Expectancy, motivation to achieve, and recall in performance

Two groups of paid female students were employed in a modified Aronson and Carlsmith (1962) expectancy-performance design. Fifty-three participants were in the low-high condition, 59 were in the low-low condition. Overall results did not support predictions derived from dissonance theory. However, results supporting dissonance theory were obtained when expectancies, motivation to achieve and forgetting of individual participants were systematically evaluated on an a priori basis.