o not need anyone to look over their shoulder or hold their hand while they work toward the goal. Reinforcement Theory Reinforcement theory is not a cognitive theory of motivation because the theory assumes that thinking is not a part of motivation. People who follow this approach do not doubt that people think. They just believe that thinking is not required for motivation. This point has some validity. Think about many of the tasks we perform every day: driving a car, shuffling paper on our desk, ordering supplies, buying a latte at the espresso stand, brushing our teeth, etc. These are routine behaviors that are performed in an automatic fashion. It does not appear that we perform an elaborate mental evaluation every time we carry out these behaviors. Reinforcement theory offers suggestions about the reasons why we perform these behaviors. The basic assumption of this theory is that our behavior is determined by the consequences of our actions. Think about a new born baby who has been placed in a strange crib on the first night of its life. The baby's first reaction is to cry. As a result, the concerned parents rush to the baby's room to pick it up and give it comfort. Eventually the baby falls asleep in the arms of its mother or father. This ritual goes on for days and weeks and months. The parents can't figure out why the baby can't go to sleep by itself. Reinforcement theory would suggest that through the parents' actions (i.e., picking the baby up when it cries), the baby has learned that crying leads to mommy or daddy picking them up, and as a result, every time the baby is placed in the crib (the stimulus) the baby will cry (the behavior), which leads to comfort from the parents (the positive consequence). The consequence reinforces the behavior, so the behavior continues. If the parents had not picked the child up on the first night and the following few nights, the baby may have learned that the crying does not lead to posit...
