Reinforcement

Hebrews 11:6

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Good morning ladies,

My husband, my daughter, and my son all love a silly little arcade game named Snood. The other morning, while I was doing my Bible study they were discussing it and lamenting about the success rate which is only 51.3%. They wondered why, since they only won a little over half the time they were so addicted to playing it.

Obviously they hadn’t heard of intermittent reinforcement.

Back in college, when I was a psychology major, I had to study B.F. Skinner and his theories on reinforcement. One thing that stuck in my brain was that there are three schedules for reinforcing behavior: continuous reinforcement, in which every response is reinforced; extinction, in which no response is reinforced; and intermittent or partial reinforcement where only some responses are reinforced.

What the makers of Snood and slot machines know is that intermittent reinforcement is the most effect schedule if you want some one to continue the behavior.

Maybe God should try that.

Instead He uses continuous reinforcement. He always rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

The problem with continuous reinforcement is the person decides whether they want the reward or not.

Any parent who has ever tried to bribe a child for grades or good behavior understands the problem. The bribe works as long as the child wants what is offered. But the minute they decide the bribe isn’t worth it they quit.

So maybe the problem isn’t God reinforcement schedule, maybe the problem is we really don’t want what He is offering.

Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Love,
Jill