Question

What are positive and negative reinforcement? How are positive and negative reinforcement different? How are they similar? What is punishment?

Answer 1

in positive reinforcement a certain behavior is strethened through otivation or reward so that the behavior will more likely occur in the future. the goal is stregthen the desired behavior. for example, if a child completes the homework on time, the parent will reward the child with gift or praise so that the child will display such behavior again

In negative reinforcement, a stimulus usualy an aversive stimulus is removed after a particular behavior is exhibited. the goal is to stregthen the behavior so that it occurs again in the future, thus it is not a punishment. for example, if a person gets headache when watching agressive/violent movies, he/she will less likely to watch such movies in order to avoid getting a headache

Thus in positive reinforcement. behavior is strengthened by giving something pleasant whereas in negative reinforcemnt a stimulus is removed to strenghten a behavior. in both cases the goal is to increase a response. both of them fall under operant conditioning.

punishment is the process of adding a negative consequence after a response so that it is less likely to occur in the future. Example, a child is given extra work to do if they do not complete their homework in time. thus due to the punishment that is added work, the childis likely to complete the himework on time in order to avoid the consequences