A negative reinforcer is a stimulus that results in an increase in behavior when it is removed following a specific behavior.
The procedure of removing the stimulus and the resulting increase in behavior is called negative reinforcement. Reinforcement means to strengthen. The connection between the behavior and the reinforcer is strengthened when the behavior regularly increases contingent on the removal of the stimulus.
Negative Reinforcement is often confused with punishment even among graduate students. The term negative in the phrase negative reinforcement is used in a mathematical sense of subtracting a stimulus form a situation. The removal of the negative reinforcer is symbolized as S- or Sav where S = stimulus and - means subtraction. The av = aversive.
Negative reinforcement is contrasted with positive reinforcement.
Key words: negative reinforcer, negative reinforcement, aversive stimulus, behavioral psychology
Example:
A child has a habit of screaming when they do not get their way. A parent gives in to the child to end the aversive screaming behavior. If the removal of screaming behavior is routinely followed by getting parent permission then the aversive stimulus of screaming functions as a negative reinforcer for the parent's permission giving behavior.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease is a proverb illustrating an observation that an aversive situation results in desirable behavior. An employee who routinely complains about a work situation may activate administrative behavior to rectify a problem in order to end the aversive stimulus of complaining. Of course, an administrator could choose to fire the employee so, what works in a lab won't always work in real life settings.
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