Psychology Facts

▼ Reinforcement ▼

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》In behavioral psychology, reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus.

Reinforcement does not require an individual to consciously perceive an effect elicited by the stimulus.

There are four types of reinforcement: positive, negative, punishment, and extinction.

Positive reinforcement: This involves adding something to increase response, such as praising a child when they complete a designated task. This would motivate the child to get involved in the task.

Negative reinforcement: This involves removing something to increase response, such as withholding payment until the person completes the job. The person would remain motivated till the end of the job to acquire the payment.

Punishment: This involves adding something aversive to modify behavior. For example, yelling at a child for misbehaving. In this example, the child would associate every negative behavior with punishments. This would prevent the child from repeating such behavior.

Extinction: This involves removing or taking away something to modify a certain response. This is called negative punishment or extinction. For instance, a teenager comes home late, and the parents curb their phone usage. Next time, the teenager would think before breaking the curfew.

Reinforcement tames unwanted behavior or encourages acceptable behavior. The goal of reinforcement is to eliminate non-adapting behavior in a person's life.

Reinforcement has two aspects:

Stimulus

Impact on the person's behavior

There are four types of intermittent reinforcement. They are:

Fixed interval: Reinforcing a person's behavior after a fixed number of responses. For example, rewarding a person at the end of each day.

Variable interval: Reinforcing a person's behavior after a specific number of responses has occurred. For example, paying a person sometimes at the end of the day, sometimes at the end of the week, and sometimes every few days.

Fixed ratio: Reinforcing a person's behavior after an unpredictable period has elapsed. For example, rewarding a person after completing the desired behavior four times.

Variable ratio: Variable ratio intermittent reinforcement is the most effective schedule to reinforce a behavior. Reinforcing a person's behavior after an unpredictable number of responses. It involves rewarding a person after completing the desired behavior after three times, then after six times, then after two times.