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For the construction materials reinforcement, see Rebar. A rebar, or reinforcing bar, is a common Steel bar and is commonly used in Reinforced concrete and reinforced Masonry structures
For reinforcement learning in computer science, see Reinforcement learning. Inspired by related psychological theory in Computer science, reinforcement learning is a sub-area of Machine learning concerned with how an agent

In operant conditioning, reinforcement is an increase in the strength of a response following the change in environment immediately following that response. [1] Response strength can be assessed by measures such as the frequency with which the response is made (for example, a pigeon may peck a key more times in the session), or the speed with which it is made (for example, a rat may run a maze faster). The environment change contingent upon the response is called a reinforcer. Reinforcement can only be confirmed retrospectively, as objects, items, food or other potential 'reinforcers' can only be called such by demonstrating increases in behavior after their administration. It is the strength of the response that is reinforced, not the organism.

Contents

Types of reinforcement

B.F. Skinner, the researcher who articulated the major theoretical constructs of reinforcement and behaviorism, refused to specify causal origins of reinforcers. Burrhus Frederic Skinner ( March 20, 1904 &ndash August 18 1990) was an influential American Psychologist, author Behaviorism or Behaviourism, also called the learning perspective (where any physical action is a behavior is a philosophy of Psychology based on the Skinner argued that reinforcers are defined by a change in response strength (that is, functionally rather than causally), and that what is a reinforcer to one person may not be to another. Accordingly, activities, foods or items which are generally considered pleasant or enjoyable may not necessarily be reinforcing; they can only be considered so if the behavior that immediately precedes the potential reinforcer increases in similar future situations. If a child receives a cookie when he or she asks for one, and the frequency of 'cookie-requesting behavior' increases, the cookie can be seen as reinforcing 'cookie-requesting behavior'. If however, cookie-requesting behavior does not increase, the cookie cannot be considered reinforcing. The sole criterion which can determine if an item, activity or food is reinforcing is the change in the probability of a behavior after the administration of a potential reinforcer. Other theories may focus on additional factors such as whether the person expected the strategy to work at some point, but a behavioral theory of reinforcement would focus specifically upon the probability of the behavior.

The study of reinforcement has produced an enormous body of reproducible experimental results. In Statistics, reliability is the consistency of a set of measurements or measuring instrument often used to describe a test. Reinforcement is the central concept and procedure in the experimental analysis of behavior and much of quantitative analysis of behavior. The experimental analysis of behavior is the name given to school of Psychology founded by B The Society was founded in 1978 by Michael Lamport Commons and John Anthony Nevin.

Skinner discusses that while it may appear so, Punishment is not the opposite of reinforcement. In Operant conditioning, punishment is any change in a human or animal's surroundings that occurs after a given behavior or response which reduces the likelihood of that behavior Rather, it has some other effects as well as decreasing undesired behavior.

 decreases likelihood of behaviorincreases likelihood of behavior
presentedpositive punishmentpositive reinforcement
taken awaynegative punishmentnegative reinforcement

Distinguishing "positive" from "negative" can be difficult, and the necessity of the distinction is often debated[2]. For example, in a very warm room, a current of external air serves as positive reinforcement because it is pleasantly cool or negative reinforcement because it removes uncomfortably hot air[3]. Some reinforcement can be simultaneously positive and negative, such as a drug addict taking drugs for the added euphoria and eliminating withdrawal symptoms. Drug addiction is widely considered a pathological state. The disorder of addiction involves the progression of acute Drug use to the development of drug-seeking Withdrawal, also known as withdrawal/abstinence syndrome, refers to the characteristic signs and symptoms that appear when a drug that causes Physical dependence is Many behavioral psychologists simply refer to reinforcement or punishment—without polarity—to cover all consequent environmental changes. In Operant conditioning, punishment is any change in a human or animal's surroundings that occurs after a given behavior or response which reduces the likelihood of that behavior

