Negative Reinforcer, Reinforcement

 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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Positive Reinforcer and Reinforcement

A positive reinforcer is a stimulus that follows a behavior and results in the probability that the behavior will increase in the future.

The procedure of presenting a positive reinforcer following a behavior is called positive reinforcement. The psychological concept of reinforcement means the word in general use, that is, reinforcement means to strengthen. Thus, positive reinforcement strengthens the behavior-reinforcer connection.

The concept of positive is derived from mathematics and is not necessarily linked to feelings. That is, positive means a stimulus has been added as a contingency such that when a specific behavior occurs, the organism experiences the positive reinforcer and is likely to emit the same behavior again.

In symbols, a positive reinforcer is a stimulus with a plus sign thus, S+.

Positive reinforcers may be primary or secondary. A primary reinforcer is close to a natural reinforcer such as food and sleep. A secondary reinforcer may be points or money, which may be used to obtain a primary reinforcer.

Positive reinforcement is contrasted with  negative reinforcement.

Rewards vs. Reinforcers

Rewards may or may not function to increase behavior. For example, a restaurant business may offer a loyalty reward to customers hoping to increase return business; however, if the customer does not like the reward item, then the desired behavior has not been reinforced. In fact, the reward may function as punishment if the customer leaves for a better reward system.

Key words: Positive reinforcer, positive reinforcement, reinforcing stimulus, behavioral psychology, behavioral counseling, cognitive behavioral psychology

Example:

A child completes cleaning their room. A parent observes the activity and on completion adds a point to a weekly chart. After an agreed upon number of points, the child can exchange points for preferred activities. If cleaning behavior increases when points are earned then the points are positive reinforcers.

If the points do not work, they may be called neutral reinforcers. If the points result in a decrease in cleaning up behavior then the cleaning behavior has been punished by definition.

Please check out my website   www.suttong.com

   and see my books on   AMAZON       or  GOOGLE STORE

Also, consider connecting with me on    FACEBOOK   Geoff W. Sutton    

   TWITTER  @Geoff.W.Sutton    

You can read many published articles at no charge:

  Academia   Geoff W Sutton     ResearchGate   Geoffrey W Sutton