Three variables--instructions, monetary incentives, and the sex of the listener--were studied to test the hypotheses that subjects would score higher on listener achievement tests if they (1) were told they would hear an interesting speech, (2) were given higher sums of money for their participation, and (3) were male. Over 120 undergraduate students at Ohio University listened to a test speech. Listener achievement was measured by a twenty-item recognition test. A mean of 11.77 and a standard deviation of 3.46, with scores ranging from 4 to 20, were obtained. A coefficient of internal consistency of 0.67 was obtained by the KR-20 formula. Results suggested that "interestingness" of orienting instructions and monetary incentives had no significant effect on the scores, but that males did score significantly higher than females. When subjects were told the speech would be boring or interesting, they evaluated the "interestingness" of the speech in accordance with the orienting instructions. There was no significant correlation between the perceived "interestingness" and the listener achievement test scores. (DS)