Reinforcements and punishments are two major principles of B. F. Skinner's (Burrhus Frederic Skinner, March 20, 1904 - August 18, 1990) theory of Operant Conditioning. They acts as the core pillars of operant conditioning theory. Skinner was one of the notable and influential behaviourist after the academic time period of J. B. Watson by 1920s for obvious reasons.
Before you read please understand these terms:
Noxious: Very unpleasant or harmful
Stimulus: A thing that rouses activity or response in someone or something
Stimuli: Plural of 'stimulus'
Operant conditioning also known as instrumental conditioning, is a process of learning that results in the strength of a behaviour is modified by reinforcements and punishments. According to Operant conditioning, an organism learns through the consequences of behaviour. There are two types of reinforcements and punishments. They are explained below:
What is reinforcement in operant conditioning?
In operant conditioning, reinforcements are always given to increase the strength or frequency of a behaviour. Reinforcements improves the probability of a behaviour. In simple words, reinforcement is the addition of pleasurable stimuli or removal of noxious stimuli to improve a behaviour. Here the subject is presented by response that it likes. There are two types of reinforcements. They are resolved below:
1. Positive reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is the presentation of pleasant stimulus to
the environment of an organism to improve a behaviour. It is the
addition of something positive that the subject likes. According to
researches this is the most effective method to strengthen the probability of the behaviour.
Examples:
- The boy allowed to play more (reinforcement) time as he performed well in examination (behaviour).
- The teacher gave coins (reinforcement) to the students who performed well in the classroom activity (behaviour).
- Mother gives chocolate (reinforcement) when the child kept her room tidy (behaviour).
Modern education system consider positive
reinforcement as one of the most powerful method to improve or
strengthen desired behaviour of children without affecting their mental
health negatively as punishments do. But humanists argue that it is more
liberal for the growth of the humankind is to give unconditioned
positive regard than to give rewards for particular behaviours.
Critiques say that, conditioning may be successful in the case of
animals, but not that much in the case of humans.
2. Negative reinforcement
As many people think, negative reinforcement is not the
presentation of something negative. This description may be suitable
for 'positive punishment'. Negative reinforcement is the removal of noxious stimulus in order to strengthen a
behaviour. The aim of negative reinforcement is same as positive
reinforcement, to improve the probability of a behaviour. There are two types of negative reinforcements. They are explained below:
1. Escape: Removal
of noxious stimuli by following correct behaviour. (If you didn't
understand, don't worry, the following examples will solve it
magically).
2. Active Avoidance: Active avoidance is the behaviour avoids noxious stimuli. In the case of 'Escape' the
subject removes the noxious stimulus itself, but in active avoidance
correct behaviour is followed or performed to avoid noxious stimuli.
Examples:
- The student performed well (behaviour) to avoid bad grades (noxious stimuli). [Active avoidance]
- The boy cleans (behaviour) his room to avoid his aunts nagging (noxious stimuli). [Active avoidance]
- The man closes the windows(behaviour), because he don't want the dust enter the room (noxious stimuli). [Find it yourself :)]
- The young man turned off the alarm by pressing the snooze button. [Escape]
What is punishment in operant conditioning?
In operant conditioning punishment is the presentatio of noxious stimuli to decrease or weaken the strength or likelihood of a behaviour. Remember always punishment weakens the behaviour. In simple sense, it can be the addition of something unpleasant and removal of something pleasant. The following paragraphs with various examples may let you understand it more vivid.
There are two types of punishments:
There are two types of punishments:
1. Positive punishment
Positive punishment is the addition, application, imposing or presentation of noxious stimuli to the environment of the subject to weaken a
behaviour. If pleasurable stimuli is added in positive reinforcement
to increase the behaviour, unpleasant stimuli is added in positive
punishment to decrease a behaviour.
Example:
Example:
- When the child touches fire (behaviour), he feels pain (noxious stimuli).
- Skinner gave mild electric shock (noxious stimuli) to the rat when it exhibited unwanted behaviour repeatedly.
- The man gets locked in jail (noxious stimuli) for destroying public property (behaviour).
2. Negative Punishment
Negative punishment is the removal of a positive or pleasant stimulus in order to control undesired behaviour. In other words, it is removal of something pleasurable to weaken unwanted behaviour.
Example:
Example:
- A child kicks his sister (behaviour), so his favorite chocolate is removed (negative punishment/removal of pleasurable stimulus).
- The boy misbehaved in playground (bahaviour) and in the next day he didn't allowed to participate his favorite game (negative punishment/removal of pleasurable stimulus).
Research shows that positive consequences are more effective than negative consequences to improve desired behaviour.
Written by Geo Kappen, Starsero
Written by Geo Kappen, Starsero
(This
article is originally written by Geo Kappen, Psychologist, Starsero.
Unauthorized copying or publishing without permission is prohibited.
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