What is positive reinforcement?

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Positive reinforcement is when you reward a behavior to encourage it (for instance, giving an treat to a boy for finishing his chores).

Negative reinforcement is when you remove something bad in order to reinforce a behavior (for instance, ungrounding a boy who finishes his chores).

There are also negative and positive punishments... giving or taking away something in order to make someone do something less. Grounding a boy who tears up his sister's drawing is positive punishment (positive because it is something you add to the equation... you add the grounding). Negative punishment would be taking away the boy's treat because of the same thing (removal of a positive reinforcer).

All these terms are from behavioral psychology, so if you are interested, look up operant conditioning, or behavioral psychology. If you are a reader, there is a book called Walden Two by BF Skinner (a behavioral psychologist) that examines some of the ideas in a fictional way.

First answer by Zanbabe. Last edit by Zanbabe. Contributor trust: 731 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 27 [recommend question]

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