With reference to Hull’s theory, define the following terms: reinforcement, habit strength, and reaction potential.
According to Hull, a specific biological entity creates a spirit of drive in the organism that leads to the termination of this drive by constituting the phenomena of reinforcement. Hull identifies the concept of drive-reduction theory of reinforcement that is considered as one of the most important events that coupled between a response and a stimulus.
If a response has to be made in a specific condition that leads to drive reduction, habit strength (SHR) is said to be increased. Hull defined habit strength as the strength of an association between an environmental stimulus (S) and a response (R) that acts as an intervening variable. This strength depends on the number of reinforced pairings between the two of them.
Drive is not only an essential criterion for determining reinforcement but also acts as an important booster of behavior. Thus, Hull determines the probability of a learned response by the concept of reaction potential (SER) that is a function of the amount of drive (D) and habit strength (SHR) present.