Mark Lepper

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Mark R. Lepper (born December 5, 1944) is a professor of psychology at Stanford University, who has studied attribution theory and belief perseverance.

With frequent collaborator Lee Ross, and Robert Vallone, he authored the first study to identify the hostile media effect. With Ross and Charles Lord he also authored an important study on attitude change and what is now called disconfirmation bias. With Lord he later theorized attitude representation theory. He has also worked with Thomas Gilovich and Merrill Carlsmith.

Lepper earned his Ph.D. in Social and Developmental Psychology at Yale University in 1970.

Publications

Book Chapters

Lepper, M. R., & Greene, D. (1978). Overjustification research and beyond: Toward a means-end analysis of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In M. R. Lepper & D. Greene (Eds.), The hidden costs of reward (pp. 109-148). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

• Lepper, M. R., & Dafoe, J. L. (1979). Incentives, constraints, and motivation in the classroom. In I. H. Frieze, D. Bar-Tal, & J. S. Carroll (Eds.), New approaches to social problems: Applications of attribution theory (pp. 309-326). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Ross, L., & Lepper, M. R. (1980). The perseverance of beliefs: Empirical and normative considerations. In R. A. Shweder & D. Fiske (Eds.), New directions for methodology of behavioral science: Fallible judgment in behavioral research (pp. 17-36). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Lepper, M. R., & Malone, T. W. (1987). Intrinsic motivation and instructional effectiveness in computer-based education. In R. E. Snow & M. J. Farr (Eds.), Aptitude, learning, and instruction: III. Conative and affective process analysis (pp. 255-286). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Malone, T. W., & Lepper, M. R. (1987). Making learning fun: A taxonomic model of intrinsic motivations for learning. In R. E. Snow & M. J. Farr (Eds.), Aptitude, learning, and instruction: III. Conative and affective process analysis (pp. 223-253). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Papers

