Social Isolation and Reinforcer Effectiveness: A Test of Three Theories

Abstract

Summary Various aspects of the social isolation experience have been proposed to explain increased reinforcer effectiveness on a learning task following brief social isolation. Ss have been young children, however, and investigations have involved unfamiliar Es and experimental rooms, which procedure may have been emotionally arousing and itself responsible, rather than the social isolation experience, for results previously reported. With an E and experimental rooms well known to all Ss, it was hoped to avoid significantly arousing them. The Ss were 36 boys and girls, age 7 1/2 to 9 1/2 years, assigned to one of three social isolation conditions, and socially or nonsocially reinforced on a subsequent marble-dropping task. None of the social isolation conditions had differential effects on response rates to reinforcement, and no differential effectiveness was found between social and nonsocial reinforcement. It was concluded that effects previously attributed to aspects of the social isolation experience per se may be explicable in terms of the emotionally arousing procedure of using unfamiliar Es and experimental rooms.