PSY 217 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Clark L. Hull
Document Summary
Generalized reinforcers: conditioned reinforcers that have been paired with many different kinds of reinforcing events (e. g. , money) Can be used when primary reinforcers might not be effective (especially true for generalized reinforcers) Natural reinforcers: reinforcing consequences that follow automatically from a behavior. Contrived reinforcers: deliberately arranged by someone else, for the purpose of influencing behavior. Reinforcers can only be identified in terms of their effects on a particular consequence of a particular behavior = a functional definition. Remember that reinforcement is the name for an entire relation, and requires 3 defining criteria. Drive-reduction theory: a reinforcer is an event that reduces one or more of our physiological drives. Relative value theory/premack principle: at any given point in time, some behaviors are more likely to occur than others = response. Items high on the hierarchy are more likely to occur and can act as reinforcers for behaviors that are less likely to occur. This means that reinforcers are relative, not absolute.