• Carlsmith, J. M., Ebbesen, E. B., Lepper, M. R., Zanna, M. P., Joncas, A. J., & Abelson, R. P. (1969). Dissonance reduction following forced attention to the dissonance. Proceedings, 77th Annual Convention, American Psychological Association.
• Lepper, M. R., Zanna, M. P., & Abelson, R. P. (1970). Cognitive irreversibility in a dissonance reduction situation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16, 191-198.
• Lepper, M. R. (1970). Anxiety and experimenter valence as determinants of social reinforcer effectiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 16, 704-709.
• Landauer, T. K., Carlsmith, J. M., & Lepper, M. R. (1970). Experimental analysis of the factors determining obedience of four-year old children to adult females. Child Development, 41, 601-611.
• Lepper, M. R. (1973). Dissonance, self perception and honesty in children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 25, 65-74.
• Lepper, M. R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining children's intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward: A test of the "overjustification" hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28, 129-137.
• Zanna, M. P., Lepper, M. R., & Abelson, R. P. (1973). Attentional mechanisms in children's devaluation of a forbidden activity in a forced-compliance situation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28, 355-359.
• Greene, D., & Lepper, M. R. (1974, September). Intrinsic motivation: How to turn play into work. Psychology Today, 49-54.
• Carlsmith, J. M., Lepper, M. R., & Landauer, T. K. (1974). Children's obedience to adult requests: Interactive effects of anxiety arousal and apparent punitiveness of the adult. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 822-838.
• Greene, D., & Lepper, M. R. (1974). Effects of extrinsic rewards on children's subsequent intrinsic interest. Child Development, 45, 1141-1145.
• Lepper, M. R., & Greene, D. (1975). Turning play into work: Effects of adult surveillance and extrinsic rewards on children's intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 479-486.
• Lepper, M. R., & Greene, D. (1975, April). When two rewards are worse than one: Effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation. Phi Delta Kappan, 565-566.
• Lepper, M. R., Sagotsky, G., & Mailer, J. (1975). Generalization and persistence of effects of exposure to self-reinforcement models. Child Development, 46, 618-630.
• Eberts, E. H., & Lepper, M. R. (1975). Individual consistency in the proxemic behavior of preschool children. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 841-849.
• Ross, L., Lepper, M. R., & Hubbard, M. (1975). Perseverance in self perception and social perception: Biased attributional processes in the debriefing paradigm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 880-892.
• Lepper, M. R., & Greene, D. (1976). On understanding "overjustification": A reply to Reiss and Sushinsky. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 25-35.
• Amabile, T. N., DeJong, H. W., & Lepper, M. R. (1976). Effects of extrinsic deadlines on subsequent intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 92-98.
• Greene, D., Sternberg, B., & Lepper, M. R. (1976). Overjustification in a token economy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 1219-1234.
• Lepper, M. R. (1977). Book review: New directions in attribution research, Volume 1. Science, 196, 765-766.
• Ross, L., Lepper, M. R., Strack, F., & Steinmetz, J. (1977). Social explanation and social expectation: The effects of real and hypothetical explanations upon subjective likelihood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 817-829.
• Sagotsky, G., Patterson, C. K., & Lepper, M. R. (1978). Training children's self-control: A field experiment in self-monitoring and goal-setting in the classroom. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 25, 242-253.
• Lepper, M. R., & Greene, D. (Eds.) (1978). The hidden costs of reward. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Lepper, M. R., & Greene, D. (1978). Divergent approaches to the study of rewards. In M. R. Lepper & D. Greene (Eds.), The hidden costs of reward (pp. 217-244). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Lord, C. G., Ross, L., & Lepper, M. R. (1979). Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 2098-2109.
• Anderson, C. A., Lepper, M. R., & Ross, L. (1980). The perseverance of social theories: The role of explanation in the persistence of discredited information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 1037-1049.
• Jennings, D. L., Lepper, M. R., & Ross, L. (1981). Persistence of impressions of personal persuasiveness: Perseverance of erroneous self-assessments outside the debriefing paradigm. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 7, 257-263.
• Lepper, M. R., & Gilovich, T. J. (1981). The multiple functions of reward: A social-developmental perspective. In S. S. Brehm, S. M. Kassin, & F. X. Gibbons (Eds.), Developmental social psychology: Theory and research (pp. 5-31). New York: Oxford University Press.
• Lepper, M. R. (1981). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in children: Detrimental effects of superfluous social controls. In W. A. Collins (Ed.), Aspects of the development of competence: Minnesota symposium on child psychology (Vol. 14) (pp. 155-213). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Lepper, M. R. (1981). Book Review: Cognitive Responses in Persuasion. Science, 214, 326.
• Lepper, M. R., Sagotsky, G., Dafoe, J. L., & Greene, D. (1982). Consequences of superfluous social constraints: Effects on young children's social inferences and subsequent intrinsic interest. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 51-64.
• Lepper, M. R., & Gilovich, T. (1982). Accentuating the positive: Eliciting generalized compliance from children through activity-oriented requests. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 248-259.
• Sagotsky, G., & Lepper, M. R. (1982). Generalization of experimentally-induced changes in children's preferences for easy or difficult goals. Child Development, 53, 372-375.
• Lepper, M. R. (1983). Extrinsic reward and intrinsic motivation: Implications for the classroom. In J. M. Levine & M. C. Wang (Eds.), Teacher and student perceptions: Implications for learning (pp. 281-317). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Lepper, M. R. (1983). Social control processes and the internalization of social values: An attributional perspective. In E. T. Higgins, D. N. Ruble, & W. W. Hartup (Eds.), Social cognition and social development (pp. 294-330). New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Lord, C. G., Lepper, M. R., & Mackie, D. (1984). Attitude prototypes as determinants of attitude-behavior consistency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 1254-1266.
• Kassin, S. M., & Lepper, M. R. (1984). Oversufficient and insufficient justification effects: Cognitive and behavioral development. In J. Nicholls (Ed.), The development of achievement motivation (pp. 73-106). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
• Lord, C. G., Lepper, M. R., & Preston, E. (1984). Considering the opposite: A corrective strategy for social judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 1231-1243.
• Lepper, M. R. (1985). Microcomputers in education: Motivational and social issues. American Psychologist, 40, 1-18.
• Lepper, M. R. (1985). The play's the thing. (Review of Mind at Play). Contemporary Psychology, 30, 312-313.
• Vallone, R., Ross, L., & Lepper, M. R. (1985). The hostile media phenomenon: Biased perception and perceptions of media bias in coverage of the "Beirut Massacre." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 577-585.
• Lepper, M. R., & Chabay, R. W. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and instruction: Conflicting views on the role of motivational processes in computer-based education. Educational Psychologist, 20, 217-231.
• Lepper, M. R., Ross, L., & Lau, R. (1986). Persistence of inaccurate and discredited personal impressions: Attributional perseverance in the classroom. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 482-491.
• Lepper, M. R., & Milojkovic, J. D. (1986). The "computer revolution" in education: A research perspective. In P.F. Campbell & G.G. Fein (Eds.), Young children and microcomputers: Conceptualizing the issues (pp. 12-23). Reston, VA: Reston.
• Lin, S., & Lepper, M. R. (1987). Correlates of children's use of videogames and computers. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 17, 73-94.
• Lepper, M. R., & Chabay, R. W. (1988). Socializing the intelligent tutor: Bringing empathy to computer tutors. In H. Mandl & A. M. Lesgold (Eds.), Learning issues for intelligent tutoring systems (pp. 242-257). Chicago: Springer-Verlag.
• Lepper, M. R. (1988). Motivational considerations in the study of instruction. Cognition and Instruction, 5, 289-310.
• Lepper, M. R., & Gurtner, J. (1989). Children and computers: Child development and education approaching the twenty-first century. American Psychologist, 44, 170-178.
• Lepper, M. R., & Hodell, M. (1989). Intrinsic motivation in the classroom. In C. Ames & R. E. Ames (Eds.), Research on motivation in education (Vol. 3, pp. 73-105). New York: Academic Press.
• Lepper, M. R. (1989). Foreword to E. Aronson, P. C. Ellsworth, J. M. Carlsmith, & M. H. Gonzales, Methods of research in social psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Lepper, M. R., Aspinwall, L., Mumme, D., & Chabay, R. W. (1990). Self-perception and social perception processes in tutoring: Subtle social control strategies of expert tutors. In J. M. Olson & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Self-inference and social inference: The Ontario symposium, Vol. 6 (pp. 217-237). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Lepper, M. R., Woolverton, M., Parker, L. E., Mumme, D. L., Hodell, M., & Cordova, D. I. (1990). Intrinsic motivation and instruction via computers. In E. Friedman (Ed.), Proceedings of the third annual Stevens Institute conference on educational technology (pp. 53-71). Hoboken, NJ: Stevens Institute of Technology.
• Desforges, D. M., Lord, C. G., Ramsey, S. L., Mason, J. A., Van Leeuwen, M. D., Cox, L., & Lepper, M. R. (1991). Effects of structured cooperative contact on attitude prototypes and attitude change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 531-544.
• Lepper, M. R. (1991). Book Review: Interpersonal Perception. Science, 252, 1020.

