rule-governed behavior

any behavior that is influenced by verbal antecedents, such as following instructions (as when children clean their rooms because they are told to do so) or reacting to one’s own private thinking (as when an adult begins an exercise program after thinking “I need to lose weight”). The term does not refer to behavior that can be described by a rule. For example, rats’ behavior that adopts a win–stay, lose–shift strategy cannot be described as rule-governed. Also called verbally governed behavior. Compare contingency-governed behavior.

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

February 2nd 2025

task significance

a motivating characteristic of tasks specified in the job-characteristics model developed by J. Richard Hackman and U.S. organizational behaviorist Greg R. Oldham (1947– ). Jobs high in task significance are those that are perceived to be important to the organization or to have great influence on the lives of others. Compare task identity.