Effects of contingency contracting on study rate and test performance.
Written study contracts lift study hours for all college students but raise grades only for below-average performers.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The authors asked college students to sign weekly study contracts. Each contract listed how many hours the student promised to study and what prize they would get if they hit the goal.
The prizes were small: candy, early class dismissal, or extra credit. Researchers tracked study hours with time cards and gave quizzes at the end of each unit.
They used an ABAB design. Contracts were in place, then removed, then brought back to be sure any change was caused by the contract.
What they found
Study hours jumped for every student when contracts were on and fell when they were off. The jump was large and immediate.
Test scores, however, were picky. Only students who began with low grades raised their scores. High-performing students studied more but their grades stayed flat.
Gains stayed inside the target class. Students did not study more, or score better, in other courses without contracts.
How this fits with other research
Busch et al. (2010) extends this idea. They swapped paper contracts for computerized lessons that build equivalence classes. College students still earned rewards, but the gains were bigger and faster than in the 1974 contract study.
Christian et al. (1997) move the same token-economy logic to adults with severe ID living in a facility. Reinforcing staff with edibles plus client tokens produced larger adaptive-skill gains than reinforcing clients alone. This shows the contract concept works across ages and ability levels.
Hursh et al. (1974) ran a classroom study the same year. Instead of contracts, teachers used simple prompts to get students to ask questions. Both studies got more academic behavior, but prompting helped comprehension while contracts helped study time. The two tactics target different links in the learning chain.
Why it matters
If you teach older students or run college-prep programs, a one-page contract can quickly raise study time. Focus the contract on students with weak grades; they are the ones whose scores move. Pair contracts with prompts or equivalence lessons if you also want comprehension gains. Do not expect the boost to spill into untargeted classes—build contracts for each course if you want wide impact.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A contingency contracting program designed to increase study rate and subsequent test performance was implemented with a group of undergraduate psychology students. The function of the contingency contracting program in producing increased study rate was evaluated by individual experiments with each student in an experimental contracting group. The overall effect of the program on test performance was assessed by comparing the final scores for the course earned by the experimental group with those earned by two matched control groups. A reversal procedure established that contingency contracting did significantly increase the study rate of students of a wide range of ability. However, it was selectively effective in improving the test performance of below-average students only. Study rate gains in contracted courses did not generalize to noncontracted courses. Self-recording of study time in the absence of scheduled differential consequences did not improve test performance. Study rate under no-consequence conditions varied with test schedule. For both consequence and no-consequence groups, the correlation between study time and final score for the course was only moderate.
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 1974 · doi:10.1901/jaba.1974.7-271