Primary reinforcers

A primary reinforcer, sometimes called an unconditioned reinforcer, is a stimulus that does not require pairing to function as a reinforcer and most likely has obtained this function through the evolution and its role in species' survival[4]. Examples of primary reinforcers include sleep, food, air, water, and sex. Other primary reinforcers, such as certain drugs, may mimic the effects of other primary reinforcers. While these primary reinforcers are fairly stable through life and across individuals, the reinforcing value of different primary reinforcers varies due to multiple factors (e. g. , genetics, experience). Thus, one person may prefer one type of food while another abhors it. Or one person may eat lots of food while another eats very little. So even though food is a primary reinforcer for both individuals, the value of food as a reinforcer differs between them.

Often primary reinforcers shift their reinforcing value temporarily through satiation and deprivation. Food, for example, may cease to be effective as a reinforcer after a certain amount of it has been consumed (satiation). After a period during which it does not receive any of the primary reinforcer (deprivation), however, the primary reinforcer may once again regain its effectiveness in increasing response strength.

Secondary reinforcers

A secondary reinforcer, sometimes called a conditioned reinforcer, is a stimulus or situation that has acquired its function as a reinforcer after pairing with a stimulus which functions as a reinforcer. The concept of pairing treated here occurs in Mathematics. Definition Let R be a commutative ring with unity and let M, N and This stimulus may be a primary reinforcer or another conditioned reinforcer (such as money). An example of a secondary reinforcer would be the sound from a clicker, as used in clicker training. Clicker training is the process of training an animal using a conditioned reinforcer, which indicates to the animal ("marks" the precise Behavior The sound of the clicker has been associated with praise or treats, and subsequently, the sound of the clicker may function as a reinforcer. As with primary reinforcers, an organism can experience satiation and deprivation with secondary reinforcers.

Other reinforcement terms

Natural and artificial reinforcement

In his 1967 paper, Arbitrary and Natural Reinforcement, Charles Ferster proposed that reinforcement can be classified into events which increase the frequency of an operant as a natural consequence of the behavior itself, and those which are presumed to affect frequency by their requirement of human mediation, such as in a token economy where subjects are "rewarded" for certain behavior with an arbitrary token of a negotiable value. Charles Bohris Ferster (1922-1981 was an American behavioral psychologist A token economy is a system of Behavior modification based on the principles of Operant conditioning. In 1970, Baer and Wolf created a name for the use of natural reinforcers called behavior traps. [7] A behavior trap is one in which only a simple response is necessary to enter the trap, yet once entered, the trap cannot be resisted in creating general behavior change. It is the use of a behavioral trap that will increase one's repertoire by exposing a person to the naturally occurring reinforcement of that behavior. Behavior traps have four characteristics:

  • They are "baited" with virtually irresistible reinforcers that "lure" the student to the trap
  • Only a low-effort response already in the repertoire is necessary to enter the trap
  • Interrelated contingencies of reinforcement inside the trap motivate the person to acquire, extend, and maintain targeted academic/social skills[8]
  • they can remain effective for long time because the person shows few, if any, satiation effects.

As can be seen from the above, artificial reinforcement is created to build or develop skills, and to generalize, it is important that either a behavior trap is introduced to 'capture' the skill and utilize naturally occurring reinforcement to maintain or increase it. This behavior trap may simply be a social situation that will generally result from a specific behavior once it has met a certain criterion (ex: if you use edible reinforcers to train a person to say hello and smile at people when they meet them, after that skill has been built up, the natural reinforcer of other people smiling, and having more friendly interactions will naturally reinforce the skill and the edibles can be faded). [9]

Schedules of reinforcement

When an animal's surroundings are controlled, its behavior patterns after reinforcement become predictable, even for very complex behavior patterns. Scientific controls allow Experiments to study one Variable at a time and are a vital part of the Scientific method. A schedule of reinforcement is the protocol for determining when responses or behaviors will be reinforced, ranging from continuous reinforcement, in which every response is reinforced, and extinction, in which no response is reinforced. Extinction in Psychology refers to the lowering of the probability of a response when a characteristic reinforcing stimulus is no longer presented Between these extremes is intermittent or partial reinforcement where only some responses are reinforced.

