According to B. F. Skinner, superstitious behaviors are the result of:
A) continuous reinforcement.
B) accidental reinforcement.
C) fixed-ratio schedules of reinforcement.
D) mental processes involving faulty reasoning.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

According to B. F. Skinner, superstitious behaviors are the result of accidental reinforcement, meaning that the behavior happens to coincide with a reinforcing event, even though the behavior did not actually lead to the reinforcement. This leads to the behavior being repeated in hopes of the same reinforcement happening again, even though there is no actual causal relationship between the behavior and the reinforcement.