Lord, C. G., Desforges, D. M., Ramsey, S. L., Trezza, G. R., & Lepper, M. R. (1991). Typicality effects in attitude-behavior consistency: Effects of category discrimination and category knowledge. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 27, 550-575.

• Parker, L. E., & Lepper, M. R. (1992). Effects of fantasy contexts on children's learning and motivation: Making learning more fun. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62, 625-633.
• Condry, J., & Lepper, M. R. (Eds.) (1992). Special issue: Intrinsic motivation and education. Motivation and Emotion, 16(3).
• Lepper, M. R., & Cordova, D. I. (1992). A desire to be taught: Instructional consequences of intrinsic motivation. Motivation and Emotion, 16, 187-208.
• Shultz, T., & Lepper, M. R. (1992). A constraint satisfaction model of cognitive dissonance phenomena. In Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 462-467). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Lepper, M. R., Woolverton, M., Mumme, D. L., & Gurtner, J. (1993). Motivational techniques of expert human tutors: Lessons for the design of computer-based tutors. In S. P. Lajoie & S. J. Derry (Eds.), Computers as cognitive tools (pp. 75-105). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Lepper, M. R. (1994). "Hot" vs. "cold" cognition: An Abelsonian journey. In R. Schank & E. Langer (Eds.), Beliefs, reasoning, and decision making: Psycho-logic in honor of Bob Abelson (pp. 237-275). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Lord, C. G., Desforges, D. M., Fein, S., Pugh, M. A., & Lepper, M. R. (1994). Typicality effects in attitudes toward social policies: A concept-mapping approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 658-673.
• Lepper, M. R. (1995). Theory by the numbers? Some concerns about meta-analysis as a theoretical tool. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 8, 1-12.
• Lepper, M. R., Keavney, M., & Drake, M. (1996). Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic rewards: A commentary on Cameron and Pierce's meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 66, 5-32.
• Shultz, T. R., & Lepper, M. R. (1996). Constraint satisfaction modeling of cognitive dissonance phenomena. Psychological Review, 103, 219-240.
• Lepper, M. R., Sethi, A. S., Dialdin, D., & Drake, M. (1996). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: Developmental trends and issues. In S. Luthar, J. Burack, D. Cichetti, & J. Weisz (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology: Perspectives on risk and disorder (pp. 23-50). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Cordova, D. I., & Lepper, M. R. (1996). Intrinsic motivation and the process of learning: Beneficial effects of contextualization, personalization, and choice. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 715-730.
• Lepper, M. R., & Whitmore, P. (1996). Collaboration: A social-psychological perspective. Cognitive Studies: The Bulletin of the Japanese Cognitive Science Society, 3, 7-10.
• Sia, T. L., Lord, C. G., Blessum, K. A., Ratcliff, C. D., & Lepper, M. R. (1997). Is a rose always a rose? The role of social category exemplar change in attitude stability and attitude-behavior consistency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 501-514.
• Lepper, M. R., Drake, M., & O'Donnell-Johnson, T. M. (1997). Scaffolding techniques of expert human tutors. In K. Hogan & M. Pressley (Eds), Scaffolding student learning: Instructional approaches and issues (pp. 108-144). New York: Brookline Books.
• Shultz, T. R., & Lepper, M. R. (1998). The consonance model of dissonance reduction. In S. J. Read & L. C. Miller (Eds.), Connectionist and PDP models of social reasoning andsocial behavior (pp. 211-244). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Lepper, M. R. (1998). Book Review: Who shall speak for the children? Contemporary Psychology, 43, 172-173.
• Lepper, M. R. (1998). A whole much less than the sum of its parts: A comment on Eisenberger and Cameron. American Psychologist., 53, 675-676.
• Shultz, T. R., Sirois, S., & Lepper, M. R. (1998). A constraint-satisfaction model of Machiavellianism effects in cognitive dissonance. Proceedings of the Twentieth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 957-962). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Shultz, T. R., Leveille, E., & Lepper, M. R. (1999). Free-choice and cognitive dissonance revisited. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 40-48.