Specific variations of intermittent reinforcement reliably induce specific patterns of response, irrespective of the species being investigated (including humans in some conditions). The orderliness and predictability of behaviour under schedules of reinforcement was evidence for B. F. Skinner's claim that using operant conditioning he could obtain "control over behaviour", in a way that rendered the theoretical disputes of contemporary comparative psychology obsolete. Burrhus Frederic Skinner ( March 20, 1904 &ndash August 18 1990) was an influential American Psychologist, author Psychologists and scientists do not always agree on what should be considered Comparative Psychology. The reliability of schedule control supported the idea that a radical behaviourist experimental analysis of behavior could be the foundation for a psychology that did not refer to mental or cognitive processes. Radical behaviorism is a philosophy developed by B F Skinner that underlies the Experimental analysis of behavior approach to psychology The experimental analysis of behavior is the name given to school of Psychology founded by B Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and The reliability of schedules also led to the development of Applied Behavior Analysis as a means of controlling or altering behavior. Applied behavior analysis ( ABA) is the science of applying experimentally derived principles of behavior to improve socially significant behavior

Many of the simpler possibilities, and some of the more complex ones, were investigated at great length by Skinner using pigeons, but new schedules continue to be defined and investigated.

Simple schedules

A chart demonstrating the different response rate of the four simple schedules of reinforcement, each hatch mark designates a reinforcer being given
A chart demonstrating the different response rate of the four simple schedules of reinforcement, each hatch mark designates a reinforcer being given

Simple schedules have a single rule to determine when a single type of reinforcer is delivered for specific response.

Other simple schedules include:

Effects of different types of simple schedules

Compound schedules

Compound schedules combine two or more different simple schedules in some way using the same reinforcer for the same behaviour. There are many possibilities; among those most often used are:

Superimposed schedules

Superimposed schedules of reinforcement is a term in psychology which refers to a structure of rewards where two or more simple schedules of reinforcement operate simultaneously. Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and The reinforcers can be positive and/or negative. An example would be a person who comes home after a long day at work. The behavior of opening the front door is rewarded by a big kiss on lips by the person's spouse and a rip in the pants from the family dog jumping enthusiastically. Another example of superimposed schedules of reinforcement would be a pigeon in an experimental cage pecking at a button. The pecks result in a hopper of grain being delivered every twentieth peck and access to water becoming available after every two hundred pecks.

