B.F. Skinner insisted that
the causes of behavior are outside the organism; they have to
do with the consequences of actions. Thus, Skinner seeks to discover and
describe the laws that govern interactions between the organism and the
environment. To do this, Skinner relies on what he describes as the experimental
analysis of behavior.
B.F. Skinner had done an
extensive research on reinforcement. The concept of reinforcement is among the
major contributions by Skinner, an American psychologist, to the behaviorism.
Skinner's experiment
involves two kinds of variables--independent variables, and dependent
variables. The independent variables are the factors that can be directly
manipulated experimentally like reinforcement, whereas depended variables are
those that are affected by manipulations of the independent variables like the
rate of response.
The main independent
variables in Skinner's system are the type of reinforcement and
the reinforcement schedule (how reinforcement is presented).
Skinner made an important
distinction between two related terms—reinforcer and reinforcement.
In Skinnerian terms, a reinforcer is a stimulus,
whereas reinforcement is the effect of this stimulus.
For example, candy can be
reinforcer because it is a stimulus. Now, just think the other dimension, that
is, a piece of candy is not reinforcement; its effect on a person can be an
example of reinforcement.
Reinforcer is widely
defined as: “It (reinforcer) is any stimulus that increases the probability
that a response will occur. Now, it is evident from the definition that the
effect of a stimulus determines whether it will be reinforcing. In other words,
reinforcement (effect) requires the use of some reinforcer (stimulus) in the
learning situation.
Reinforcers
can be either positive or negative.
A positive
reinforcer is a stimulus that strengthens the desired behavior and increases
the probability of the occurrence of that behavior. Positive reinforcers tend to be pleasant stimuli. For example, in the
Skinner’s box, food pellets are pleasant stimuli that serve as positive
reinforcer.
A negative
reinforcer also strengthens a behavior, but it does so by eliminating something
that is unwanted. For example, in the Skinner’s box, if a mild current were
turned on in the electric grid that runs through the floor of the box, and if
this current were turned off only when the rat depressed the lever, turning off
the current would be an example of an aversive stimulus serving as a negative
reinforcer.
