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Positive and Negative Reinforcement

Select a procedure and a strength of
preceding behavior below to view an
example of reinforcement or punishment.
Continue to select different combinations to
view all of the examples.

Strength of preceding
behavior
Increased

Decreased

Usually
Positive
(Presen
ted)
Proced
ure
Usually
Negativ
e
(Remov
ed)
The definition of reinforcement and
punishment depends upon whether an
event is presented or removed after a
response is made, and whether the
subject's responding increases or
decreases. Any event that increases
responding is called reinforcement and any
event that decreases responding is called
punishment; any event that is presented is
called positive and any event that is
removed is called negative. Each square
above defines one possibility: for example,
if a subject's rate of responding increases
after an event is presented, we say that
positive reinforcement has occurred.

Reinforcement
Reinforcement
Potential
Primary Reinforcers

Potential
Secondary Reinforcers

Usually
Positiv
e
(Prese
nted)

Food
Water
Sex
Sleep
Sensory stimulation

Money
Tokens
Esteem
Grades
Status
Approval

Usually
Negati
ve
(Remov
ed)

Shock
Pain
Extreme temperatures
Loud noise
Physical pressure

Low selfesteem
Ridicule
Exclusion
Violation of personal
space

There are many types of reinforcement in everyday life. Primary

reinforcers are effective without having been associated with
other reinforcers. Secondary reinforcers are effective only when
associated with primary reinforcers. Positive reinforcers
strengthen responses when they are presented. Negative
reinforcers strengthen the behaviors that caused them to be
removed.

Applications of Operant Conditioning

Operant conditioning has become a very influential area of psychology,
because it has successfully provided practical solutions to many problems
in human behavior. Operant principles discovered in the laboratory are
now being employed to improve teaching techniques so that even slow or
unmotivated students can learn faster and better. Behavior modification is
the application of operant conditioning techniques to modify behavior. It
is being used to help people with a wide variety of everyday behavior
problems, including obesity, smoking, alcoholism, delinquency, and
aggression. For example, people with the eating disorder anorexia
nervosa have been helped to gain weight, and animals such as primates
have been trained to assist physically disabled individuals by feeding and
caring for them. It has been successfully used in child rearing, in school
systems, and in mental institutions.One example of a therapeutic use of
behavior modification is the token economy method. A classic study was
conducted in a mental hospital with psychiatric patients who had
difficulty performing expected behaviors (Ayllon & Azrin, 1968). The

researchers chose a number of simple grooming behaviors, including face

washing, hair combing, teeth brushing, bed making, and dressing
properly. The researchers first recorded baseline, or normally occurring,
frequencies of the behaviors. Then they gave the patients a token every
time the proper behavior was performed. The tokens could be exchanged
for food and personal items at the hospital drugstore. The patients
significantly increased the frequency of the desired behaviors when they
were reinforced with tokens. It has even been suggested that the
principles of operant conditioning can be used efficiently to control a
society. B. F. Skinner, in his 1948 novel, Walden Two, presented a utopian
society guided by operant conditioning principles. His 1971
book, Beyond Freedom and Dignity, caused a controversy by presenting
his ideas on how operant conditioning could be utilized in an actual
society. Although most people are not willing to accept Skinner's utopian
ideal, the principles of operant conditioning are being applied in our
everyday lives.