Alma Briscoe

Anything that can strengthens or increases

the occurrence of a desired behavior such as treat, token reward, money, praise, promotion, etc.

Two Types of Reinforcer:

Positive Reinforcer and Negative Reinforcer

Adding something to increase the response; like giving a candy to a child after she ate her meal, the likelihood of her eating her meal next time increases in order to get a candy.

Removing something to increase the response to a desired behavior. One example is that a door makes a squeaky sound every time you open it. So you apply lubricants at the hinge to get rid of the noise.

Anything that can weakens or decreases the probability that the behavior will occur again in the future such as spanking, giving time out, taking away toys, etc.

Two types of Punishment: Positive

and Negative Punishment

Anything that decreases the occurrence of a behavior as a result of adding something unpleasant after the behavior. One example is giving a child a time out for misbehaving in front of guests.

Adding Something unpleasant :

“Time out” decreases of the

probability that the child will

misbehave again the next time

the parent have guests.

Anything that decreases the occurrence of

a behavior as a result of a removal of something unpleasant after the behavior. An example of this approach is when a child was told by her parents to tidy up her room before she can watch her favorite show. The child was too occupied playing video games that she forgot about it. So as a result, she lost her privilege to watch tv.