Superimposed schedules of reinforcement are a type of compound schedule that evolved from the initial work on simple schedules of reinforcement by B. F. Skinner and his colleagues (Skinner and Ferster, 1957). In Operant conditioning, reinforcement is an immediate increase in the strength of a response following a change in environment Burrhus Frederic Skinner ( March 20, 1904 &ndash August 18 1990) was an influential American Psychologist, author They demonstrated that reinforcers could be delivered on schedules, and further that organisms behaved differently under different schedules. Rather than a reinforcer, such as food or water, being delivered every time as a consequence of some behavior, a reinforcer could be delivered after more than one instance of the behavior. For example, a pigeon may be required to peck a button switch ten times before food is made available to the pigeon. This is called a "ratio schedule. " Also, a reinforcer could be delivered after an interval of time passed following a target behavior. An example is a rat that is given a food pellet two minutes after the rat pressed a lever. Rats are various medium sized long-tailed Rodents of the superfamily Muroidea This is called an "interval schedule. " In addition, ratio schedules can deliver reinforcement following fixed or variable number of behaviors by the individual organism. Likewise, interval schedules can deliver reinforcement following fixed or variable intervals of time following a single response by the organism. Individual behaviors tend to generate response rates that differ based upon how the reinforcement schedule is created. Much subsequent research in many labs examined the effects on behaviors of scheduling reinforcers. If an organism is offered the opportunity to choose between or among two or more simple schedules of reinforcement at the same time, the reinforcement structure is called a "concurrent schedule of reinforcement. In Operant conditioning, reinforcement is an immediate increase in the strength of a response following a change in environment " Brechner (1974, 1977) introduced the concept of "superimposed schedules of reinforcement in an attempt to create a laboratory analogy of social traps, such as when humans overharvest their fisheries or tear down their rainforests. In Operant conditioning, reinforcement is an immediate increase in the strength of a response following a change in environment Social trap is a term used by psychologists to describe a situation in which a group of people act to obtain short-term individual gains which in the long run leads to a loss Brechner created a situation where simple reinforcement schedules were superimposed upon each other. In other words, a single response or group of responses by an organism led to multiple consequences. Concurrent schedules of reinforcement can be thought of as "or" schedules, and superimposed schedules of reinforcement can be thought of as "and" schedules. Brechner and Linder (1981) and Brechner (1987) expanded the concept to describe how superimposed schedules and the social trap analogy could be used to analyze the way energy flows through systems. Social trap is a term used by psychologists to describe a situation in which a group of people act to obtain short-term individual gains which in the long run leads to a loss In Physics and other Sciences energy (from the Greek grc ἐνέργεια - Energeia, "activity operation" from grc ἐνεργός System (from Latin systēma, in turn from Greek systēma is a set of interacting or interdependent Entities, real or abstract

Superimposed schedules of reinforcement have many real-world applications in addition to generating social traps. Social trap is a term used by psychologists to describe a situation in which a group of people act to obtain short-term individual gains which in the long run leads to a loss Many different human individual and social situations can be created by superimposing simple reinforcement schedules. For example a human being could have simultaneous tobacco and alcohol addictions. Even more complex situations can be created or simulated by superimposing two or more concurrent schedules. For example, a high school senior could have a choice between going to Stanford University or UCLA, and at the same time have the choice of going into the Army or the Air Force, and simultaneously the choice of taking a job with an internet company or a job with a software company. That would be a reinforcement structure of three superimposed concurrent schedules of reinforcement. Superimposed schedules of reinforcement can be used to create the three classic conflict situations (approach-approach conflict, approach-avoidance conflict, and avoidance-avoidance conflict) described by Kurt Lewin (1935)and can be used to operationalize other Lewinian situations analyzed by his force field analysis. Approach-Avoidance conflicts are choices between something Positive, say going out to a party that has a Negative valence (avoidance say getting grounded Kurt Zadek Lewin (1890 - 1947 a German-born psychologist, is one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and Applied psychology Force field analysis is an influential development in the field of social science Another example of the use of superimposed schedules of reinforcement as an analytical tool is its application to the contingencies of rent control (Brechner, 2003).

Concurrent schedules

In operant conditioning, concurrent schedules of reinforcement are schedules of reinforcement that are simultaneously available to an animal subject or human participant, so that the subject or participant can respond on either schedule. For example, a pigeon in a Skinner box might be faced with two pecking keys; pecking responses can be made on either, and food reinforcement might follow a peck on either. An operant conditioning chamber (sometimes Skinner box) is a laboratory apparatus used in the Experimental analysis of behavior to study animal behavior In Operant conditioning, reinforcement is an immediate increase in the strength of a response following a change in environment The schedules of reinforcement arranged for pecks on the two keys can be different. They may be independent, or they may have some links between them so that behaviour on one key affects the likelihood of reinforcement on the other.

It is not necessary for the responses on the two schedules to be physically distinct: in an alternative way of arranging concurrent schedules, introduced by Findley in 1958, both schedules are arranged on a single key or other response device, and the subject or participant can respond on a second key in order to change over between the schedules. In such a "Findley concurrent" procedure, a stimulus (e. g. the colour of the main key) is used to signal which schedule is currently in effect.

