Principles of Reinforcement

A response to the Like Driving a Car Activity
created May 15, 2021 by Fergal O’Hagan (@fergalohagan)

Number of views: 324

In behavioural psychology a threshold concept is that of contingent reinforcement.  We probably don’t have anything else closer to a “law”.  The principle of contingent reinforcement states that when a behaviour enacted in a particular context is reinforced it is more likely to occur in the future when the individual encounters that context.  Similarly, when a behaviour is punished it is less likely to occur.  It’s interesting that people in the discipline so readily forget this basic foundation of learning.  In other words, when a person receives a reward following a behaviour in a certain context, they are more likely to enact that behavior again within that context.  When a person experiences an aversive stimulus (I.e., a punisher) following a behaviour in a particular context, the behaviour is less likely to occur.  Here are the nuts and bolts…

• Reinforcement refers to both reward and punishment.  These are things that happen after a behaviour is enacted in a particular context. 
• Rewards are what we term appetitive.  I.e., we infer that have some satisfying motivating quality.  An example of a tangible reward for a child might be candy (but not too much!).
• Punishers are what we term aversive.  We infer that they have some unpleasant quality.  While we infer these motivational qualities, both rewards and punishers, are not defined by what effect we think they should produce on behaviour, but what effect we actually observe on behaviour.  Thus, what might be reinforcing for one person might be neutral or aversive for another.
• Both the application and removal of a reinforcer can influence behaviour.  A commonly misunderstood concept is that of negative reinforcement.  Negative reinforcement occurs when the likelihood of a behaviour increases because of removal of an aversive stimulus following enactment of the behaviour. (Clean your room!) Similarly negative punishment occurs through the removal of a reward, following enactment of a behaviour.  For example, if a parent removes allowance from a child for not tidying their room.
• Contingency refers to the consistency in the link between the behaviour, the context and the reinforcer (referred to as the three-term contingency).  In initial learning the more regular this link the faster learning takes place.  Over the long-term, however, intermittent reinforcement (I.e., reinforcing once in a while) produces the best retention of behaviour (e.g., like the very odd good shot in my golf game keeps my coming back).  This does have serious implications however in that when trying to manage problem behaviours, individuals in the environment can inadvertently reinforce a behaviour and cause it to persist. 
• Thoughts are considered behaviours like any other.  In the same way overt behaviours (I.e. actions we can see done) are reinforced, so too can thoughts.  
• Our internal context is just as important as the external environment. Thoughts and feelings also serve as a context, prompting behaviour in some instances and leading to avoidance in others.  We refer to the interactive nature of thoughts, feelings and behaviours in the environment as being reciprocally determined.

Once students have an understanding of the basic principles of reinforcement as well as the interaction between the individual and their internal and external environment, much behaviour can be explained and potentially predicted allowing students to apply principles of psychology to their own behaviour and the behaviours of others they might be working with (e.g., education, therapy, performance).

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