Negative reinforcement is a method that can be used to help teach specific behaviors. With negative reinforcement, something uncomfortable or otherwise unpleasant is taken away in response to a stimulus. Over time, the target behavior should increase with the expectation that the unpleasant thing will be taken away. Show Read on to learn more about this type of learning. The relationship between behavior and consequences is part of a type of learning called operant conditioning. It dates back to the late 1930s. For negative reinforcement to work, whatever is taken away must be taken away immediately after the behavior in question. The end result is to get whatever behavior is happening to continue and even increase. ExamplesA person hears a loud alarm. They push the STOP button on the alarm to make the noise stop. Now whenever the alarm goes off, they push the STOP button as quickly as they can.
Parents complain to their child when the child doesn’t clean their room. The child starts cleaning their room to make the complaining stop. Now the child cleans their room more regularly to avoid the complaining.
Positive reinforcement is when you give something to a person in response to a certain behavior. It can include anything from allowances to special activities to verbal praise. The idea is that giving that thing will increase the likelihood that the behavior will continue. For example, a child is told that they’ll earn $5.00 for each A on their report card. The child starts getting good grades. The positive reinforcement here is the $5.00 for each A. The behavior achieved is the child earning good grades. With both positive and negative reinforcement, the goal is to increase the behavior. The difference is that with negative reinforcement, the behavior results in taking something unpleasant away. With positive reinforcement, the behavior results in earning or attaining something desirable. Many people confuse negative reinforcement with punishment. The key area where these two methods differ is in the end result. With reinforcement, adding or taking away something is meant to increase the behavior. With punishment, adding or taking away something is meant to decrease or weaken the behavior. You may already be familiar with specific examples of punishments. They include things like time-outs, groundings, or loss of privileges. Just like with reinforcement, though, punishment can be broken down into positive punishment and negative punishment.
So, should you use negative reinforcement or punishment? Think back to your goal. If it’s to increase a certain behavior, negative reinforcement is the better approach. If it’s to decrease a behavior, punishment may be the better route. While the word “negative” may throw you, using this method for behavior change isn’t necessarily bad. In negative reinforcement, the word “negative” is referring more to the act of taking something away, like a minus sign in a mathematical equation. Usually the thing that’s removed in response to the behavior is something the person finds unpleasant or uncomfortable. The removal often results in a favorable outcome for the person. Negative reinforcement can be an effective tool when used correctly. Using negative reinforcement may not always get the intended results, however. This type of behavior conditioning is simply meant to increase a behavior. As a result, it can work both ways, reinforcing either favorable or unfavorable behaviors. Examples of negative reinforcement for unfavorable behaviorsA child screams whenever they’re offered macaroni and cheese at a meal. When they scream, their parents immediately take the food away. Each time macaroni and cheese is offered, the child’s tantrums increase and the parents give in.
A child doesn’t like wearing a certain shirt their mother purchased for them. The child noticed in the past that their mother doesn’t make them wear damaged clothing, so the child cuts the shirt with scissors. When the mother discovers this, she takes the shirt away.
Negative reinforcement might work in a classroom setting. Example of negative reinforcement in the classroomA student with autism is learning to communicate using pictures. The student is working with the “no” symbol of a circle with a line through it, also known as the PECS “no” picture. The teacher helps the student learn to show the “no” picture when they’re being offered something they don’t like. Now when the child is presented with something they don’t want, they display the “no” picture.
In this example, the negative reinforcement is beneficial to the child. That said, positive reinforcement is typically the better approach to behavior in a classroom setting. This might include things like motivating children with the use of small prizes, social activities, and special privileges for increasing positive behaviors. Positive reinforcement in the classroomTo create a positive reinforcement method in the classroom:
Not all children respond the same way to reinforcement. You may need to cater your approach to accommodate for the differences. There are a variety of ways to encourage and discourage behaviors. Negative reinforcement can be a useful tool if you’re looking to increase a certain behavior. Punishment, on the other hand, is meant to decrease behaviors. The word “negative” simply refers to taking something away and does not mean that this method is bad and not worth exploring. Regardless of what discipline method you choose, consistency and the timing of the consequence are the most important aspects. This article needs additional citations for verification.(August 2011) In psychology, aversives are unpleasant stimuli that induce changes in behavior via negative reinforcement or positive punishment. By applying an aversive immediately before or after a behavior the likelihood of the target behavior occurring in the future is reduced. Aversives can vary from being slightly unpleasant or irritating to physically, psychologically and/or emotionally damaging. It is not the level of unpleasantness or intention that matter, but rather the level of effectiveness the unpleasant event has on changing (decreasing) behavior that defines something as aversive.
There are two types of aversive stimuli:
Unconditioned aversive stimuli naturally result in pain or discomfort and are often associated with biologically harmful or damaging substances or events. Examples include extreme heat or cold, bitter flavors, electric shocks, loud noises and pain. Aversives can be applied naturally (such as touching a hot stove) or in a contrived manner (such as during torture or behavior modification).
A conditioned aversive stimulus is an initially neutral stimulus that becomes aversive after repeated pairing with an unconditioned aversive stimulus. This type of stimulus would include consequences such as verbal warnings, gestures or even the sight of an individual who is disliked.
Aversives may be used as punishment or negative reinforcement during applied behavior analysis. In early years, the use of aversives was represented as a less restrictive alternative to the methods used in mental institutions such as shock treatment, hydrotherapy, straitjacketing and frontal lobotomies. Early iterations of the Lovaas technique incorporated aversives,[1] though Lovaas later abandoned their use.[2] Over time the use of aversives has become less common, though they are still in use as of 2021.[3] Several national and international disability rights groups have spoken against the use of aversive therapies, including TASH and Autism National Committee (known as AUTCOM). Although it has generally fallen out of favor, at least one institution continues uses electric shocks on the skin an aversive.[4][5] A ruling in 2018 supported its continued use.[6] The FDA has made a commitment to ban its use, but as of January 2019 has not yet done so.[7] A report from the Food and Drug Administration found that "the literature contains reports that when health care providers have resorted to punishers... the addition of punishers proved no more successful than [Positive behavioral support]-only techniques... Reflecting this trend, a 2008 survey of members of the Association for Behavior Analysis found that providers generally view punishment procedures as having more negative side effects and being less successful than reinforcement procedures."[8] The Behavior Analyst Certification Board has stated their support the use of aversives on children with consent by a parent of guardian.[9][10] OppositionThe use of aversives in applied behavior analysis is opposed by many advocacy groups for people with disabilities. These include:
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