Positive Reinforcement Research

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response rewards the first person’s response and then continues on.
Skinner developed the concept of positive reinforcement which showed how placing a hungry rat in a box. The rat learned to pull the lever so food would be knocked down. Therefore receiving food would prompt them to repeat the action of knocking over the lever. Positive reinforcement strengthens a behavior by providing a consequence an individual finds rewarding. For example, if your mom gives you candy or reward each time you complete your homework it will be more likely to for this behavior to be repeated in the future, therefore strengthening the behavior of completing your homework.
Negative reinforcement is the elimination of something the person does not want. A primary …show more content…

Punishment takes away something a person wants or gives it something it doesn’t want. A punishment that is very common among teachers and parents is called time out from reinforcement. Therefore when a child is engaging in undesirable behavior they are denied access to what they want for a period of time. Although skinner believed that positive reinforcement and punishment are different explaining that it weakens the effect. Similar to reinforcement, punishment can work either by directly applying an unpleasant stimulus like a shock after a response or by removing a potentially rewarding stimulus. There are many problems with using punishment. One problem is punished behavior does not go away it becomes suppressed and returns when punishment is no longer existing. It doesn’t have a good effect because it creates aggression and fear of being abused and unsafe. This is especially a problem in schools with corporal punishment. Therefore punishment only tells you what not to do which skinner had learned early …show more content…

An example for positive reinforcement theory would be to offer a patient a hug or pat on the back and let them know that they are doing a good job. Token economy would be giving the patient a sticker on a chart every time they didn’t use harmful words about others. Another example of this would be to give the patient a reward every time they came to a session in order for them to open up about their past crimes. Punishment could be something abusive to the patient that would not be effective, but the type of punishment that might work for the patient is to give them a time out reinforcement. Therefore denying something that the patient would want for a certain period of time. Most of Skinner’s theories could be used in a therapy setting to improve the patient’s behavior or to control the reaction of the patient. Skinner was an extremely important theorist who discovered many important ideas in the environment regarding stimuli and

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