Evaluative meaning words as reinforcing stimuli

Finley, Judson R.; Staats, Arthur W.

doi:10.1016/s0022-5371(67)80094-x

Cited by 34 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The acquisition data of the present study are in agreement with those of Finley & Staats (1967) in demonstrating both the reinforcing and punishing properties of words of differing evaluative meaning. During the acquisition period.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Staats (1968) has suggested that the evaluative portion of a word's meaning (Osgood, Suci, & Tannenbaum, 1957) is established through classical conditioning, and that words which have acquired evaluative meaning will function in instrumental conditioning as reinforcers and punishers. Using sixth-grade children as Ss, Finley & Staats (1967) demonstrated the reinforcing function of evaluative meaning (EM) words in a button-pushing task; response-contingent positive EM words strengthened the motor response, negative EM worcts decreased it, and neutral words had no effect on response frequency.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, while Finley & Staats (1967) demonstrated that presentation of EM words affects acquisition of an instrumental behavior, the effect of tenninating such presentations has not been explored. The present study sought to determine if termination of EM word presentations would produce response extinction, as does the removal of more conventional reinforcers.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Reinforcement of verbal behavior by evaluative meaning words

1970

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Reinforcement of verbal behavior by evaluative meaning words

1970

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“…It follows that physically attractive and unattractive characteristics have differential acquired reward value. Other variables which influence attraction, such as positive and negative evaluative words (Finley & Staats, 1967) and similar and dissimilar attitude statements (Golightly & Byrne, 1964), are in addition found to produce performance changes in a learning situation. It is proposed, therefore, that attractiveness cues would also alter response probabilities in such experiments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of physical attractiveness, sex, and attitude similarity on interpersonal attraction¹

Byrne

London

Reeves

1968

Journal of Personality

251

120

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The two prmcipal theoretical formulations which have been advanced to account for mterpersonal attraction each place primary emphasis on vanables operatmg dunng the mteraction Cognitive consistency theorists stress the importance of the balance or symmetry of the positive and negative attitudes and onentadons of any two incividuals with respect to each other and to the objects about which they communicate (eg, Heider, 1958. Newcomb, 1959, 1961 In a quite different theoretical context, reinforcement theonsts stress the reward-punishment consequents of each element of the mteracdon (eg, Byrne, 1966, in press, Pepitone, 1964.How, then, is it possible to account for attraction responses made pnor to interaction? That is, what basis is there for the foimation of a first impression, often mvolvmg strongly positive or strongly antipathetic attitudes, toward a stranger m the absence of mteraction with him or even information about him'* First, there are mdividual differences m characteristic social responsiveness to strangers as evidenced by personahty vanables such as authontananism (Jones, 1954), dogmatism (Rokeach, i960), and need for afiBhation (Byme, 1962). Second, probably the most important determmants consist of the stranger's overt stimulus characteristics and the subject's expectancies concemmg

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“…Both Byrne and Staats have found that words or phrases capable of classically conditioning an evaluative response are also able to function as reinforcement and punishment in an instrumental task (Golightly & Byrne, 1964;Staats, 1964;Finley & Staats, 1967 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conditioned Attraction, Similarity, and Evaluative Meaning

Stalling¹,

Staats²

1969

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Recent S-R formulations have indicated that similarity between persons functions as a UCS and that interpersonal P attraction is a classically conditioned evaluative response.The thesis of the present study is that similarity is a correlate of evaluative meaning and that the latter rather than the former is responsible for conditioning. The Staats conditioning procedure was used with trigrams as CS and personality-trait adjectives as UCS. The UCS adjectives were previously rated on evaluation and similarity scales, and these variables were held constant across levels of each other in a 2 x 2 within Ss design.In support of the hypothesis, it was found that for 89 pretested Ss evaluation and similarity were highly correlated (.879) and that for the 16 Ss in the conditioning procedure an evaluative response to trigrams was influe-nced by evaluation (p .005) but not by similarity (p > .20).

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Evaluative meaning words as reinforcing stimuli

Cited by 34 publications

References 8 publications

Reinforcement of verbal behavior by evaluative meaning words

Reinforcement of verbal behavior by evaluative meaning words

The effects of physical attractiveness, sex, and attitude similarity on interpersonal attraction¹

Conditioned Attraction, Similarity, and Evaluative Meaning

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Evaluative meaning words as reinforcing stimuli

Cited by 34 publications

References 8 publications

Reinforcement of verbal behavior by evaluative meaning words

Reinforcement of verbal behavior by evaluative meaning words

The effects of physical attractiveness, sex, and attitude similarity on interpersonal attraction1

Conditioned Attraction, Similarity, and Evaluative Meaning

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The effects of physical attractiveness, sex, and attitude similarity on interpersonal attraction¹