REINFORCER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does reinforcer mean? 

• REINFORCER (noun)
  The noun REINFORCER has 1 sense:

1. (psychology) a stimulus that strengthens or weakens the behavior that produced it

  Familiarity information: REINFORCER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REINFORCER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(psychology) a stimulus that strengthens or weakens the behavior that produced it

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

reinforcement; reinforcer; reinforcing stimulus

Hypernyms ("reinforcer" is a kind of...):

input; stimulant; stimulation; stimulus (any stimulating information or event; acts to arouse action)

Domain category:

psychological science; psychology (the science of mental life)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "reinforcer"):

positive reinforcer; positive reinforcing stimulus (a reinforcing stimulus that serves to increase the likelihood of the response that produces it)

negative reinforcer; negative reinforcing stimulus (a reinforcing stimulus whose removal serves to decrease the likelihood of the response that produced it)

Derivation:

reinforce (strengthen and support with rewards)

 Context examples 

Noxious stimuli, such as shock in laboratory animal experiments, are considered to be negative reinforcers.

(Negative Reinforcer, NCI Thesaurus)