Reinforcement
Reinforcement is any consequence that makes the behaviour it follows more likely to happen again. Positive reinforcement adds something, such as food or praise; negative reinforcement removes something unpleasant, such as switching off a loud noise. Both increase behaviour, so negative reinforcement is not punishment, which decreases it, and confusing the two is the most common beginner error in this vocabulary. The schedule matters as much as the reward: reinforcing only some responses, unpredictably, produces behaviour that persists far longer once the reward stops than reinforcing every response does.
Why it matters
The schedule finding explains why intermittent payoffs, from slot machines to sporadically responsive people, produce unusually persistent behaviour.
Also written: reinforcer, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement
Where it comes up
Read about Reinforcement on Wikipedia
Sources
- Reinforcement Wikipedia
- 'Superstition' in the Pigeon Classics in the History of Psychology, York UniversitySkinner's 1948 report that reinforcement delivered on a timer, unrelated to what the bird did, still shaped elaborate behaviour.
- B. F. Skinner Wikipedia
