reinforcer

American  

[ree-in-fawrs-er] / ˌri ɪnˈfɔrs ər /

noun

• reinforcers
  plural

1. something or someone that reinforces or gives strength and support.

2. Psychology. something that increases the likelihood of a particular behavioral response, such as a reward or the withdrawal of a negative stimulus.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• reinforcers
  plural

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

reinforcer reinforcers

"Food is nature's ultimate reinforcer," said Monell scientist Guillaume de Lartigue, PhD, lead author of the study.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 18, 2024

Screens are what behaviorists call a natural reinforcer, which is to say kids like looking at them inherently without being taught to like them.

From Slate ● May 14, 2020

The iPad is now the reinforcer, the official carrot.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 9, 2019

Or how she and her brother Jason spent summer days digging up Coke bottles and bottle caps around the front porch, where “Goode” had used the caps as a reinforcer for the dirt driveway.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 14, 2014

After having played together twice in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, it now seems more like it's Wayne who has Dustin's back, maybe less an enforcer than a reinforcer.

From Golf Digest ● Feb. 25, 2014

“We struggle applying it to our own lives given the different traumas and reinforcers we have experienced.”

From Seattle Times ● May 5, 2022

Even more is building a life and building outside external reinforcers that will reinforce recovery.

From Slate ● Jan. 25, 2020

Two clinic-positive samples in each set of 10 act as training reinforcers: when a rat correctly identifies one of these, it hears a click and receives a slug of mashed food.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 23, 2016

Part of it may be acting but they also have a tendency to selectively pay attention to positive reinforcers.

From Time ● Jun. 23, 2014

These were the reinforcers, the individuals and groups who were k-factor amplifiers.

From The K-Factor by Harry Harrison