Positive reinforcement is a fundamental concept in operant conditioning, a theory developed by behaviorist psychologist B. F. Skinner. Let’s explore how it works:
1. Definition:
o Positive reinforcement involves introducing desirable or pleasant stimuli after a specific behavior. This reward aims to strengthen the connection between the behavior and the positive outcome, making it more likely that the behavior will be repeated in the future.
o In simpler terms, positive reinforcement is about rewarding desired behaviors with something pleasant or desirable.
2. How It Works:
o Imagine you’re training a dog. When the dog sits (desired behavior), you give it a treat (positive outcome). By doing this, you reinforce the sitting behavior, making it more likely that the dog will sit again in the future. This fact that the dog tends to sit in similar, future training settings is the fact that makes the stimulus (e.g., a doggie treat) a reinforcer. If we give the dog a doggie treat and the dog does not tend to sit in similar situations in the future, we say the doggie treat is not a reinforcer for the behavior of sitting. We do not say the reinforcer didn’t work. By definition, reinforcers work.
o The same principle applies to humans. When we receive positive consequences after performing a behavior, our brain releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. This dopamine release strengthens the behavior-outcome connection. The concept of strengthening a behavior is an important concept in behavior analysis. When a behavior is reinforced, we say it is strengthened. That means that the behavior is more likely to occur in similar situations than are behaviors that have not been reinforced. Watching people’s behavior, we may wonder why a person engaged in a particular behavior. One reason is that the behavior has been reinforced in similar situations.
While behavior principles apply across species, we do not want to assume that the behavior is the same across species. In the illustration above, reinforcement of a dog’s behavior during training was used to define reinforcement. We must remember that, while reinforcement applies to both humans and dogs, the behavior of a human is much more complex than that of a dog. As you progress in your study of human behavior, you will learn about human behavior that is not possible for dogs. Also, the analysis of a human behavior will be much more complex than that of a dog.
3. Types of Positive Reinforcers:
o Natural Reinforcers: These occur directly as a result of the behavior’s natural action upon the environment. For example, feeling satisfied after completing a task. The steps of a task reinforce the previous step. Thus, in the task of turning on a water faucet, the flow of water from the faucet reinforcer the behaviors of reaching for the faucet handle, grasping the faucet handle, and twisting the faucet handle in a particular direction. Obtaining a cup of coffee reinforces you getting out of bed in the morning. Just from these examples, you can see that your behavior is reinforced thousands of times each day. Positive reinforcement is for behavior what gas is for a car. It is the source of power that drives your behavior every day.
o Tangible Reinforcers: Physical rewards like treats, gifts, or money. It is important to note that not all reinforcers are rewards. Rewards can produce the effects of a reinforcer by increasing the chances that a behavior will occur in similar situations, but not all physical reinforcers are rewards. The water that comes flowing from a faucet is not a reward, although one could say the faucet rewards the user with water.
o Social Reinforcers: Praise, compliments, or social approval. It was mentioned above that human behavior is much more complex than the behavior of many other species. One complication in human behavior is that humans are social creatures. As individuals, we do not survive. Thus, not only is social approval reinforcing, but social contact of any kind is reinforcing to humans. If a human being is deprived of social contact, negative social contact will reinforce the human’s behavior. This is an important factor in such behavior as child abuse. If deprived of social contact with a parent, a child will seek out that parent although the child is going to get abused more by the parent.
o Token Reinforcers: Symbols (such as points or tokens) that can be exchanged for rewards. Money is a complex type of token reinforcer. The economic systems that humans have developed show the complex development of this type of reinforcer. Token reinforcers have many desirable, behavioral characteristics.
4. Operant Conditioning:
o Skinner’s theory emphasizes that behavior can be modified by controlling its consequences.
o Learning is an active process: Behaviors lead to consequences. We may go further and say that learning is an interactive process that results in consequences that change behavior and our understanding of our environment.
o If pleasant consequences follow a behavior, it’s likely to be repeated; if unpleasant consequences follow, it won’t be repeated. At this stage of your learning, the concepts of “pleasant” and “unpleasant” will suffice for our understanding of reinforcement. We tend to associate positive reinforcement with “pleasant” consequences, because many events that increase the chances that a behavior will be repeated in similar situations are often “pleasant.” In the example of an abused child, the abuse is not pleasant to the child, yet it will reinforce the child’s behavior is terms of increasing the chances that a particular behavior will be repeated by the child in similar situations. We must remember what a reinforcer does to the behavior it follows as part of its definition. A stimulus reinforces a behavior that it follows when it increases the behavior’s chances of occurring in future, similar situations. A reinforcer is not defined by being “pleasant.”
5. Applications:
o Learning: Positive reinforcement helps teach new behaviors or strengthen existing ones. Positive reinforcement teaches new behaviors by strengthening approximations to a new behavior. We may use the behavior of turning on a faucet as an example. Assume you are teaching a student to turn on a faucet. You assess the student’s skill and find that she does not reach toward the faucet handle, does not grasp the faucet, and does not twist the faucet handle.
Because the student does not perform any of these behaviors, you need to strengthen the parts of those behaviors that the student can perform. Thus, for reaching to the faucet handle, you will reinforce all efforts the student makes that are acts of reaching toward the faucet handle. After you have strengthen sufficiently the student reaching out and touching the handle, you will begin to reinforce the student grasping it. You will reinforce all attempts to grasp the handle. After the student’s behaviors of reaching out and grasping the handle are sufficiently strong, you will begin to reinforce all attempts to twist the handle in the direction that will turn on the water.
This sequence of training is called reinforcing an approximation to the targeted behavior. The targeted behavior is turning on the water faucet.
o Workplace Conduct: Employers use positive reinforcement to encourage desired work behaviors. When employers reinforce desired work behaviors, they do more than encourage it. They actually strengthen it. But as we discussed above, not all pleasant events are reinforcers. Thus, to successfully strengthen the desired work behaviors, the employer must verify that the reinforcers being used are actually strengthening the desired behaviors. Instead of the desired behaviors, the reinforcers being used by the employer may be strengthening other less desired behaviors. Human behavior is complex.
o Social Media Use: Likes, comments, and shares serve as positive reinforcement online. Another large social reinforcer is the sense of community that people share who engage in social media use. Social community is a very powerful reinforcer. Thus, the development of social media in the 21st century has greatly enlarged the sources of reinforcement. This reinforcement extends worldwide. Human beings have never experienced anything like this. How it will change our world is unknown.