Ah,well explained by BF Skinner.
This is EXACTLY how superstitions develop. An irregular (or downright rare) stream of rewards that reinforce that causality is associated to some unrelated process, which becomes the superstition
.
The pigeons have made a causal connection of their actions at the time of receiving the reward, with the reward. So the pigeon walking in circles was doing that when it found the food. Skinner proposed that this accidental reinforcement of a response can lead to superstitious behavior. As long as the rewards come regularly enough, the superstitious behavior will develop. The connection between when they do the behavior and get the reward will outweigh the connection when they do the behavior and don’t get any reward. This he proposed, is also the reason why we humans develop superstitions.
Widget by Css Reflex | TutZone
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment