Theories of Reinforcement

Chapter 12 delves into theories of reinforcement. It first deals with how learning psychologists thought that the definition of the law of effect proposed by Thorndike and espoused by others, such as B.F. Skinner, was circular and needed to provide a better explanation of reinforcers. It discusses the defense of this definition by psychologist Paul Meehl, who believed that the law of effect was empirically sound and proposed the transsituationality of reinforcers, meaning that reinforcers could be used in a wide range of situations. The chapter then describes two alternative theories of reinforcers, which are the Premack principle, which states that high-probability responses can reinforce low-probability responses, and the response deprivation hypothesis, which proposes that operant conditioning occurs because the procedures used to train animals deprive them of their levels of responding when unconstrained by a schedule of reinforcement. Finally, it shows how various behaviors are allocated and how the response deprivation hypotheses can be used in behavior modification.