Self-Reinforcement, Locus of Reward and Task Maintenance, and Alcoholism
Groups of 44 hospitalized alcoholics and 31 psychiatric patients were compared with 40 nonclinical controls on their self-reinforcement behaviors. The groups did not differ on self-reward but the psychiatric group self-punished more than the other two groups, while the alcoholics tended to self-punish the least. On a second task, 30 alcoholic subjects were assigned to either one of two reward conditions, self- or externally (other-) administered reward for task maintenance. Those alcoholics receiving rewards from others did significantly better on the task than those rewarding themselves. Results are discussed in light of the externality hypotheses of alcoholism.