Punishment versus Reinforcement

Punishment versus reinforcement is a theory by B. F. Skinner. Punishment is the administration of undiserable behavior in reducing the occurrence of a negative behavior. Punishment entails pking and yelling. Reinforcement is the administration of a particular response that will in effect earn a learned and repeated behavior. There are two types of reinforcement, positive and negative. Positive reinforcement esults when the occurrence of a valued behavioral consequences has the effect of strengthening the probability of the behavior being repeated.

While negative reinforcement, results when an undesirable behavioral consequence is withheld. Parents as well as employers should use reinforcement in managing children and employees. Reward system makes one motivated that will lead a better behavior and work outcome. Punishment vs. Reinforcement 3 Punishment is the administration of undiserable behavior in order to reduce the occurrence of unwanted behavior. Example of this is demoting an employee due to not meeting the qouta.

On the other hand, reinforcement has two types. These in effect will earn a behavior that is learned and repeated. Positive reinforcement results when the occurrence of a valued behavioral consequences has the effect of strengthening the probability of the behavior being repeated. Example of which is when an employee had struggle to meet deadline and upon completion had earned a bonus. Negative reinforcement results when an undesirable behavioral consequence is withheld.

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Example of this is assigning an employee on a different task while he struggle to perfect his previous task (Reinforcement Theory, 2006). 1. Basically, there should be no behaviors that can be justified by punishments. However, once in a while punishment may be used with caution or properly. Punishment, if used, should be in a decreasing trend instead of using it often. When a child was punished because of a particular mistake, the result should be a reduction of committing same behavior again. Some behaviors, in my opinion, may be treated with a punishment.

If a child continuously behave negatively after talking with him/her or any other subtle ways to eradicate or lessen a specific negative behavior, more likely a punishment may be the last resort. But punishing a child only shows a power struggle between parents and children. The child succeded, though, because he/she had makes you irritable (Maag, 2006). At the end of the day, I personally discourage punishment since negative behavior will not bend negative behavior. 2. Rewards may modify behavior.

In my own opinion, rewarding a good behavior for example giving reward to a child when he/she had a higher grade in comparison with his/her previous grade Punishment vs. Reinforcement 4 will give a very specific motivation for the child to do better in the next examination. Same thing for employees. If the company motivates an employee by giving awards or recognition for a specific outcome, there will be enthusiasm in doing the next workload. Rewards does not only mean giving out something to a child or somebody to appreciate a good deed.

Giving a smile, a hug or verbally appreciating a person will uplift one's self-esteem. Rewards should be given in a very specific manner. Like if a child aces a test he/she will be able to choose the toy he/she will buy, on the other hand, if he/she gets a grade higher than the previous test he/she will get a toy but he/she does not have the privilage to choose. In response to the given situation, negative reinforcement have done well on the case of the dog as well as to the son. Negative reinforcement had changed behavior in the case of the two examples.

As to my opinion, positive and negative reinforcement are both good strategies in redefining behavior, depending on the situation and the reaction of the person towards the strategies. A very good outcome of these strategies is the motivation. Motivation helps people to do things with enthusiasm, vigor and with a clear path towards the goal. With positive reinforcement, motivation becomes clear because upon completion of a task or change in certain bad behavior, there will be a clear and specific reward waiting.

With negative behavior, some aspects like emotions can be affected because of the consequence of a certain misbehavior, like a child will be hurt if his/her allowance will have deductions, but the outcome of the strategy will bring forth a much better behavior due to the urge to get back what was lost. However, positive and negative reinforcement should be used side by side. Giving and taking will bring a better motivation to a person. And of course, communication should back up any reinforcements used.

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