Effect of response-independent delivery of positive and negative reinforcers on the development of superstitious behavior and belief in humans.

Abstract

The present study investigated the development of superstitious conditioning, including sensory superstition, under positive reinforcement and avoidance conditions. College students were instructed to produce the textual stimulus GOOD on a computer screen (positive reinforcement condition) or to prevent the textual stimulus BAD from appearing (avoidance condition) using a six-digit keypad. The background color of the screen alternated between blue and green every 2 min. During the baseline, no textual stimulus was presented. Following the baseline, the textual stimulus GOOD or BAD was presented on the screen independently of responding according to a variable time 140-s schedule. Participants showed greater superstitious belief, as measured by participants' estimates of ability to control the response-independent stimulus event, under the avoidance condition. In addition, under both positive reinforcement and avoidance conditions, a majority of participants showed sensory superstitious behavior, as measured by the differential changes in response rate and allocation from the baseline under the two signals. They also showed sensory superstitious belief, as measured by differential estimates of ability and confidence in controlling the response-independent stimulus events under the 2 signals.

Is superstitious responding a matter of detectability? A replication of Killeen (1978)

“…Similarly, Morse and Skinner (1957) found that changing the color of a stimulus produced concomitant changes in response rates, even though there was no change in reinforcer rates. Likewise, humans often report having some control over producing or preventing responseindependent outcomes (e.g., Aeschleman et al, 2003;Bloom et al, 2007;Hayashi & Modico, 2019;Matute, 1995;Mellon, 2009;Rudski, 2000Rudski, , 2001Rudski et al, 1999).…”