Negative reinforcement aims to increase behaviors by removing unpleasant stimuli. It involves an establishing operation, discriminative stimulus, behavior, and removal of the establishing operation. There are three types of negative reinforcement contingencies: escape, avoidance, and free-operant avoidance. An example is a mother picking up her crying child, removing the unpleasant stimulus of crying and increasing the likelihood of the child signaling for pickup in the future. Negative reinforcement can encourage good behaviors but effectiveness depends on the individual.
2. Session Objectives
Know what is negative reinforcement
Define negative reinforcement
Determine the factors of negative reinforcement
Find how to negative reinforcement in teaching practice
Know the three types of Negative Reinforcement
Contingencies
Review a case study to understand the impact of negative
reinforcement
3. What is negative reinforcement
Negative reinforcement is a method that can be used to help
teach specific behaviors. With negative reinforcement,
something uncomfortable or otherwise unpleasant is taken
away in response to a stimulus. Over time, the target behavior
should increase with the expectation that the unpleasant thing
will be taken away.
4. Wikipedia and Dictionary Definition
Negative reinforcement is the practice of removing something negative from
the space of the subject as a way to encourage the antecedent behavior from
that subject. (Wikipedia)
Negative reinforcement encourages specific behaviors by removing or
avoiding negative consequences or stimuli. It is different than punishment,
which aims to discourage a specific behavior. (healthline)
5. How does negative reinforcement work?
People might misinterpret negative reinforcement with punishment but it is
not misunderstood.
Negative reinforcement is the encouragement of certain behaviors by removing
or avoiding a negative outcome or stimuli. People typically use this technique to
help children learn good patterns of behavior, but it can also play a role in
training animals and pets.
Whereas, punishment involves involve removing a reward or applying an
unpleasant stimulus. Negative reinforcement does the vice versa.
6.
7. Factors of negative reinforcemnet
Negative reinforcement involves four factors.
Establishing operation EO,
an SD (discriminative stimulus),
the response or behavior,
and the SR- or the abolishment or reduction of the EO.
8. Three Types of Negative Reinforcement
Contingencies
Escape Contingency
Avoidance Contingency
Free-Operant Avoidance
10. Establishing Operation (A young child is crying.)
SD (The child puts his hands up toward his mother while crying.)
Response/Behavior (The mother picks up her child.)
SR- (The child stops crying.)
11. Impact as a Result of Negative Reinforcement
acting on the Mothers Behavior
The mother picks up her child more often in the future when her child
cries and, especially when the child reaches his hands toward the
mother.
Lets review how the example above fits with the definition and
characteristics of negative reinforcement.
A behavior occurs in this case, the mother picks up her child
The behavior is followed by the termination of a stimulus in this case,
the child stops crying
The behavior occurs more often in the future – The mom picks up her
child more often in the future when her child cries.
12. Conclusion
Negative reinforcement aims to increase specific behaviors by removing
negative consequences or stimuli.
It is part of the operant conditioning theory of learning, which includes
positive reinforcement and increases behaviors through rewards.
Punishments are different because they involve either removing a reward or
using an unpleasant outcome to discourage behaviors.
Negative reinforcement can help encourage good behavior in children and
teenagers at school, but its effectiveness will depend on the individual.