social reinforcement

a positive interpersonal stimulus, such as praise, a smile, touch, or another sign of approval, that increases the frequency of the behavior that immediately precedes it. Also called social reward. Compare social punishment.

Browse dictionary by letter

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Psychology term of the day

February 2nd 2025

statistical prediction

the process of using correlations between variables to hypothesize about future events and outcomes. For example, a university administrator may use a regression equation to predict a student’s college grade point average with reasonable accuracy from measures of performance in high school, such as scores on tests and final grades in classes.