Key Concepts There are 4 types of consequences: 2 (positive and negative reinforcement) tend to increase behavior; 2 (extinction and punishment) tend to decrease behavior. Extinction (essentially there’s no consequence). Seldom used in business to decrease undesired safety behaviors, but commonly (unknowingly) used to decrease desired safety behaviors. Punishment : Very effective & essential -- there always will be behaviors which cannot be tolerated. We need to understand how the punishment affects the person being punished. WHEN WOULD YOU USE PUNISHMENT? Positive and Negative Reinforcement can both increase behavior, but Positive gives the benefit of discretionary effort. Positive Reinforcement is not necessarily always beneficial: it can increase undesired behavior as well (ex: peer support for violating safety rules) Consequences are negative or positive based upon receiver’s perception, not sender’s intent
