The following video will introduce you to the concept of the stimulus. Watch this primer video and then complete the associated consolidation exercise. Alternatively, read the transcript below.
A stimulus that occurred in a person?s environment immediately following a behaviour is called a consequence.
Different types of consequence have different effects on a behaviour.
Reinforcement is a type of consequence that increases the likelihood of a behaviour occurring in future. Put differently, reinforcement is a consequences that strengthen behaviour.
Imagine that you wake up with a headache. You go to medicine cabinet and take a paracetamol tablet. As a result, your headache goes away.? This change ? the headache going away ? is probably a reinforcing consequence. You are now more likely to take a paracetamol tablet the next time you have a headache.
Let?s look at another example:
You are in a restaurant with a friend and you are about to order. Your friend suggests that you try the duck. You take their advice and it is the best meal you?ve ever had. Eating and enjoying the meal was most likely a reinforcing consequence. This means that you are more likely to order duck in the future. You?re also more likely to go to that restaurant and take that friend?s advice on menu choices in the future.
From these examples, we can conclude that reinforcement is a consequence that is responsible for increasing the future occurrence of the behaviours that preceded it.
Positive and Negative Reinforcement
In the previous two examples we looked at, we saw two different forms of reinforcement.
In the headache example, we saw that an unpleasant stimulus (the headache) was removed by the behaviour of taking paracetamol. Reinforcement that involves removing or stopping some unpleasant stimulus is known as negative reinforcement.
In the restaurant example, we saw that reinforcement took the form of adding something pleasant to the environment (the tasty meal).? Reinforcement that involves adding some pleasant stimulus to a person?s environment is known as positive reinforcement.
Both positive and negative reinforcement increase behaviours.? Sometimes people get confused when thinking about positive and negative reinforcement. They think that positive and negative refer to good and bad.? This is not the case.?
Describing a consequence as ?Positive Reinforcement? simply means that a behaviour was followed by the addition of a pleasant stimulus and the behaviour increased as a result.
Describing a consequence as ?Negative Reinforcement? simply means that a behaviour was followed by the removal of some unpleasant stimulus and the behaviour increased as a result.
Reinforcement is a principle of behaviour. It describes processes that are universal for both humans and other organisms. Its affect on our behaviour cannot be overstated. However, while the principle is simple, the ways in which it affects our lives are complex.
We?ll learn more about reinforcement, how it affects behaviour and how we can use it to teach people in a socially valid way in our future lessons and modules. But first, you will need to complete the consolidation exercises to make sure that you master the basics.