fei75766_ch16_495-533.indd 508  02/06/20 01:34 PM
Part VI    Learning-Cognitive Theories508
byagroup shehasneither seennorheard butoneshehasbeen toldissimilar to
herfavorite rockgroup. Technically, people donotgeneralize from onesituation 
toanother, butrather theyreact toanewsituation inthesame manner thatthey
reacted toanearlier onebecause thetwosituations possess some identical ele-
ments; thatis,buying aticket toonerockconcert contains elements identical to
buying aticket toadifferent rockconcert. Skinner (1953) putitthisway:“The 
reinforcement ofaresponse increases theprobability ofallresponses containing 
thesame elements” (p.94).
Reinforcement
According toSkinner (1987a), reinforcement hastwoeffects: Itstrengthens the behav -
ioranditrewards the person. Reinforcement andreward, therefore, arenotsynony -
mous. Notevery behavior thatisreinforced isrewarding orpleasing totheperson. 
Forexample, people arereinforced forworking, butmany findtheirjobsboring, 
uninteresting, andunrewarding. Reinforcers existintheenvironment andarenot
something feltbytheperson. Food isnotreinforcing because ittastes good; rather, it
tastes good because itisreinforcing (Skinner, 1971).
Anybehavior thatincreases theprobability thatthespecies ortheindividual 
willsurvive tends tobestrengthened. Food, sex,andparental carearenecessary for
thesurvival ofthespecies, andanybehavior thatproduces these conditions isrein-
forced. Injury, disease, andextremes inclimate aredetrimental tosurvival, andany
behavior thattends toreduce oravoid these conditions islikewise reinforced. Rein-
forcement, therefore, canbedivided intothatwhich produces abeneficial environ -
mental condition andthatwhich reduces oravoids adetrimental one.Thefirstis
called positive reinforcement; thesecond isnegative reinforcement. Inbothcases, the
effect istoincrease orstrengthen behavior.
Positive Reinforcement  Anypositive consequence that,when added toasituation, 
increases theprobability thatagiven behavior willoccur istermed apositive rein -
forcer (Skinner, 1953). Food, water, sex,money, social approval, andphysical com-
fortusually areexamples ofpositive reinforcers. When made contingent on
behavior, eachhasthecapacity toincrease thefrequency ofaresponse. Forexam -
ple,ifclear water appears whenever aperson turns onthekitchen faucet, thenthat
behavior isstrengthened because abeneficial environmental stimulus hasbeen 
added. Much human andanimal behavior isacquired through positive reinforce -
ment. Under controlled conditions, Skinner wasabletotrainanimals toperform a
multitude ofrelatively complex tasks.
With humans, however, reinforcement isoften haphazard, andtherefore learn -
ingisinefficient. Another problem withconditioning humans isdetermining what 
consequences arereinforcing andwhich onesarenot.Depending onpersonal history, 
spankings andscoldings might bereinforcing, andkisses andcompliments might be
punishing. 
Negative Reinforcement  Subtracting anegative consequence from asituation also
increases theprobability thatthepreceding behavior willoccur. Thisremoval results 
innegative reinforcement (Skinner, 1953). Thereduction oravoidance ofloudFinal PDF to printer