Differential Reinforcement
Definition
The balance of rewards and punishments, anticipated or actual, that follow a behaviour. If the expected rewards outweigh expected costs, the behaviour is more likely. Reinforcement can be social (peer approval, money) or non-social (the physiological effect of a drug).
- Core mechanism
- Balance of expected rewards versus costs
- Reinforcement types
- Social and non-social
- Related theory
- Social learning and differential association
Common questions
How does differential reinforcement predict whether a behaviour will be repeated?+
The theory holds that a behaviour becomes more likely to recur when the anticipated rewards, whether social approval, money, or a drug's physiological effect, outweigh the anticipated costs such as punishment or social disapproval, making the balance of past outcomes a predictor of future behaviour rather than the behaviour's legality alone.
What is the difference between social and non-social reinforcement in this context?+
Social reinforcement comes from other people, such as peer approval or status gained from an act, while non-social reinforcement is intrinsic to the act itself, such as the direct physiological or sensory effect of drug use, and both can independently sustain a behaviour even without the other being present.
Related terms
- Definitions (Social Learning)
- Attitudes or rationalisations that frame a behaviour as acceptable, justified, or necessary. In Akers's model, a high ratio of favourable-to-unfavourable definitions toward...
- Differential Association
- Sutherland's concept that criminal behaviour results from an excess of associations with pro-criminal definitions over anti-criminal definitions. The learning depends on the...
- Imitation
- Modelling one's behaviour on observed actions of others, especially admired or high-status individuals. Akers added imitation to Sutherland's original framework, explaining initial...
- Pro-Criminal Definitions
- Attitudes, values, or verbal rationalisations that make law-breaking seem acceptable or desirable. Examples include neutralisation techniques (denying the victim, appealing to higher...
- Social Learning Theory (Akers)
- The reformulation of differential association in behavioural terms by Ronald Akers and Robert Burgess (1966). It integrates differential association, definitions, differential reinforcement,...