Have you ever wonder why there are children that have tantrums and as soon as the parent hand them a candy, they will stop? However, there are kids that when parents spank them they do stop acting up. How about a kid will stop their outburst when the promised toy was not bought? All three are different methods, but the intended result is the same; stop the tantrum. Operant conditioning (sometimes referred to as instrumental conditioning) is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an association is made between a behavior and a consequence for that behavior (Cherry, n.d.).
Learning Theory (n.d.) outlines four types of reinforcement namely positive, negative, punishment, and extinction. Positive reinforcement is the first example where a stimulus is given to the subject, something desirable, in order to elicit the desired response. The opposite of this, which is the second type, is giving or doing something undesirable like threatening the child that they will not buy the toy that they were suppose to buy. This is the concept of negative reinforcement. The third type is punishment that is most commonly depicted with the example of spanking. This is the reinforcement when a harsh or mean gesture is inflicted to stop a behavior. The last type is extinction where a stimulus is withheld to lessen the response. In the case above, if the parent will withhold the candy and just let the child go through the tantrum, the concept is, the child will eventually stop.
According to Cherry (n.d.), positive and negative reinforcement is intended to increase behavior while the last two types is intended to decrease it. All have their pros and cons regarding how effectively it works in modifying behavior. However, research has found positive reinforcement is the most powerful of any of these (“Learning Theory”, n.d.).
References
Cherry, K. (n.d.). Introduction to Operant Conditioning. About.com. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/introopcond.htm
Learning Theory and Behavioral Psychology. (n.d.). In Psychology 101 (Chapter 4, Section 3). Retrieved from http://allpsych.com/psychology101/reinforcement.html
