Rewards bias self-evaluations of ability

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Behavioral Economics
• Neuroscience

Background:

• People often gauge abilities through performance-based rewards.
• Disparities in rewards, despite equivalent performance, raise questions about their influence on self-perception.
• Understanding reward's impact on self-evaluation is crucial for fields like behavioral economics and psychology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if rewards influence self-evaluations of ability, independent of objective performance.
• To determine if higher reward feedback enhances feelings of capability and confidence.
• To examine how reward feedback affects dynamic self-beliefs and integration of performance information.

Main Methods:

• Two behavioral experiments were conducted using a perceptual game.
• Objective performance was held constant using a staircase procedure while manipulating reward probability.
• Participants received trial-by-trial accuracy feedback, with conditions varying high vs. low reward for correct answers.

Main Results:

• Experiment 1 showed rewards biased overall self-evaluations of ability and objective accuracy estimations.
• Experiment 2 revealed reward feedback inflated trial-by-trial expectations of accuracy.
• Participants integrated accuracy feedback more significantly when it was paired with a reward.

Conclusions:

• Rewards can bias self-perceptions of ability, even when objective performance is controlled.
• Reward feedback plays a significant role in updating dynamic self-beliefs and expectations.
• These findings highlight the psychological impact of reward systems on self-assessment and learning.