The concept of reinforcement is a practical and powerful that has been applied to correct behavior in psychology. Reinforcement occurs when the consequence of behavior makes it more likely to happen in the near future. It is usually used to help increase the probability that a certain type of behavior is likely going to occur in the future through the use of delivering or removing a certain stimulus after a specific behavior. The use of reinforcement can increase the chance of behavior occurring more frequently. There are two types of reinforcements that can be applied to a specific behavior; positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. This paper identifies the similarities and differences between positive and negative reinforcement and shows examples of how the types of reinforcement can be used to increase or decrease a specific behavior.
Differences Between Positive and Negative Reinforcement
The differences between positive and negative reinforcement can be understood by analyzing the specific types of reinforcements applied. Positive reinforcement involves an act of presenting a reinforcing or motivating stimulus after the desired behavior has been exhibited. This makes it more likely that the behavior is going to happen in the near future. Negative reinforcement occurs when a certain stimulus is removed after a specific behavior has been exhibited. The likelihood of that behavior occurring in the near future is thus increased. While positive reinforcement deals with adding or presenting a stimulus, negative reinforcement involves the removal of a stimulus.
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Positive and negative reinforcement has been defined by B.F. Skinner in the theory of operant conditioning. Positive reinforcement involves a situation where behavior is strengthened through the addition of a stimulus to ensure that the behavior is achieved. Negative reinforcement has been defined as a response or behavior strengthened by stopping, removing, or the avoidance of a negative outcome or an undesired stimulus (Skinner, 2014). Negative reinforcement can be understood as something being removed from a situation.
Similarities
Positive and negative reinforcement are similar because they all focus on increasing the likelihood of a specific behavior taking place in the near future. After the application of both types of reinforcement, it is expected that the likelihood of the behavior occurring in the future is increased. Both positive and negative reinforcement deal with increasing a specific desired behavior. This is different from punishment that involves reducing the occurrence of undesired behavior (Rooker et al., 2013). Both positive and negative reinforcement have been found effective in increasing behavior occurrences.
Examples of positive reinforcement
One example of a positive reinforcement I used is when teaching my young siblings and cousins to learn how to respect each other. When one of them plays with the other without causing any necessary fight or disturbance, the behavior is always praised. This is usually noted by the children who want more attention and more praise from adults. Praise and recognition are also applied to the children to reinforce positive behaviors such as working hard and success at school. The example involves positive reinforcement because it involves adding a stimulus of praise to reinforce the desired behavior of respect, working hard, and being successful in school. The positive reinforcement was effective in the case because the children progressively showed signs of respect towards each other.
Another example of positive reinforcement was when I would reward children with stickers, points, and stars when they chose to eat vegetables, fruits, and healthy foods. The use of stickers and points made the children competitive as each of them wanted to be the leader in eating healthy. This was an example of positive reinforcement because it involved the addition of a stimulus through stickers, points, and stars to reinforce the positive behavior of taking a healthy diet. Such a form of positive reinforcement was effective as the children later developed a liking for healthy food options.
Negative Reinforcement
Negative reinforcement was used by my mother when she was always on my case when I did not study and put loud music. My mom became quite irritating as she would come into my room for most of the time of the day. I wanted to spend most of the time by myself but my mother stated that it would only be possible if I did not play loud music and chose to take my time to study. I decided to comply with her request so that she would stop quarreling and irritating me. This was an example of a negative reinforcement because I wanted to remove a stimulus of the disturbance of my mother to enhance positive behavior by not playing loud music and studying. The negative reinforcement worked I gained the new habits and even became more responsible.
Another example of negative reinforcement I used was when I wanted to discourage myself from taking snacks between meals in order to lose weight. I decided to have a picture of myself as overweight in the refrigerator. Every time I wanted to take a snack, I would think of the image on the refrigerator and wanted to avoid it. This was an example of negative reinforcement because it involves the avoidance of a stimulus of looking at myself as overweight in the refrigerator and reinforcing the desired behavior of not taking snacks between meal times. It worked as I stopped thinking about the refrigerator during the day and stopped taking snacks. It helped me put my weight in check.
In conclusion, positive and negative reinforcement can be understood by identifying the similarities and differences and identifying practical examples of how the two can be applied. While positive reinforcement deals with the addition of a specific behavior, negative reinforcement involves the removal or avoidance of behavior to realize a specific behavior.
References
Skinner, B. F. (2014). Contingencies of reinforcement: A theoretical analysis (Vol. 3). BF Skinner Foundation.
Rooker, G. W., Jessel, J., Kurtz, P. F., & Hagopian, L. P. (2013). Functional communication training with and without alternative reinforcement and punishment: An analysis of 58 applications. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis , 46 (4), 708-722.
