Feature Article
Positive & Negative Reinforcement
A 'not so science-y' approach to behavior
Reinforcement is used to increase the future frequency of a behavior. Typically reinforcement is used to increase the future frequency of a desired behavior, but sometimes unwanted behaviors can get reinforced as well unintentionally. There are two types of reinforcement; positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is when something is added to the environment to increase the wanted behavior (i.e., a praise, a thumbs up, a piece of a cookie, etc). Negative reinforcement is when something is taken away to increase the future frequency of a behavior (i.e., taking Tylenol to get rid of a headache). Both forms of reinforcement promote the behavior to happen again at a later time under similar environmental conditions.