The Pros and Cons of Using Positive Reinforcement

Whether you’re an educator, coach, trainer or just want to influence the people in your life, we all want the golden key to unlock potential in those we teach. Today, we're zeroing in on one of the most powerful tools available in teaching: positive reinforcement. 

We'll explore its advantages and address common misconceptions. By the end of this read, you'll understand not only why positive reinforcement is a top-tier teaching method, but also how to effectively implement it and overcome any drawbacks.

What is positive reinforcement?

Positive reinforcement is the psychological term for what happens when something is added to the environment that increases or maintains a behavior. 

A simple example of positive reinforcement is pushing the start button (or turning the key in the ignition) of your car. When you push the button, the car starts. The starting of the engine positively reinforces your behavior of pushing the button or turning the key.

Positive reinforcement can also apply to behavior chains, which are several behaviors that occur in a particular order, with reinforcement withheld until the last behavior in the chain is complete. For an example, let’s look at the behavior of drinking your favorite coffee – 

If you order from an app or in a coffee shop, you pull up the store’s location on your phone, check the menu, add your selection to your cart or tell the barista what it is that you want, pay, and then wait for your drink to arrive. As you can see, this is a complex behavior chain with many steps to complete before the reinforcement (delicious coffee) arrives -- including traveling to the shop’s location if you aren’t having the coffee delivered. And each of those steps has their own skills that must be learned before you can successfully complete them! This makes positive reinforcement a powerful tool that we can adopt in our own teaching practices.

Why positive reinforcement is considered the ‘gold standard’ in teaching or maintaining behavior

Teachers benefit from the use of positive reinforcement in classrooms, coaches in developing athletes, parents in raising their children, and leaders across organizations in improving performance.

And, when teaching animals new skills or solving problem behaviors, positive reinforcement is considered the "gold standard" tool by animal behavior experts.

But why? What is it about positive reinforcement that makes it a superior teaching tool?

The benefits of using positive reinforcement to teach or maintain skills

Decades of research has identified several benefits to using positive reinforcement when teaching new skills. These include:

• Ride-along emotional conditioning: Positive reinforcement makes learning more enjoyable for the learner and the teacher.

• Positive reinforcement builds trust between the teacher and the learner.

• Using positive reinforcement to introduce a new concept reduces stress and anxiety for the learner.

• Trying is encouraged. Positive reinforcement improves problem-solving skills by encouraging less-than-perfect attempts and experimentation.

• You can fade or change the reinforcer so the behavior can be performed in many contexts.

• Long-term effectiveness: Behaviors learned through positive reinforcement are often more deeply ingrained and longer-lasting.

What are the drawbacks of using positive reinforcement to teach or maintain skills? 

• There’s a learning curve. You must practice and be skilled at using positive reinforcement to see the results you want in changing behavior.

• What’s reinforcing depends entirely on the learner’s perspective, not the instructor’s.

• You have to choose reinforcers that can compete with what’s going on in the environment. (Think of a child who has a choice between raking leaves and playing a video game – would giving the kid $1 to rake leaves instead of play the game be reinforcing?)

• You can inadvertently reinforce behavior you don't want (see item No. 1).

Positive reinforcement is a powerful tool. While it might take some time to learn, the benefits are huge: It helps create a positive and motivating environment, boosting learners' confidence and their drive to keep going. This method makes learning stick better, sparks creativity, and turns learning into a fun experience. It's also great for building strong connections between teachers and learners, and can be tailored to fit everyone's unique needs.

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