Understanding Positive and Negative Reinforcement

Why this topic isn't as simple as it seems.

It’s common for people to confuse positive reinforcement with rewards or bribes. And negative reinforcement sounds like something, well, negative. However, when it comes to behavior modification, positive and negative reinforcement are two distinct behavior change strategies — each with their own set of pros and cons.

Both positive and negative reinforcement are forms of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is a learning process where behaviors are influenced to continue, increase, or decrease by their consequences (what happens after the behavior happens).

Here’s a simple rule to remember reinforcement —> Reach for reinforcement when you want a behavior to start, continue or to happen more often.

All about positive reinforcement

In other words, when a behavior occurs, something is added to the environment and that behavior increases in frequency.

To break this down a little further, here are examples of positive reinforcement in action:

• A second-grade teacher introduces stickers in her classroom to reinforce participation. Whenever a student answers a question or politely requests help, they receive a sticker. The students begin to raise their hands more often during class.

• Tara is potty training her new puppy, Leo. Every time Leo uses the outdoor area to potty instead of indoors, Tara gives him a treat. Leo starts to go potty outdoors more often than indoors.

• Mark, an adult learner, is using a language learning app to learn French. The app has a feature that awards points for each completed lesson and correct answers. Accumulated points unlock advanced lessons and special features. Mark finds himself picking up his phone more often to complete lessons to earn points.

OK, check: With positive reinforcement, someone performs a behavior —> something is added to the environment —> they repeat that behavior.

Negative reinforcement: Shaping behavior for more than 570 million years

With positive reinforcement under our belts, let’s dive into what exactly negative reinforcement is, and how it differs from positive reinforcement.

In other words, negative reinforcement happens when a behavior is strengthened by the removal of something in the environment.

Let’s take a look at a few examples of negative reinforcement:

• Jim works in an office where his chair makes an annoying squeak every time he leans back. To avoid the squeak, Jim starts sitting up straight without leaning back. As a result, the annoying squeak stops. Jim's new habit of sitting upright is reinforced because it removes the squeaking sound.

• Rusty, a playful dog, avoids playing on the overgrown lawn, as the tall grass is itchy. Rusty's people mow the lawn, and Rusty begins to play more frequently outside. Rusty’s outdoor playtime is negatively reinforced by the removal of the itchy sensation from the overgrown grass.

• Freddie, a ferret, avoids the feel of certain kind of litter in his litter box. His caretaker switches to a softer, more comfortable litter. Freddie starts using his litter box more often since the new litter is more comfortable.

And so: With negative reinforcement, someone performs a behavior —> something is removed —> they repeat that behavior.

🍫 But hold the chocolates —

“Wait a minute…” you might be thinking, “Doesn’t positive reinforcement mean something good happens to the learner? And negative reinforcement means something bad is removed from the learner?”

In a word — no. And this is what makes the concept (and use of) reinforcement so tricky. Both positive and negative reinforcement take on the mathematical definitions of “positive” and “negative,” in relation to the environment.

In mathematics, “positive” refers to something that is added or present, while “negative” refers to something that is subtracted or absent. It’s the same with reinforcement: “positive” refers to the addition of a stimulus to increase the likelihood of a behavior being repeated, while “negative” refers to the removal of a stimulus to make the behavior more likely.

Three questions to ask about reinforcement

1. What makes something a reinforcer? Think of a reinforcer as a “booster” for a behavior. If after introducing a stimulus, the behavior continues or happens more often, then what you've introduced is a reinforcer. If the behavior doesn’t continue, then it’s not a reinforcer.

2. Positive vs. negative reinforcement: What's the difference? It's all about what happens in the environment. If you add something to the environment (like giving a treat) and the behavior continues, that's positive reinforcement. If you take something away (like turning off a loud noise) and the behavior continues, that's negative reinforcement.

3. Is the reinforcer enjoyable or not? This depends on how the learner feels about it. What's enjoyable or “good” for one learner might not be for another. Or, a learner might enjoy a reinforcer more at certain times than at others. So, whether a reinforcer is seen as something nice (appetitive) or not so nice (aversive) is really up to the learner's perspective. But a reinforcer’s presence, in either case, is by definition increasing or maintaining the behavior.

So just as “positive reinforcement” doesn’t automatically mean the learner is thrilled about the stimulus that follows the behavior, “negative reinforcement” doesn’t necessarily mean the learner is having a terrible time (or worse, a traumatic experience) because of the stimulus.

Even pain, something everyone usually avoids, can be reinforcing. Imagine you’re trying to build muscle and you’ve just finished a new workout. You might perceive some muscle soreness the next day as a good thing — reinforcing your tendency to do that same workout again because you want to increase your strength and endurance.

For further exploration

• Don't Shoot the Dog: The Art of Teaching and Training by Karen Pryor.

• Behavior Analysis for School Psychologists by Julie Vargas.

• What is Positive Reinforcement | Explained in 2 min by Productivity Guy.