Reinforcers and Punishers!

Do you ever feel happy and acknowledged when you accomplish a task and reward yourself with something you like?

Usually, when we are kids, our parents reward us with candy or extra play time when we score good grades in our exams! This is called positive reinforcement, and the outcome is that something is added to the environment. 

Dog owners might have become accustomed to specific situations where you are trying to teach them something, and when they accomplish it for the first time, you give them treats. Then, they increase their positive behavior because they are rewarded. This is also a form of positive reinforcement. 

There is also positive punishment; in this case, something is added to the environment, but the instrumental response produces an aversive event, and the outcome is not reinforced. Therefore, in this case, the reaction decreases instead of the response increasing. For example, if you keep making your room a mess, your parents will scold you, reducing the chance of you littering it more often and reducing the behavior. 

Another type of reinforcement and punishment is negative reinforcement and negative punishment. Negative reinforcement is when the outcome is removed or subtracted from the environment. The behavior is encouraged because it causes something to be subtracted from the environment.  Negative punishment involves the removal of a pleasant or appetitive stimulus. 

So these are all about reinforcers and punishers.

That's all for today... bye.