfluence choice ofrewards.
Mischel andhisassociates havealsoshown thatchildren canusetheircog-
nitive processes tochange adifficult situation intoaneasier one.Forexample, 
Mischel andEbbe B.Ebbesen (1970) found thatsome children were abletouse
theircognitive ability tochange anunpleasant waitforatreatintoamore pleasant 
situation. Inthisdelay-of-gratification study, nursery school children were toldthat
theywould receive asmall reward afterashort period oftime, butalarger treatif
theycould waitlonger. Children whothought about thetreathaddifficulty waiting, 
whereas children whowere abletowaitthelongest usedavariety ofself-distractions 
toavoid thinking about thereward. They looked away from thetreat, closed their
eyes, orsangsongs inorder tochange theaversive waiting situation intoamore 
pleasant one.These andother research results ledMischel toconclude thatboththe
situation andvarious cognitive-affective components ofpersonality playarolein
determining behavior.
Made choices based on
earlier e xpectancy
for successChose less valuable
noncontingent rewardsChose more valuable
contingent rewardsNo information Obtained failureEveryone works on a series of problemsEveryone measured for e xpectancy for success
Obtained success
FIGURE 18.2  Model used by Mischel and Staub (1965).
Source: Walter, Mischel andStaub, Ervin., “Effects ofexpectancy onworking andwaiting forlarger reward,” Journal of 
Personality and Social Psychology .2(5), 625–633. 1965.Final PDF to printer