Reinforcement and punishment shape the way we perceive the world around us and are huge components to how we learn. Therefore, it is vital to understand the difference and how they apply to different situations. Before comparing the two categories, we must grasp a better understanding of each of them separately. Reinforcement can be defined as anything that increases the possibility that a response will occur. It will always either strengthen or increase a behavior. Reinforcement can further be broken down into two categories of positive and negative. In this context, it is important to indicate that positive and negative refer to addition and subtraction rather than good and bad, which many people mistake it for. In positive reinforcement, …show more content…
Therefore, I would most likely try to increase my sales so that I could receive free product. The positive reinforcer in this context is free product given. The behavior that would be increasing is my amount of sales. Negative reinforcement can be reviewed the same way. Although both lead to strengthening a behavior, negative reinforcement does so by removing a negative stimuli, which could be anything that is unwanted. For example, my manager will cover all of the cleaning tasks if we sold at least one two hundred dollars of merchandise every day of the week. Therefore, all the workers would strive to sell at least two hundred dollars a day so that we would not have to care of any custodial tasks. In this example, the negative stimuli would be taking away the unwanted chores while the behavior would again be increasing sales. When discussing negative reinforcement it is important not to associate it with punishment, which is another form of …show more content…
This is a type of learning that was studied and originated by B.F Skinner. He realized that individuals associate their own actions with consequences. Therefore through our own actions and observance of consequences we learn what behaviors are acceptable and which are not. This type of learning was actually built off the theories of Ivan Pavlov’s classical conditioning. Unlike operant conditioning, this type of learning does not involve behavior. Instead, an organism learns by associating a unconditioned stimulus with a neutral stimulus. An unconditioned stimulus is something that naturally triggers a response. For example making sales at work. The stimuli would be making sales and in return the response would be happiness. The unconditioned stimulus is then paired with a neutral stimulus which is not associated with a response before conditioning. For this example, we can use a rainy day. Therefore, the unconditioned stimulus of making sales is then paired with the neutral stimulus of a rainy day. Now every time it rains you expect to make a lot of sales since a rainy day is now associated with making sales. Making sales becomes a conditioned response when it is
Positive reinforcement works by presenting something positive to the person after a desired behavior is exhibited, making the behavior more likely to happen in the future (McAdams, 2009). An example of this could be when a child helps their mother with the dishes and the mothers rewards the child with ice cream. Negative reinforcement, is when a behavior is strengthened by stopping, removing or avoiding a negative outcome or aversive stimulus (McAdams, 2009). An example of this could be when the light goes green at a traffic light, the car in front of a person does not move. The person hates when this happens and from experience knows that honking the car’s horn gets cars that are in front of them to go
Operant conditioning is a kind of conditioning, which examines how often a behavior will or occur depending on the effects of the behavior (King, 2016, pg. ). The words positive and negative are used to apply more significance to the words reinforcement or punishment. Positive is adding to the stimulus, while negative is removing from the stimulus (King, 2016). For instance, with positive reinforcement, there is the addition of a factor to increase the number of times that the behavior occurs (King, 2016). An example of positive reinforcement is when a child is given an allowance for completing their household chores. The positive reinforcement is the allowance which helps to increase the behavior of doing chores at home. In contrast with negative
The reinforcement theory was of interest for a consideration as a tool in my current work environment and possibly be utilized as intervention of controlling the behaviors of employees. Since, I have observed the negative behavior of employees displayed due to varies unjust reasons that demotivate them to perform at an optimal level. Therefore, I believe implementing positive reinforcement to rebuild trust and to motivate employees by acknowledging a job well done, reward programs, and providing challenging task would encourage them and give them something to strive for to be higher achievers. In addition, all things mention and utilizing the reinforcement theory can reinforce the desired behavior in the workplace. Furthermore, I think that
The theory of positive and negative reinforcement has been used as one way to try and explain the addiction. The positive reinforcement is the “addition of a stimulus or event that will increase the frequency of a certain behavior” (Two Theories of Drug Addiction, Positive Reinforcement and Negative Reinforcement., 2012). The negative reinforcement would be deleting the desire or urge to use the substance.
If a behavior is desirable, consequences called reinforcers are used to encourage the behavior in the future, via the process of reinforcement. Reinforcement can be positive (presenting reinforcing stimulus) or negative (removing a negative stimulus). However, if a behavior is undesired, a negative consequence can be used to discourage the behavior, through the process of either positive or negative punishment. In positive punishment, a negative consequence is presented after the undesired behavior occurs. When negative punishment it used the idea is the same “to discourage future display of undesired behavior,” but instead of presenting a negative stimulus, a desired stimulus is removed following the behavior.