I*yengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (1999). Rethinking the role of choice: A cultural perspective on intrinsic motivation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 349-366.

• Shultz, T. R., & Lepper, M. R. (1999). Computer simulations of cognitive dissonance reduction. In E. Harmon-Jones & J. Mills (Eds.), Cognitive dissonance. Progress on a pivotal theory in social psychology.(pp. 235-265). Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association.
• Sia, T. L., Lord, C. G., Blessum, K. A., & Lepper, M. R. (1999). Activation of exemplars in the process of assessing social category attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 517-532.
• Lord, C. G., & Lepper, M. R. (1999). Attitude representation theory. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 31, pp. 265-343). San Diego: Academic Press.
• Lepper. M. R., & Shultz, T. R. (1999). Dissonance theory. In R. A. Wilson & F. C. Keil (Eds.), MIT Encyclopedia of the cognitive sciences (pp. 233-234). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Iyengar, S. S., Lepper, M. R., & Ross, L. (1999). Independence from whom? Interdependence with whom? Cultural perspectives on ingroups and outgroups. In D. Prentice & D. Miller (Eds.), Cultural Divides (pp. 273-301). New York: Sage.
• Shultz, T. R., & Lepper, M. R. (1999). Consonance network simulations of arousal phenomena in cognitive dissonance. Proceedings of the twenty-first annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 659-664). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Lepper, M. R., Henderlong, J., & Gingras, I. (1999). Understanding the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation: Uses and abuses of meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin., 125, 669-676.
• Lepper, M. R., & Henderlong, J. (2000). Turning "play" into "work" and "work" into "play": 25 years of research on intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. In C. Sansone & J. Harackiewicz (Eds.), Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: The search for optimal motivation and performance (pp. 257-307). San Diego: Academic Press.
• Shultz, T. R., & Lepper, M. R. (2000). Simulation of self-affirmation phenomena in cognitive dissonance. Proceedings of the twenty-second annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 464-468). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Lepper, M. R., & Henderlong, J. (2000). The little engine that had an incremental theory: An essay review of Dweckís "Self Theories". Human Development, 74, 186-190.
• Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (2000). When choice is demotivating: Can one desire too much of a good thing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 995-1006.
• Shultz, T. R., Katz, J. A., & Lepper, M. R. (2001). Clinging to beliefs: A constraint satisfaction model. Proceedings of the twenty-third annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Lepper, M. R., & Woolverton, M. (2001). The wisdom of practice: Lessons learned from the study of highly effective tutors. In J. Aronson (Ed.), Improving academic achievement: Contributions of social psychology (pp. 133-156). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
• Lepper, M. R., & Henderlong, J. (In Press). Motivation and instruction. In J. W. Guthrie (Ed.), Encyclopedia of education. New York: Macmillan.
• Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (2002). Choice and its consequences: On the costs and benefits of self-determination. In A. Tesser, D. A. Stapel, & J. V. Wood (Eds.), Self and motivation: Emerging psychological perspectives (pp. 71-96). Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association.

External link

• Official site