Concurrent schedules often induce rapid alternation between the keys. To prevent this, a "changeover delay" is commonly introduced: each schedule is inactivated for a brief period after the subject switches to it.

When both the concurrent schedules are variable intervals, a quantitative relationship known as the matching law is found between relative response rates in the two schedules and the relative reinforcement rates they deliver; this was first observed by R. J. Herrnstein in 1961. In Operant conditioning, the matching law is a quantitative relationship that holds between the relative rates of response and the relative rates of reinforcement Richard J Herrnstein ( May 20 1930 – September 13 1994) was a prominent American researcher in animal

Shaping

Main article: Shaping (psychology)

Shaping involves reinforcing successive, increasingly accurate approximations of a response desired by a trainer. The differential reinforcement of successive approximations or more commonly shaping is a conditioning procedure used primarily in the Experimental analysis of behavior In training a rat to press a lever, for example, simply turning toward the lever will be reinforced at first. Then, only turning and stepping toward it will be reinforced. As training progresses, the response reinforced becomes progressively more like the desired behavior.

Chaining

Main article: Chaining

Chaining involves linking discrete behaviors together in a series, such that each result of each behaviour is both the reinforcement (or consequence) for the previous behavior, and the stimuli (or antecedent) for the next behavior. Chaining is an instructional procedure used in Behavioral psychology, Experimental analysis of behavior and Applied behavior analysis. There are many ways to teach chaining, such as forward chaining (starting from the first behavior in the chain), backwards chaining (starting from the last behavior) and total task chaining (in which the entire behavior is taught from beginning to end, rather than as a series of steps). An example would be opening a locked door. First the key is inserted, then turned, then the door opened. Forward chaining would teach the subject first to insert the key. Once that task is mastered, they are told to insert the key, and taught to turn it. Once that task is mastered, they are told to perform the first two, then taught to open the door. Backwards chaining would involve the teacher first inserting and turning the key, and the subject is taught to open the door. Once that is learned, the teacher inserts the key, and the subject is taught to turn it, then opens the door as the next step. Finally, the subject is taught to insert the key, and they turn and open the door. Once the first step is mastered, the entire task has been taught. Total task chaining would involve teaching the entire task as a single series, prompting through all steps. Prompts are faded (reduced) at each step as they are mastered.

Criticisms

The standard definition of behavioral reinforcement has been criticized as circular, since it appears to argue that response strength is increased by reinforcement while defining reinforcement as something which increases response strength; that is, the standard definition says only that response strength is increased by things which increase response strength. A circular definition is one that assumes a prior understanding of the term being defined However, the correct usage[11] of reinforer or reinforcement is that something is a reinforcer because of its effect on behavior, and not the other way around. It becomes circular if one says that a particular stimulus strengthens behavior because it is a reinforcer, and should not be used to explain why a stimulus is producing that effect on the behavior. Other definitions have been proposed, such as F. D. Sheffield's "consummatory behavior contingent on a response," but these are not broadly used in psychology. [12]

History of the terms

In the 1920s Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov may have been the first to use the word reinforcement with respect to behavior, but (according to Dinsmoor) he used its approximate Russian cognate sparingly, and even then it referred to strengthening an already-learned but weakening response. For other uses see Pavlov (disambiguation. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (Иван Петрович Павлов September 14, 1849 &ndash February He did not use it, as it is today, for selecting and strengthening new behavior. Pavlov's introduction of the word extinction (in Russian) approximates today's psychological use.