What is the effect of positive reinforcement on your mental health? Positive reinforcement is considered to be one of the best ways to teach kids something, or emphasize a point. According to google, positive reinforcement is defined as the addition of any reward following a desired behavior. School systems today are using positive reinforcement instead of negative reinforcement, because kids like the reward that is given after the desired behavior thus resulting in improved learning and better mental health. Positive reinforcement affects Adults and children’s overall health.
Reinforcement is something that causes certain behavior to be repeated. It can definitely be a motivation tools that leaders can use. Positive reinforcement is when you receive a rewarding consequence immediately following the desired behavior. Giving an employee praise after the employee does a good job is a great example of positive reinforcement. It is important to know that a little motivation can go a long way and have positive effects on your company. It is important that leaders learn to use verbal motivation (Daft, 2014).
The absence of either one produces a major paradigm shift. For example, if a child is only reinforced with rewards and gifts then they do not have any real guidance. It can cause them to overlook or ignore their mistakes. On the contrary, if a child is only reinforced with negative behavior it could lead to low self-esteem and/or children acting out. “Children who receive negative attention (reprimand) for noncompliance but do not receive positive attention for compliance may be socialized not to comply because these children learn that noncompliance yields attention.” (Owen, Slep, Heyman 2012 p.365) Everything is good in moderation is a phrase we all should know well; too much of anything can be a bad thing. The method for this concept was made by B.F. Skinner he coined it a “Operant Conditioning”. (Winsor, Murrell, Magun-Jackson pg 34) Skinner believed that negative reinforce was divided into two types of punishment roman numerals one and two. The first type required adding a negative consequence to an undesirable action. They second type recommended subtracting a preferred privilege in the presence of behavior deemed inappropriate (p.35). However, many people argue that spanking is not an acceptable form of punishment; nevertheless, some will still practice it. Regardless of the specific form of punishment, most people will agree that there should be consequences for unacceptable behavior. If we look at today’s society, even adults are subject to punishments and reinforcement. Our prisons and highway patrol offices are example of the price we must pay if we do not follow rules. Why should we not prepare our children for the rules already in place. An artificial environment of constant permissive behavior enables children to believe they do not have to accept the consequences for their objectionable behavior. Generally children are punished in some form or fashion; by nature, punishments are
I have seen the reinforcement theory time and time again and I do not think it is a positive
Reinforcement schedules are used on a daily basis at different intervals. We use reinforcements for example when we work for money, act in a way that we believe bring us praise and when we hope to win lotto. According to Gleitman, Gross and Reisberg (2011) the pattern in which we are reinforced for our behaviours is known as partial reinforcement. This is then provided according to different schedules of reinforcement with rules about how often and under what conditions a response will be reinforced. Gleitman, Gross and Reisburg (2011) posits that learning is best understood as a change in behaviour, in which responses are either being strengthened or weakened by the mechanical effects of reinforcement.
Positive reinforcement is a method of presenting to children the appropriate behavior from the inappropriate behaviors. This is done by pointing out the correct behavior and giving some form of encouraging reward. The idea is that all behaviors
In operant conditioning, there is an association between an individual’s behavior and its consequence. A consequence can either be reinforcement or punishment (233). Positive and negative reinforcements will increase the behavior. When an individual is reinforced, they will continue to repeat the behavior to receive the reinforcement again. Punishment, on the other hand, will decrease the behavior. If an individual is punished after a particular behavior, they will behave that way less often to avoid the punishment.
First of all, I was highly interested in the concept and various factors that together make up positive reinforcement. I had a premise that I could do some experimental work on the three children for whom I baby-sit during the week after school. They leave school full of energy and it is my job to get them to complete a series of tasks before the end of the evening. I imagined that some positive reinforcement might get them on their way to handling their responsibilities in a timelier manner. My first step was to come up with a specific instrumental response that would produce reinforcement. This took no time at all because by far the most painfully difficult thing for me to do is get the children to sit down and do their homework. I then spoke specifically to each child and asked them what they would rather choose as an after school activity. They named video games, television, and going to play with other neighborhood children. I had expected these types of answers from the children and made them into the positive reinforcers that would be contingent on the children’s performance of the instrumental response; namely completing their homework. I explained to the children that if they behaved and finished their homework, then directly following they could spend an hour doing an activity of their choice.
It states that a person’s behavior can be changed by using reward and punishment. Reward can be used to make a person behave in a way that the other person wants. Where as you can use punishment to prevent a person from behaving in a way that is unacceptable or not according to your standards.
Levine, A. (1999). What is negative reinforcement? Negative Reinforcement University. Retrieved on November 14, 2003 from http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/nru/index.html