Effectiveness of Social Reinforcement as a Function of Reinforcer Satiation and Experimenter Valence

Abstract

Summary To compare social drive and valence theories with the use of a Marble-In-The-Hole paradigm, methodological refinements were implemented. They included use of multiple assessments of reinforcer efficacy (accuracy, rate, and persistence) and use of a concealed E who administered prerecorded approval comments. Twenty-eight boys were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: positive or negative valence × high or low satiation. The negative valence/low satiation group performed fastest but least accurately relative to all other groups. These findings, not fully in accord with either social drive or valence positions, are discussed as consistent with activation/arousal theories and as highlighting the multiple functions (eliciting, discriminative, and reinforcing) which approval stimuli can serve.