Shackleton's Incredible Voyage blog post- Reinforcers

If there is anything that reading Endurance Shackleton's Incredible Voyage has shown me, it's that motivation played an integral role in the story. At first it was motivation based on adventure and the thrill of exploring the unknown, but it soon turned into motivation to survive. From the cold elements, to storms, to losing their very ship that meant so much to them, their wills and characters were undoubtedly tested. The one thing that played a big part in the story that was also mentioned in the slides were reinforcers. Reinforcers played a big part because when they first successfully hunted seals and were able to get the meat and use the rest of it for resources, this reward in a sense emboldened their spirits and as a result they hunted again to get more. However punishment was also present here as well because whenever Shackleton would get a new idea and test it out, when it didn't go quite the way he expected it to, he would not do that thing the same way again. This is how they learned what would and would not work and how they would have to survive.