ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses reinforcement and punishment in the context of reproducible behavioral processes. The terms reinforcement and punishment are used to refer to the reproducible changes in behavior resulting from the experience of the individual under certain specified conditions. The description of reinforcement and punishment as reproducible behavioral processes differs from the usual description of these terms as operations. Both the qualitative and quantitative properties of ongoing behavior are important aspects of reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement depends upon the quantitative properties of behavior, so that different responses are modified differently. Adventitious relations between behavior and the occurrence of some event are especially useful in understanding reinforcement and punishment. The strong dependence of the effects of drugs on schedule-controlled behavior has implications that go beyond behavioral pharmacology. The evidence is overwhelming that behavior is more controlled by the nature of the prevailing schedule than by the nature of the scheduled events.
