Correct Answer - Option 2 : Secondary reinforcer
Reinforcement is simply defined as an effect that increases the probability of a response. We reward people, we reinforce the behavior. The basic principles of conditioning are that when a behavior occurs and is followed by reinforcement, it is more likely to occur again in the future.
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A neutral stimulus presented at the time of delivering the response also tends to acquire the reinforcing ability. For example in the Skinner box at the time of delivering reinforcement, a sound of the click is also produced repeatedly each time.
- It was found that this click of sound itself acquires the reinforcing characteristics being associated with the original reinforcer. The sound of the click is now called a secondary reinforcer.
- A secondary reinforcer is a stimulus to which we have learned to respond because of past learning by an association of the stimulus with a primary reinforcer. An example is a money, as it is associated with primary reinforcers like it is used to get food when we are hungry.
- Skinner believed that conditioned or secondary reinforcers are of great importance in controlling human behavior. It is obvious that our every action is not maintained by the presentation of unconditioned or primary reinforcers such as food and water.
- It is possible to reason that much of our behaviors rely on secondary reinforcement. The most common example of a secondary reinforcer is money. It has no intrinsic value of its own, but being paired with a number of different unconditioned primary reinforcers, it has itself acquired the reinforcing quality.
Hence, it is clear that through conditioning a neutral stimulus acquires the power of a reinforcer is knows as secondary reinforcers.