According to B.F. Skinner, "reinforcement" is anything within the environment that strengthens a behavior. In this sense he defines both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement and their affects on behavior. A positive reinforcer is one that increases the probability of a given behavior; whereas a negative reinforcer increases the probability that a preceding behavior will occur, i.e. avoiding loud noises. To this end, it is hypothesized that a person with high frequency of …showed first 75 words of 721 total…

…showed last 75 words of 721 total…A parent may have raised a participant's self-esteem, therefore raising their self-reinforcement. In this study there appeared to be no difference between gender or age. Further research should be done in other social environments with participants who have no relationship with the experimenters of the study. In this way the validity of the experiment could be stronger, as the participants may not worry about being identified by the experimenter and face judgment for their scores.