Staats Chapter 7: Deprivation and Satiation Of Social Reinforcers

Question 1

Overview

Answer 1

Do social drives respond to reinforcer deprivation as do the primary appetitive drives?

Prior to current study, the reinforcing effect of approval was shown to increase when children experienced a preceding 20 minute period of social isolation

Current Study: 3 groups: Deprivation; Non-Deprivation ; Satiation

The verbal approval of the female experimenter was made contingent upon one response in a two-response game

Hypothesis: Effectiveness of reinforcers should be enhanced in the following order:

deprivation > non-deprivation > satiation

Question 2

Results

Answer 2

Approval was effective as a reinforcer under all conditions, even satiation

Approval showed greater effectiveness after deprivation relative to non-deprivation

Question 3

Conclusions

Answer 3

It appears that social drives exist for children that respond to social reinforcer deprivation similarly as do many primary appetitive drives