Lack of Reinforcement
A striking illustration of how the lack of reinforcement impedes learning progress is a wartime study in which men were being trained to track airplanes with a tracking apparatus. Two groups of equal tracking ability, as determined by previous performance, were obs·erved. One group was given knowledge of results in the form of a buzzer which was sounded by the trainer whenever the trainee was off the ttacking point by more than 2 miles. In other words, reinforcement was present in the form of feedback to the learner as to the correct and, incorrect tracking responses. The other training group received no information at all and hence no reinforcement. After only sixty-eight minutes of practice, the group trained with the buzzer was found to be off target only 32 percent of the time, whereas the group trained without the buzzer was off 58 percent of the time. Reinforcement really works!
Classes of Reinforcers
Because of earlier discussions of perceptual principles you should not be surprised to know that the effect of reinforcement will depend on the pe1'ception of the individual who is learning. An outcome that is reinforcing to one person may not be reinforcing to another. \\'hat one person re'gards as a rewarding experience may be regarded as a neutral or even as a punishing experience by another. However, in general, one can count on an allnost universal acceptance of certain classes of reinforcers such as money, food, status recognition, and companionship.
Reinforcement often occurs automatically, without the learner's being aware of the effect at the moment. Suppose that you have been playing mediocre golf for a couple of years and decide to improve your game with the help of a professional instructor. The instructor watches you play and criticizes your habit of gripping the club like a baseball bat. He says, "That is no way to hold a golf club. How on earth did you pick up that habit? You will probably reply that when you first took up golf, you simply picked up the club and tried to hit the ball. But why did you learn to grip the club in the wrong way? The wrong way must have been reinforced, otherwise it would not have been learned. The important point is that you did not perceive it to be the wrong way. Very likely you gave little thought to the grip, but concentrated on hitting the ball. The reinforcement that was responsible for your bad habit was probably the natural or comfortable feel of the baseball grip. You failed to grip the club the proper way because, to the novice, this way feels awkw.ard and strained. Much human learning occurs and persists under conditions of reinforcement which were never specifically identL'. 3d by the learnE., or if once identified, were later forgotten. Since so much of our learning comes about through association, let us look briefly at this process, which we call "conditioning."
