Positive and Negative Reinforcement; Positive and Negative Punishment.

Positive reinforcement is a reward for doing something well.

Negative reinforcement occurs when an aversive stimulus (a ‘bad consequence’) is removed after a good behaviour is exhibited. The difference is subtle, but very important.)

Spanking a child when he throws a tantrum is an example of positive punishment.

Something is added to the mix (spanking) to discourage a bad behaviour (throwing a tantrum).

On the other hand, removing restrictions from a child when she follows the rules is an example of negative reinforcement.

You May Also Read:

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS 4&5).

• TEACHING ETHICS OF TEACHERS IN GHANA.

• Guiding Policies for Curriculum Development and National Teachers’ Standards.

• Major Areas to Cover and Basic Principles in Answering True/False, Multiple Choice, And Fill-In-The-Blank Questions.

Operant conditioning outlines four ways of influencing behaviour based on the consequence and the desired result:

• Positive punishment, something is “added” to the mix that makes the behaviour less likely to continue or reoccur (i.e., an unpleasant consequence is introduced to the subject to discourage their behaviour).
• Positive reinforcement, something is added to the mix that makes the behaviour more likely to continue or reoccur (i.e., a pleasant consequence is introduced to the subject to encourage their behaviour).
• Negative punishment, something is “taken away” from the mix that makes the behaviour less likely to continue or reoccur (i.e., something pleasant is removed from the subject to discourage their behaviour).
• Negative reinforcement, something is taken away from the mix that makes the behaviour more likely to continue or reoccur (i.e., something unpleasant is removed from the subject to encourage their behaviour).

Punishment Vs. Negative Reinforcement

• Positive punishment is an attempt to influence behaviour by adding something unpleasant, while negative reinforcement is an attempt to influence behaviour by taking away something unpleasant.
• Both methods are employed to influence behaviour, but positive punishment looks to remove or decrease a “bad” behaviour while negative reinforcement seeks to encourage or increase a “good” behaviour.
• Spanking a child when he throws a tantrum is an example of positive punishment.
• Something is added to the mix (spanking) to discourage a bad behaviour (throwing a tantrum).
• On the other hand, removing restrictions from a child when she follows the rules is an example of negative reinforcement.
• Something unpleasant (a set of restrictions) is removed to encourage the child’s good behaviour (following the rules).

Positive Punishment Vs. Positive Reinforcement.

• Positive punishment differs from positive reinforcement in only one aspect: whether the behaviour is encouraged or discouraged.
• In both cases, something is added to the mix, whether it is something pleasant (positive reinforcement) or something unpleasant (positive punishment).
• As listed above, positive punishment involves adding something unpleasant to discourage a behaviour.
• Positive reinforcement involves adding something pleasant to encourage a behaviour.
• For example, treating a child to an ice cream cone when he stays quiet and obedient during a shopping trip is positive reinforcement.
• The child’s behaviour (being quiet and obedient while out shopping) is reinforced by adding something pleasant (an ice cream cone).
• Hopefully, the child will understand that he is getting an ice cream cone because he behaved himself on the shopping trip, and he will be more likely to behave himself on the next shopping trip.

Positive Punishment in Practice

There are many more ways to use positive punishment to influence behaviour, including:

• Yelling at a child for bad behaviour.
• Forcing them to do an unpleasant task when they misbehave.
• Adding chores and responsibilities when he fails to follow the rules.
• Assigning students who forget to turn in their assignment extra work
• Adding extra sensitivity training to employees who offend or harass someone at work.
• Implementing more rules and restrictions when a teen misses’ curfew.

Not all of these punishments are necessarily good ways to discourage behaviour, but they are examples of the concept of positive punishment.

Negative Reinforcement in Practice

There are also many examples of negative reinforcement in practice (with varying degrees of effectiveness), including:

• Removing strict parental controls on the internet or tv when a child proves herself responsible enough to handle more mature content.
• Allowing a child to go out without a chaperone when she stops pushing the boundaries of her parents’ rules.
• Removing responsibility for a household chore in order to reward a child for completing her other chores to her parents’ satisfaction.
• Removing the curfew when a teenager has proven she is responsible and practices common sense.
• Removing obstacles to autonomy (e.g., rigid timelines or prescribed ways of carrying out tasks) when an employee successfully completes an important project.
• Abolishing the practice of clocking in and out when employees have proven they can be trusted to accurately report their time worked.

You May Also Read:

• Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS 4&5).

• TEACHING ETHICS OF TEACHERS IN GHANA.

• Guiding Policies for Curriculum Development and National Teachers’ Standards.

• Major Areas to Cover and Basic Principles in Answering True/False, Multiple Choice, And Fill-In-The-Blank Questions.

The Positive Effects of Punishment

• Although “punishment” sounds inherently negative, it’s not necessarily a negative thing.
• In operant conditioning, punishment is simply the discouragement of a behaviour; it can be as be seen as sitting a child down and explaining to them why they should no longer engage in a bad behaviour.

The positive outcomes of using punishment include:

• The child is informed that their behaviour is not acceptable, and now knows what not to do in the future.
• The child is given a punishment or negative consequence, which teaches her that behaviour has consequences and will hopefully help her associate the two.
• The child is given a good reason to behave more appropriately in the future, and eventually should be given an opportunity to do so.

Of course, there are some downsides to punishment as well:

• Punished behaviour is not necessarily forgotten, just suppressed, meaning that it may return when the punishment is no longer implemented.
• It may cause increased aggression and teach the child that aggression is a good way to solve problems (only with certain types of punishment).
• It can create fears that generalize to other situations (e.g., a child who is punished for being disruptive may withdraw and begin to fear social situations).
• It does not always guide the child toward the desired behaviour; it tells the child what not to do, but may not tell the child what he or she should do instead (McLeod, 2018).

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