Question

Jackie plays professional basketball. Once before an important game, she placed her wedding ring on a chain, hung it around her husband’s neck, and then kissed him for good luck. She performed exceedingly well during that game and now feels compelled to repeat the same ritual before every game. What best explains this behavior?

Answer 1

 

Explanation:

It is an example of superstitious behavior that is resulting from accidental reinforcement. The accidental reinforcer occurs after an act that may unintentionally strengthen the likelihood of the occurrence of that act. Superstitious behavior is often the result of accidental reinforcement  

For example:

A golfer may be lean as nears the hole. Such learning followed the past by the ball going into the hole (reinforcer) so even though leaning has no causal effects on whether the ball goes in, the accidental contingent relationship between leaning and ball being holed leads to reinforcement of leaning also called adventitious reinforcer.