Reinforcement

Synonyms

Operant conditioning; Punishment (antonym)

Definition

Reinforcement is one of the basic principles of operant conditioning (Fischer et al. 2011) and refers to the increase in future likelihood of a behavior following the presentation or removal of a stimulus as a consequence of that behavior. In other words, the principle of reinforcement states that an organism is more likely to exhibit a particular behavior when the immediate consequence of that behavior results in a favorable change in the environment. This may include the addition of a pleasant stimulus (e.g., food, social approval) or the removal of an aversive stimulus (e.g., extremely loud music).

Introduction

As a principle of operant conditioning, reinforcement can be used to explain the occurrence and persistence of many human behaviors since natural contingencies of reinforcement are typically present in our environment. For example, putting a dollar bill in a vending machine and pushing a button to make a selection...