What is adventitious reinforcement?

Answer 1

The term "Adventitious" means accidental or unintended. The idea of adventitious reinforcement is used in two ways among psychologist types. A strict technical way, and a looser way. The strict technical use of the term applies to situations in which a behavior is reinforced (occurs more frequently) even though there is no actual causal relationship between a behavior and a consequence (a reward for instance). Superstitious behavior is the best example of this type of adventitious reinforcement process. A Baseball player goes 5 games without a hit. He inadvertently picks up another player's bat, steps up to the plate, and hits a home run. The player may increase his use of the new bat even though the bat actually has nothing to do with the likelihood of getting a hit. Adventitious reinforcement can occur when there is an extended time between the behavior you are trying to reward or punish, and the actual delivery of the reward or punishment. Let's say you want to train a dog to come when called. When you call your dog, she runs off after a squirrel. When she returns 10 minutes later, you scold her. Although you meant to scold her for not obeying you, you may have actually just scolded her for coming to you (ironic, huh?) The looser use of the term refers to the unintentional rewards or punishments that shape behavior without any awareness on the part of the person doing the behaving, or on the part of the person (or thing) providing the rewards or punishments. The difference is that these behaviors are actually causally related to their rewards and punishments, whereas in the strict sense above there is not. Here are some examples: You set up a system to reward your child for cleaning up after himself when he makes a mess of something. Although you were trying to reward cleaning up behavior, you are actually rewarding your child for making a mess. He can't get his reward until there is a mess to clean up. You have a sensitive tooth on the left side of your mouth. To avoid the pain of chewing on that side you start chewing on the right side. You have no idea that your chewing behavior has changed or why. You have a tire that is not balanced. At a certain speed the car vibrates unpleasantly. You learn through a combination of negative reinforcement and punishment not to go that speed.