ABSTRACT
To the average person, a positive reinforcer is a rewardÐa pat on the back, a ``good job,'' a piece of candy, a Christmas bonus. When behaviorists make the claim that consequences play a large role in determining behavior, the average person may reply, ``Sure, such rewards are sometimes important in determining behavior, but not most of the time. After all, most of the things I do are not rewarded at all.'' When the concept of reinforcement is synonymous with reward, it is hard to see how reinforcement is as important to human behavior as behaviorists say it is. Here, we introduce a de®nition of reinforcement that is much broader than reinforcement as reward (in this Point we focus on positive reinforcement; negative reinforcement and punishment are discussed in subsequent Points).
