Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Name

Institution

Positive reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is any action or event that follows a behavior and increases the chances of a behavior to be repeated. Positive reinforcement occurs when the consequence resulting in the behavior you are attempting to produce increases the probability that the desired behavior will continue (Flora, 2004).

If a salesperson performs well, that salesperson may receive a bonus, which reinforces the desire to make sales because of the positive consequence of doing so. The type of reinforcement tools incorporate salary, performance based incentives and fringe benefits (Silber and Foshay, 2009). The stimuli that act as positive reinforcements may include such actions as verbal praise, tokens, and privileges as playing a game and social attention as having special time with the teacher.

Negative reinforcement

Negative reinforcement is the removal of unpleasant stimuli in order to increase the likelihood of a behavior reoccurring. Negative reinforcement can also be thought of as when a negative or undesirable behavior is stopped or avoided due to removal of a certain stimulus after the behavior is exhibited. As with the other reinforcement categories, it is important to pair negative with social reinforcement.

Negative reinforcement occurs when a negative consequence is withheld if the behavior you desire is demonstrated, which will increase the probability that the behavior you are seeking will continue (Landy & Conte, 2010). For example when a company is opening a new office no one wants to move there, the company may decide to let the best employees choose to go or stay at the old office. If this is communicated well in advance, people would want to work hard and be among the best to avoid the negative consequence of relocating.

Punishment

Punishment is the application of aversive stimuli in order to reduce the chance of a behavior being repeated (Daniels, 2000). Punishment occurs when one wants to impose a negative impact to reduce an undesirable behavior. While negative reinforcement involves withholding a negative consequence to encourage a desirable behavior, punishment is imposing a negative consequence to discourage an unwanted behavior. Positive and negative reinforcement are used to boost behaviors, punishment is targeted at reducing or eliminating unwanted behaviors.

Punishment is often mistakenly confused with negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement always increases the chances that a behavior will occur and punishment always reduces the chances that a behavior will occur. With negative reinforcement, you are increasing a behavior, whereas with punishment, you are decreasing a behavior. The final trick up operant conditioning’s sleeve is extinction, which is a means to stop someone’s learned behavior. You attempt to extinguish a behavior by withholding the positive reinforcement that encouraged the behavior. For example, let’s say that you manage a production facility that had a hard time keeping up with orders for the past few months.

You used overtime pay as a positive reinforcement to bring workers in on weekends and to delay vacations. Now that you have the orders under control, you stop approving overtime. Workers no longer come in on the weekends to work. Their learned behavior has been extinguished.

Application of reinforcements in daily life

Enforcement is used in driving sales by setting sales targets which when achieved draws benefits. Employees because of these benefits will continue to perform to their best to avoid the negative consequence which is losing out on the rewards for increased sales volume. Punishment is used on the other hand as a deterrent to bad or undesired behavior, for instance in correctional facilities where people arrested are detained. This deprive them of the freedom to move freely and hence, reduce the chances them causing problems in the society.

Effectiveness of reinforcement and punishment

In everyday life situations, operant conditioning techniques are used for teaching or enforcing behavior. However, for positive, negative enforcers to work well some strategies must be employed. This includes predetermining how frequently the positive reinforcement will be delivered. To see positive changes, learners need to clearly know the kind of positive behavior required of them and to be positively reinforced when they show that behavior (Daniels, 2000).

To make enforcements work effectively, I will strive to deliver the reinforcement immediately after the behavior occurs. Also ensuring that students know when they display the desired behavior and when positive reinforcement will be forthcoming. This is to sustain the behavior without having to deliver reinforcement every time. Verbal reinforcement is one of the most effective types of positive reinforcement that can be used in schools by teaching staff.

References

Landy, F. J., & Conte, J. M. (2010). Work in the 21st century: An introduction to industrial and organizational psychology. Malden, Mass: Wiley-Blackwell.

Daniels, A. C. (2000). Bringing out the best in people: How to apply the astonishing power of positive reinforcement. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Silber, K., & Foshay, W. R. (2009). Handbook of Improving Performance in the Workplace, Volume 1, Instructional Design and Training Delivery. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Flora, S. R. (2004). The power of reinforcement. Albany: State University of New York Press.

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