What term describes a stimulus such as money that becomes reinforcing through its link with a primary reinforcer?

• A. Primary reinforcer
• B. Grit
• C. Intelligence test
• D. Secondary reinforcer

Answer: (D)

Reinforcement comes in two kinds: primary reinforcers, which satisfy basic biological needs directly (like food or water), and secondary reinforcers, which acquire their reinforcing power through association with those primary rewards. Money doesn’t satisfy hunger or thirst by itself, but it enables access to things that do. Through this link to primary rewards, money becomes reinforcing because it can be exchanged for them. That makes it a secondary reinforcer. Other options don’t fit: a primary reinforcer is inherently rewarding on its own, grit is a personality trait, and an intelligence test is a measurement tool, not a reinforcer.