Automatic Reinforcement: An Important but Ignored Concept

Abstract

The consequences of any behavioral phenomenon must have a place in a complete description of the event. Indeed, many learning theorists contend that consequences are essential for establishing and maintaining all learned behavior (respondent or classically conditioned behavior being a general exception). Other theorists, however, argue that there are a number of occasions when behavior changes in strength or form in the absence of any obvious consequence. The fields of psycholinguistics and cognitive psychology, for example, are replete with studies said to demonstrate that reinforcement theory is incomplete if not inaccurate (Bandura, 1971; Chomsky, 1959; de Villiers & de Villiers, 1978; Piaget, 1951). Studies on language acquisition illustrate this point (e.g., Brown & Hanlon, 1970). In a typical study, parents' interactions with their children are recorded for extended periods of time. It is found that, over time, children gradually begin to utter correctly constructed sentences adjectives before nouns, for example despite the lack of any obvious external reinforcement for correct word order. Thus, according to psycholinguists and cognitive psychologists, the acquisition of grammatical behavior cannot be due to reinforcement, but rather to a structure within the organism

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