Question

Describe and explain 'real life' examples of positive and negative punishment and positive and negative reinforcement and give four examples of the schedules of reinforcement. Excellent essays will include an explanation of learning principles.

Answer 1

• Negative punishment-It’s the type of operant conditioning that deals with decreasing the rate of undesired behavior by removing certain favorite or desired item from the individual’s life.
• Your children are playing together when, all of a sudden, your youngest daughter refuses to share a toy with her older sister. In an effort to ease the conflict and stop the fighting, you take the toy away. While you may need to repeat this technique several times for it to sink in, the child will soon learn that, when they don’t share the toy, it will be taken away.
  
• You found out that your teenage son skipped out on a very important test at school, so you take away the keys to his car as a consequence of his poor decision. The idea is that your child realizes that there is a consequence associated with a poor action or decision. With diligence and proper implementation, you might find that using negative punishment to deal with your child’s behavior may solve the behavioral issues at hand.
• Positive punishment-It’s the type of operant conditioning that deals with decreasing the rate of undesired behavior by adding a certain negative consequence to the individual after the behavior has been exhibited.
• You've told your children to stop playing ball inside the house, which is against your home rules. But, surprise surprise, they don't listen.How do you correct the behavior? Have them do a chore instead -- perhaps you can have them do some weeding outside. Then, they can continue to throw the ball outside after the weeds are pulled. This way, they're expending their energy in a positive way by pulling the weeds.
• Let's say you're in a candy store and your child decides to steal a chocolate bar. Once you realize what's happened, go with your child to return the candy (or, if they've already eaten it, go back with them to apologize and pay what you owe).
• Depending on your child's age, you could also have them write a paragraph about why stealing is wrong, and why they should never steal again. Having to write this essay will make the lesson stick a little better. You don't have to do anything with the essay after you read it together -- you can keep it, or you can let your child keep it. It's the process of writing the lesson down that's most important here.
• Positive reinforcement is when you introduce a motivating stimulus (reward) after a desired behavior has occurred. Examples include:
• A boss promoting an employee after he/she notices exceptional work.
• A mother giving her son a cookie after he cleans up his toys.
• A girl receiving a sticker from her teacher after reciting the alphabet.
• Negative reinforcement is when you remove an aversive stimulus (punishment) after a desired behavior has occurred. Examples include:
• An employee working hard to avoid getting fired.
• A son cleaning up his toys to avoid getting yelled at by his mother.
• A girl reciting the alphabet correctly to avoid getting laughed at.
• Schedules of reinforcement:-
• In continuous reinforcement, the desired behavior is reinforced every single time it occurs. This schedule is best used during the initial stages of learning in order to create a strong association between the behavior and the response.
• For example, imagine that you are trying to teach a dog to shake your hand. During the initial stages of learning, you would probably stick to a continuous reinforcement schedule in order to teach and establish the behavior.
• You might start by grabbing the animal's paw, performing the shaking motion, saying "Shake," and then offering a reward each and every time you perform this sequence of steps. Eventually, the dog will start to perform the action on his own, and you might opt to continue reinforcing every single correct response until the behavior is well established.
• In partial or intermittent reinforcement, the response is reinforced only part of the time. Learned behaviors are acquired more slowly with partial reinforcement, but the response is more resistant to extinction.
• For example, in the earlier example where you were training a dog to shake. While you initially used a continuous schedule, reinforcing every single instance of the behavior may not always be realistic. Eventually, you might decide to switch to a partial schedule where you provide reinforcement after so many responses occur or after so much time has elapsed.
• There are four schedules of partial reinforcement:
• Fixed-ratio schedules are those where a response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses. This schedule produces a high, steady rate of responding with only a brief pause after the delivery of the reinforcer.
• Example-Collecting Tokens in a Video Game: In many video games, you have to collect so many tokens, object, or points in order to receive some type of reward.
• Grades: A child is offered a reward after they earn five A’s on her homework assignments. After her fifth A on a homework assignment, she gets to pick out a new toy.
  Variable-ratio schedules occur when a response is reinforced after an unpredictable number of responses. This schedule creates a high steady rate of responding. Gambling and lottery games are good examples of a reward based on a variable ratio schedule.
• Example-Slot machines: Players have no way of knowing how many times they have to play before they win. All they know is that eventually, a play will win. This is why slot machines are so effective, and players are often reluctant to quit. There is always the possibility that the next coin they put in will be the winning one.
  
• Fixed-interval schedules are those where the first response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed. This schedule causes high amounts of responding near the end of the interval, but much slower responding immediately after the delivery of the reinforcer.
• Example-A weekly paycheck is a good example of a fixed-interval schedule. The employee receives reinforcement every seven days, which may result in a higher response rate as payday approaches.
  
• Variable-interval schedules occur when a response is rewarded after an unpredictable amount of time has passed. This schedule produces a slow, steady rate of response.
• Example-Typically, you check your email at random times throughout the day instead of checking every time a single message is delivered. The thing about email is that in most cases, you never know when you are going to receive a message. Because of this, emails roll in sporadically at completely unpredictable times. When you check and see that you have received a message, it acts as a reinforcer for checking your email.