Effect of Delay of Reinforcement on Superstitious Inferences

Abstract

Temporal contiguity is positively associated with ease of detecting contingencies. When actions and outcomes are not contiguous, intervening responses might be strengthened by adventitious reinforcement. In the current study, participants engaged in a task where pressing 1 of 10 keys was reinforced either immediately or after various delays. Outcomes were scheduled either according to an FR 1 or FR 2 schedule. Participants also answered a question designed to assess their illusion of control. As the latency between the instrumental response and the reinforcer increased, participants attributed less importance to the instrumental response, attributed more importance to other nonessential responses, and began to show stereotyped patterns of responding. The illusion of control was positively related to the intricacy of such patterns. Results are discussed in terms of a contiguity which implies causality heuristic and the relationship of superstition with adventitious reinforcement and illusion of control.