Using positive and negative reinforcement to change behaviors
MGT 420 Module 3 Discussion Question 1:
If you, as a manager, had to help change an employee’s behavior to make him or her more productive, what course of action would you take? How might you use both positive and negative reinforcement?
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
Positive and negative reinforcements
Introduction
Operant conditioning is a type of learning that occurs when an animal or human responds to certain stimuli in order to obtain a reward. This type of learning is based on positive or negative reinforcement, punishment and extinction.
Positive reinforcement
The first thing to know about positive reinforcement is that it is any change in the environment that increases the frequency of a behavior. For example, if you want your dog to sit, you can give him praise after he sits and then give him another treat when he does so again.
This means that positive reinforcement occurs when something happens after a behavior has already been performed (e.g., sitting), which makes it more likely for us to repeat this same behavior again in the future!
Negative reinforcement
Negative reinforcement is the removal of an aversive stimulus. An example would be if you’re trying to get a cat to stay away from something, but he keeps going back for more treats every time you throw one away. The next time your cat comes over and sees that treat on the ground, he’ll probably stay away from your chair instead.
This can also happen with humans: if someone gives an enjoyable experience (like food or praise) as punishment for doing something wrong, they’ll have less incentive the next time around to do it again because they’ve already gotten what they wanted out of doing so badly in the first place!
Punishment
Punishment is the application of a negative stimulus to decrease the frequency, intensity, or duration of a behavior. For example, if your child forgot to do their homework again, you could punish them by taking away all their toys for an hour after school. This would act as an immediate punishment to decrease the frequency of forgetting their homework.
You can also use punishment in situations where you want to encourage good habits by decreasing bad ones: if they don’t finish their dinner before leaving the table (which might lead them into eating dessert and other junk food), then give them extra snacks at dinnertime so that they’re less likely go back for seconds on dessert!
Extinction
Extinction is a type of negative reinforcement. When you stop reinforcing a behavior, it stops occurring naturally. For example, if your dog was once trained to sit on command and you’ve never given him any commands since then, he won’t automatically sit when asked for the next few days because he knows that’s not going to happen anymore (he doesn’t get reinforced).
It’s important here that we’re talking about extinction as a negative reinforcement rather than “extinction” meaning “not paying attention.” In this sense, extinction can be positive or negative: if I’m teaching my dog how to play fetch at home but forget to throw the ball every time she tries it out in public—meaning she gets no reinforcement—she may eventually stop trying out new behaviors because they’re not being reinforced by me anymore!
The four main types of operant conditioning
In operant conditioning, you can use positive reinforcement to make something happen. For example, if your dog does something good for you and he gets praised by you as a reward for his behavior, this is called positive reinforcement. Positively reinforcing behaviors allows them to continue performing those behaviors in the future without needing any other form of encouragement from us—and thus they learn what we want them to do!
Negative reinforcement occurs when an undesirable behavior is stopped from occurring again by removing its consequences or unpleasant experiences (this can be done with punishments). For example, if your dog chews through your favorite pair of shoes every time he sees them lying on the floor (negative reinforcement), then perhaps if you place those shoes right out where he can see them when he gets home after work every day at lunchtime then maybe next time around he won’t be tempted by those shiny new boots…
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve covered the four main types of operant conditioning as well as how they work. We talked about positive and negative reinforcements, extinction, and punishment. If you have any questions or comments regarding this subject matter please leave them below so we can continue learning together!
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