Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A stimulus, such as a reward, the removal of an unpleasant event, or a punishment, that in operant conditioning maintains or strengthens a desired response.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One who reinforces or strengthens.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Something that
reinforces ; something thatstrengthens abehavior .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (psychology) a stimulus that strengthens or weakens the behavior that produced it
Etymologies
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Examples
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In animal behavior, a reinforcer is a reward which tends to increase the frequency of a behavior.
Dr. Alex Benzer: How Rich Guys Screw Up Their Chances with Women 2009
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And, although praise is great, it's not a particularly powerful reinforcer; especially when compared to chasing birds!
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A whistle is a cue and a clicker is a conditioned reinforcer.
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One of the behavior modification methods discussed was pointing one's finger as a visual reinforcer in tandem with a verbal reinforcer being given to a child.
Julie Cavanagh: Wagging my Finger While my Boss Wags the dog Julie Cavanagh 2010
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The whistle (cue) comes before the behavior and tells the animal what behavior to perform; the clicker (reinforcer) comes after the behavior and tells the animal that the behavior it just performed is reinforceable.
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The whistle (cue) comes before the behavior and tells the animal what behavior to perform; the clicker (reinforcer) comes after the behavior and tells the animal that the behavior it just performed is reinforceable.
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I fully support using reinforcements to motivate certain behaviors, however it is counterproductive to reinforce a behavior you desire, such as doing well in school for the week, with a reinforcer such as candy which aside from tasting good has nothing but negative health consequences.
Milt Bedingfield: The Case Against Goodie Bags Milt Bedingfield 2011
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And, although praise is great, it's not a particularly powerful reinforcer; especially when compared to chasing birds!
-
One of the behavior modification methods discussed was pointing one's finger as a visual reinforcer in tandem with a verbal reinforcer being given to a child.
Julie Cavanagh: Wagging my Finger While my Boss Wags the dog Julie Cavanagh 2010
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A whistle is a cue and a clicker is a conditioned reinforcer.
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