Correlation between self-reported rigidity and rule-governed insensitivity to operant contingencies.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Personality rigidity is a trait that influences cognitive flexibility and response to environmental changes.
• Understanding rigidity's impact is crucial for predicting behavior in various settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between personality rigidity and performance under different instructional conditions.
• To examine how rigidity affects adaptation to changing reinforcement schedules.

Main Methods:

• Adult participants were assessed for personality rigidity using the Scale for Personality Rigidity.
• Experiments involved performance on multiple differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate (DRL) and fixed-ratio (FR) schedules under varying instruction accuracy.
• Behavioral responses were analyzed during reinforcement and extinction phases.

Main Results:

• High rigidity was associated with perseveration in established response patterns, especially following accurate instructions.
• Accurate instructions minimized individual differences in performance.
• Under inaccurate instructions, high-rigidity individuals persisted with the incorrect rule, while low-rigidity individuals adapted to the DRL schedule.

Conclusions:

• The study demonstrates a correlation between laboratory-based operant performance and paper-and-pencil measures of rigidity.
• Rigidity significantly impacts an individual's ability to adapt to changing rules and instructions.
• Findings have implications for applied research and interventions targeting behavioral flexibility.