Reinforcement

is a tern in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for the delivery of a stimulus,(immediately or shortly) after a response, that results in an increase in the future rate or probability of that response

is and increase in the future frequency of a behavior due to the addition of a stimulus immediately following a response. Example: giving food to a dog contingent on its sitting is an example of positive reinforcement.

an increase in the future frequency of a behavior when the consequence is th removal of an aversive stimulus. Example: Turning off (or removing) an annoying song when a child asks their parent .

occurs when a behavior prevents an aversive stimulus from starting or being applied

occurs when behavior removes an aversive stimulus that has already started.

sometimes called unconditioned reinforcer- 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

Ex. sleep, food, air, water and sex.

Conditioned reinforcer- a stimulus or situation that has acquired its function as a reinforcer after pairing with a stimulus which functions as a reinforcer.

Ex. sound of a clicker, as used in clicker training. The sound of the clicker has been associated with praise or treats and subsequently, the sound of the clicker may function as a reinforcer.

a conditioned reinforcer that has obtained the reinforcing funtion by pairing with many other reinforcers

ex. money, a secondary generalized reinforcer

potentially reinforcing but unfamiliar stimulus is presented to an organism without regard to an prior behavior

Direct reinforcement- involves the delivery of reinforcement which requires the behavior of another organism

special case of reinforcement elaborated by David Premack, which states that a highly preferred activity can be used effectively as a reinforcer for a less preferred activity.

list of actions, rank-ordering the most desirable to least desirable consequences that may serve as a reinforcer. a reinforcement hierarchy can be used to determine the relative frequency and desirability of differant activities, and is often employed when applying the Premack principle

outcomes are more likely to reinforce behavior than non-contingent responses. those directly linked to a causal behavior, such a light turning on being contingent on flipping a switch.

stimuli closely associated by time and space with specific behaviors. They reduce the amount of time needed to learn a behavior while increasing its resistance to extinction.

Ex. giving a dog a piece of food immediately after sitting is more contiguous with (and therefore more likely to reinforce) the behavior than a several minute delay in food delivery following the behavior.

response-independent delivery of stimuli identified serve as reinforcers for some behaviors of that organism. typically entails time-based delivery of stimuli identified as maintaining aberrant behavior, which serves to decrease the rate of the target behavior.