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Positive Reinforcement and Negative

Current Status/future Developments

Recent trends in reinforcement research include conceptualizing the process underlying reinforcement as a physiological neural reaction. Some theorists believe the concept of reinforcement is superfluous in that some learning seems to occur without it, and simple mental associations may more adequately explain learning. The study of reinforcement is, for the most part, embedded in learning theory research.

Learning theories and the study of reinforcement achieved a central place in American experimental psychology from approximately the 1940s through the 1960s. Over time it became clear, however, that learning theories could not easily account for certain aspects of higher human learning and complex behaviors such as language and reasoning. More cognitively oriented theories focusing on internal mental processes were put forth, in part to fill that gap, and they have gained increasing support. Learning theories are no longer quite as exalted. Nonetheless, more recently, a number of psychologists have powerfully explained many apparently complex aspects of human cognition by applying little more than some basic principles of associative learning theory. In addition, these same principles have been persuasively used to explain certain decision-making processes, and they show potential for explaining a number of well-known yet poorly understood elements of perceptual learning. While learning theories may not be as powerful as their creators and supporters had hoped, they have added greatly to our understanding of certain aspects of learning and of changing behavior, and they show great potential for continuing to add to our knowledge.

Resources

Books

Rachlin, H. Introduction to Behaviorism. New York: W.H. Freeman & Co. 1990.

Schwartz, B. Psychology of Learning and Behavior. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., Inc. 1988.

Staddon, J.E.R., and R.H. Ettinger. Learning: An Introduction to the Principles of Adaptive Behavior. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989.

Marie Doorey

KEY TERMS

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Classical conditioning: —A procedure involving pairing a stimulus that naturally elicits a response with one that does not until the second stimulus elicits a response like the first.
Conditioned reinforcers: —Also called secondary reinforcers, they do not have inherent reinforcing qualities but acquire them through repeated pairings with unconditioned reinforcers such as food or water.
Conditioning: —A general term for procedures in which associative learning is the goal.
Extinction: —A procedure in which reinforcement of a previously reinforced response is discontinued, it often leads to a decrease or complete stoppage of that response.
Learning theories: —A number of different theories pertaining to the learning process.
Operant conditioning: —Also called instrumental conditioning, it is a type of conditioning or learning in which reinforcements are contingent on a targeted response.
Reinforcement schedule: —The timing and patterning of reinforcement presentation with respect to the response.
Shaping: —The gradual achievement of a desired behavior by systematically reinforcing smaller components of it or similar behaviors.
Systematic desensitization: —A therapeutic technique designed to decrease anxiety toward an object or situation.
Token economy: —A therapeutic environment in which tokens representing rewards are used as secondary reinforcers to promote certain behaviors.
Unconditioned reinforcers: —Also called primary reinforcers, they are inherently reinforcing and usually biological in nature serving to satisfy physiological needs. In classical conditioning they are also any unconditioned stimuli.

Additional topics

Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Reason to RetrovirusPositive Reinforcement and Negative - Classical And Operant Conditioning, Reinforcement Schedules, Applications, Current Status/future Developments