Positive Reinforcement

Of late, the idea of replacing corporal punishment with 'positive reinforcement' in schools has got support from all sections of the society. If psychologists are to be believed, punishment tends to decrease the frequency of some unwanted behavior by a certain extent, but, after a point of time the suppressed impulses tend to surface in the form of severe emotional outbursts which makes it quite risky. As opposed to this, positive reinforcement is quite helpful for inculcating positive behavior in a child as this method resorts to rewarding for a particular behavior instead of suppressing the behavior by punishment.

Reinforcement: An Overview

In psychology, 'operant conditioning' is a concept wherein the antecedent and consequence of a person's behavior is used to influence the occurrence and form of his behavior. This concept, which was put forth by an eminent American psychologist B. F. Skinner, has three tools - reinforcement, punishment and extinction. Among the three, reinforcement - i.e. resorting to consequence which increases the probability of particular behavior, is one of the most widely used tool in behavioral studies. Reinforcement is further divided into two forms - positive and negative reinforcement. While the stimulus, in case of positive reinforcement, is delivered after the behavior, the same is removed in case of negative reinforcement.

Positive Reinforcement

As we mentioned earlier, 'positive reinforcement' is a form of reinforcement in operant conditioning, wherein, the stimulus is delivered immediately or shortly after the behavior, in order to increase the probability/frequency of the said behavior. In this case, the stimulus is rewarding or appetitive and this in turn, prompts the individual to repeat his behavior. This stimulus may range from simple praises to more expensive rewards. In case of negative reinforcement, an unwanted consequence is removed, while, in case of positive reinforcement some desired behavior is inculcated in the person.

Examples
Some psychologists are of the opinion that positive reinforcement is the best bet, but only when it is used properly. The difference between a reward and bribe is very fine, and one has to make sure that the latter is not put to use in course of conditioning. Given below are some examples of positive reinforcement which will help you understand the concept with ease.

• In Skinner Box (aka operant conditioning chamber developed by B. F. Skinner) experiment, the rat is given food every time he presses a lever. In this case, food (appetitive) is stimulus while pressing the lever is a behavior which has to be inculcated in that rat. Eventually, the animal's mind is conditioned in such a manner that it presses the lever every time it feels hungry and wants food.
• You may have not realized it, but you must have been a part of positive reinforcement at some point of time - either as a subject or the enforcer. An example of same is inculcating the habit of cleaning dishes after food, or making bed after waking up, in lieu, of extra time to play or to watch television, or a weekend at the mall.
• In what can be defined as one of the best examples of this concept, the students are given an assignment and told that the best three assignments will be rewarded with an encyclopedia each. In this case, the encyclopedia is the reward, while putting efforts to do the assignment is the positive behavior. Similarly, praising the students or giving stars to acknowledge their efforts also amounts to positive reinforcement in the classroom.

Even though most of the examples that we have mentioned in the article are related to human behavior, the concept of positive reinforcement works very well with animals as well - especially dogs and cats. In fact, this form of reinforcement is quite popular in dog training - wherein the dog is rewarded for its behavior with food or by simple patting.