Laboratory Studies of Self-Reinforcement (SR) Phenomena

Summary

Fifty-three empirical laboratory studies of self-reinforcement (SR) published between 1962 and 1977 are discussed and critiqued. Studies are organized under two major headings—infrahuman and human—and are summarized in relation to the acquisition, motivational properties and comparative effectiveness of SR procedures. Each experiment is rated in terms of the degree to which the procedures reported represent actual SR operations, and in terms of overall experimental validity. The reviewed literature shows that SR behavioral patterns can be readily acquired through modeling or direct external reinforcement; are affected by a variety of training, individual difference, procedural, and task factors; and, once acquired, have sometimes been shown to possess functional reinforcing properties, and to be generally as effective as external reinforcement procedures in maintaining and strengthening conditional or target responses. A variety of methodological and theoretical issues pertaining to SR research are discussed, and the relationships between SR and contemporary radical operant and social learning psychology are discussed.