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behavioral contrast

in research, an increased response for a more favorable reward following exposure to a less favorable reinforcer (positive contrast), or a decreased response for a less favorable reward following exposure to a more favorable reinforcer (negative contrast). The phenomenon illustrates that the effects of reinforcement depend on context.

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Psychology term of the day

December 23rd 2024

scientific explanation

scientific explanation

an account of an event, behavior, or thought that is couched in terms of an established set of scientific principles, facts, and assumptions. Typical forms of explanation may be reductionistic, analyzing a phenomenon into components and describing how they combine to produce the phenomenon; ontogenic, relating the phenomenon to a universal set of developmental stages; empiricistic, describing a phenomenon in terms of the conditions that have been observed to produce it; or metaphoric or categorical, identifying a phenomenon as similar in some important respects to other phenomena already understood. Such an explanation stated systematically is generally known as a theory.