{"id":{"repo_id":"wku-diss","oai_identifier":"oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-2013"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/wku-diss/oai:digitalcommons.wku.edu:theses-2013","repository":{"repo_id":"wku-diss","name":"Western Kentucky University","base_url":"https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"The Protestant Ethic Effect: A Multiple Dependent Variable Analysis","abstract":"When an organism is allowed to choose \"between working for food or receiving \"free\" food, what will its decision \"be? For years such a question would have been addressed within the framework proposed by Clark Hull (1943): the organism would choose the alternative requiring the least amount of effort and eat the free food. However, several recent investigations have cast doubt on the generality of this lav: of least effort. Typically these studies have involved training organisms to respond for a reinforcer, defined as a stimulus that increases the probability of a response (Hilgard ?z Bower, 1966), and subsequently allowing them to choose between continuing to respond or obtaining the same reinforcer from a free supply. A majority of these experiments have reported that tinder ceDrtain conditions organisms continue to \"work\" for reinforcement rather than \"freeload.\" As a result of these observations, the labels \"contrafreeloading\" (Taylor, 1972) and \"Protestant ethic effect\" (Singh, 1972; Metze & Craig, 1973) have been applied to this phenomenon. The general aim of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of this behavior through a review of relevant literature and through experimental investigation of heretofore unresearched variables.","abstract_html":"When an organism is allowed to choose "between working for food or receiving "free" food, what will its decision "be? For years such a question would have been addressed within the framework proposed by Clark Hull (1943): the organism would choose the alternative requiring the least amount of effort and eat the free food. However, several recent investigations have cast doubt on the generality of this lav: of least effort. Typically these studies have involved training organisms to respond for a reinforcer, defined as a stimulus that increases the probability of a response (Hilgard ?z Bower, 1966), and subsequently allowing them to choose between continuing to respond or obtaining the same reinforcer from a free supply. A majority of these experiments have reported that tinder ceDrtain conditions organisms continue to "work" for reinforcement rather than "freeload." As a result of these observations, the labels "contrafreeloading" (Taylor, 1972) and "Protestant ethic effect" (Singh, 1972; Metze & Craig, 1973) have been applied to this phenomenon. The general aim of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of this behavior through a review of relevant literature and through experimental investigation of heretofore unresearched variables.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Stephens, Ronald"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Department of Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1973,"date_issued":"1973-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"1973-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:08:02Z","subjects":["Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1010","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Stephens, Ronald"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Department of Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Psychology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1010"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["When an organism is allowed to choose \"between working for food or receiving \"free\" food, what will its decision \"be? For years such a question would have been addressed within the framework proposed by Clark Hull (1943): the organism would choose the alternative requiring the least amount of effort and eat the free food. However, several recent investigations have cast doubt on the generality of this lav: of least effort. Typically these studies have involved training organisms to respond for a reinforcer, defined as a stimulus that increases the probability of a response (Hilgard ?z Bower, 1966), and subsequently allowing them to choose between continuing to respond or obtaining the same reinforcer from a free supply. A majority of these experiments have reported that tinder ceDrtain conditions organisms continue to \"work\" for reinforcement rather than \"freeload.\" As a result of these observations, the labels \"contrafreeloading\" (Taylor, 1972) and \"Protestant ethic effect\" (Singh, 1972; Metze & Craig, 1973) have been applied to this phenomenon. The general aim of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of this behavior through a review of relevant literature and through experimental investigation of heretofore unresearched variables."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Protestant Ethic Effect: A Multiple Dependent Variable Analysis"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Stephens, Ronald"],"dc:description.abstract":["When an organism is allowed to choose \"between working for food or receiving \"free\" food, what will its decision \"be? For years such a question would have been addressed within the framework proposed by Clark Hull (1943): the organism would choose the alternative requiring the least amount of effort and eat the free food. However, several recent investigations have cast doubt on the generality of this lav: of least effort. Typically these studies have involved training organisms to respond for a reinforcer, defined as a stimulus that increases the probability of a response (Hilgard ?z Bower, 1966), and subsequently allowing them to choose between continuing to respond or obtaining the same reinforcer from a free supply. A majority of these experiments have reported that tinder ceDrtain conditions organisms continue to \"work\" for reinforcement rather than \"freeload.\" As a result of these observations, the labels \"contrafreeloading\" (Taylor, 1972) and \"Protestant ethic effect\" (Singh, 1972; Metze & Craig, 1973) have been applied to this phenomenon. The general aim of this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of this behavior through a review of relevant literature and through experimental investigation of heretofore unresearched variables."],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/1010"],"dc:subject":["Psychology"],"dc:title":["The Protestant Ethic Effect: A Multiple Dependent Variable Analysis"],"dc:type":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Department of Psychology"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:08:02Z"}