Punishment And Negative Reinforcement

708 Words3 Pages
According to the behavioural view, consequences determine to a great extent whether a person will repeat the behaviour that led to the consequences. The type and timing of consequences can strengthen or weaken behaviours. This paper therefore will provide a definition of both negative reinforcement and punishment, discuss the strengths and limitations of both types of consequences and how negative reinforcement and punishment could be applied in the classroom. When the consequence that strengthens behaviour is the disappearance (subtraction) of a stimulus, the process is called negative reinforcement. If a particular action leads to avoiding or escaping an aversive situation, the action is likely to be repeated in a similar situation (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2011). Consider students who continually ‘get sick’ right before a test and are sent to the nurse’s office. The behaviour allows the students to escape aversive situations (test) so getting ‘sick’ is being maintained, in part, through negative reinforcement. It is negative because the stimulus (the test) disappears, it is reinforced because the behaviour that caused the stimulus to disappear (getting sick) increases or repeats. Negative reinforcement has it’s strengths as it may enhance learning if used properly and appropriately. This can be done by placing students in mildly unpleasant situations so they can ‘escape’ when their behaviour improves (Kern & Clemens, 2007). There are several rules to follow for negative reinforcement to be effective. Describe the desired change in a positive way. Don’t bluff. Make sure you can enforce consequences. Follow through on the unpleasant or negative consequences despite complaints. Insist on action, not promises. If the unpleasant situation terminates when students promise to be better next time, you have reinforced making promises, not making personal behavioural
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