In popular use, positive reinforcement is often used as a synonym for reward, with people (not behavior) thus being "reinforced," but this is contrary to the term's consistent technical usage, as it is a dimension of behavior, and not the person, which is strengthened. In neuroscience the reward system is a collection of brain structures which attempts to regulate and control behavior by inducing pleasurable effects Negative reinforcement is often used by laypeople and even social scientists outside psychology as a synonym for punishment. In Operant conditioning, punishment is any change in a human or animal's surroundings that occurs after a given behavior or response which reduces the likelihood of that behavior This is contrary to modern technical use, but it was B. F. Skinner who first used it this way in his 1938 book. Burrhus Frederic Skinner ( March 20, 1904 &ndash August 18 1990) was an influential American Psychologist, author By 1953, however, he followed others in thus employing the word punishment, and he re-cast negative reinforcement for the removal of aversive stimuli.

There are some within the field of behavior analysis[13] who have suggested that the terms "positive" and "negative" constitute an unnecessary distinction in discussing reinforcement as it is often unclear whether stimuli are being removed or presented. For example, Iwata[14] poses the question: “…is a change in temperature more accurately characterized by the presentation of cold (heat) or the removal of heat (cold)?” (p. 363). Thus, it may be best to conceptualize reinforcement simply as a pre-change condition being replaced by a post-change condition which reinforces the behavior which was followed by the change in stimulus conditions.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Cooper, et al, 2007
  2. ^ Michael, J. Dog training: the process of teaching a Dog (Canis lupus familiaris to perform certain actions at the behest of somebody in response to certain commands which the dog is trained In neuroscience the reward system is a collection of brain structures which attempts to regulate and control behavior by inducing pleasurable effects Inspired by related psychological theory in Computer science, reinforcement learning is a sub-area of Machine learning concerned with how an agent The Society was founded in 1978 by Michael Lamport Commons and John Anthony Nevin. (1975, 2005). Positive and negative reinforcement, a distinction that is no longer necessary; or a better way to talk about bad things. Journal of Orgnizational Behavior Management, 24, 207-222.
  3. ^ Iwata, B. A. (1987). Negative reinforcement in applied behavior analysis: an emerging technology. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 20, 361-378.
  4. ^ Skinner, BF, 1974, About Behaviorism
  5. ^ Tucker, M. , Sigafoos, J. , & Bushell, H. (1998). Use of noncontingent reinforcement in the treatment of challenging behavior. Behavior Modification, 22, 529–547.
  6. ^ Poling, A. , & Normand, M. (1999). Noncontingent reinforcement: an inappropriate description of time-based schedules that reduce behavior. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 32, 237-238.
  7. ^ Baer and Wolf, 1970, The entry into natural communities of reinforcement. In R. ulrich, T. Stachnik, & J. Mabry (eds. ), Control of human behavior (Vol. 2, pp. 319-324). Gleenview, IL: Scott, Foresman.
  8. ^ Kohler & Greenwood, 1986, Toward a technology of generalization: The identification of natural contingencies of reinforcement. The Behavior analyst, 9, 19-26.
  9. ^ Cooper, et al 2007
  10. ^ Iversen, I. H. & Lattal, K. A. Experimental Analysis of Behavior. 1991, Elsevier, Amsterdam.
  11. ^ Epstein, LH. 1982. Skinner for the Classroom. Champaign, IL: Research Press
  12. ^ Franco J. Vaccarino, Bernard B. Schiff, and Stephen E. Glickman (1989). Biological view of reinforcement. in Stephen B. Klein and Robert Mowrer. Contemporary learning theories: Instrumental conditioning theory and the impact of biological constraints on learning. Hillsdale, NJ, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
  13. ^ Michael, J. (1975, 2005). Positive and negative reinforcement, a distinction that is no longer necessary; or a better way to talk about bad things. Journal of Orgnizational Behavior Management, 24, 207-222.
  14. ^ Iwata, B. A. (1987). Negative reinforcement in applied behavior analysis: an emerging technology. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 20, 361-378.

References

External links

Dictionary

reinforcement

-noun

  1. The act or state of reinforcing or being reinforced.
  2. A thing that reinforces.
  3. (in plural) Additional troops or materiel sent to support a military action.
  4. (behavioral psychology) The process whereby a behavior with desirable consequences comes to be repeated.
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