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RichardKennaway comments on Clarification: Behaviourism & Reinforcement - Less Wrong Discussion
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What does that statement mean? What role does "reinforcement" play in that? Reinforcement, in behavioural theory, takes repetition to develop. How does it account for a person doing something at the first opportunity to do it?
Newly autonomous kid happens to be at the store, and to have money for cookies. Ey buys the cookie because of explicit cookie-getting planning. This is rewarded by a delicious cookie, and "buy cookies" is reinforced. Later, ey does homework, and obtains a cookie, which isn't much of a reward because ey just ate one. "Do homework" is extinguished.
This describes a process of positive feedback, which predicts that the child will end up compulsively buying cookies at every opportunity. This is not what is generally observed.
ETA: I guess this might be what is going on in cases of OCD, except that the behaviours there, such as compulsive hand-washing, are generally not of a particularly gratifying kind. OCD does not seem to result from superstimuli.