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Content
- what's reinforcement.
- Types of reinforcement.
- Operant conditioning.
Reinforcement is a technique used by most behavior therapist to increase the rate of repetition of a particular behavior by administering a reinforcer ( it can be a gift or praising the child).
Looking at the above image, the thought of the money promised to the boy made him to sweep the floor.
Reinforcement can either be negative or positive.
As I earlier said, reinforcement can either be negative or positive.
negative reinforcement
Negative reinforcement is sometimes mistaken with punishment. But the difference is very clear. One of the major difference between them is that punishment results in a behavior decrease where as negative reinforcement results in a behavior increase.
Negative reinforcement is the application of a negative reinforcer (example scolding the child or grounding the child) to eliminate an undesirable behavior.
Positive reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is all about the addition of a favourable stimulus to elicit a response
In short, when a gift is accompanied with a stimulus (message or an expectation) that behavior is always repeated because of the gift.
In summary, reinforcement either positive or negative is used to either enhance or stop a behavior.
Operant conditioning is a behavioral theory developed by burrhus frederick skinner.
Developed this theory to prove that reinforcement can either strengthen a behavior or eliminate it.
In his Experiment, he used a skinner box that made up of a lever and food pellet which is outside the box.
The box is constructed in such a way that if you touch the lever, accessed will be gained to the outside world.
He placed a hungry rat in a skinner box, the hungry and anxious rat started running around the box and mistakenly hit the lever and the door opened.(Trial by error)
The rat ate the food pellet, That same rat was still placed inside the box and the same procedure repeated itself.
After much trial, the rat learned to go to the lever directly whenever it wants to eat which is to say that, the behavior have been enhanced ( positive reinforcement).
In another Experiment, he placed that same rat inside the skinner box, but this time instead of food pellet, the rat was shocked whenever it goes near the lever.
After much trial, the rat stopped going to the lever (negative reinforcement).
In all, it's good to know that behavior can be enhanced or stopped using reinforcement, and I want to specially thank you for reading through.
Drop a comment if you learned from it😊