A Demonstration of the Effects of Feedback as a Category of Reinforcement

Abstract

"Experiential learning, from one viewpoint at least, epitomizes a behavioral orientation. It is, therefore, paradoxical that the vast majority of published experiential exercises have, as their learning objective, non-behavioral concepts, such as perception, power, values, etc. A review of the literature failed to turn up any exercises that were developed to demonstrate reinforcement, one of the cornerstones of behavior theory. The present paper presents an exercise developed to introduce a class to the concepts of reinforcement and feedback. It has been successfully used with classes of undergraduate and graduate students as well as first-line supervisors and middle-level managers. "