Psychology Assignment

By:

Syeda Mahnoor Fatima (10519)

Presented To:

“Sadia Humayun”

(17/7/2019)

Submitted as mandatory requirement for the course “Introduction to

Psychology” in the Program, Bachelor of Business Administration

What is reinforcement? What is the difference between positive and negative
reinforcement? Give real life example of each?

Reinforcement:

 Reinforcement is used to help increase the probability that a specific behavior will occur
in the future by delivering or removing a stimulus immediately after a behavior.
 Another way to put it is that reinforcement, if done correctly, results in a behavior
occurring more frequently in the future.

Positive reinforcement:

Positive reinforcement works by presenting a motivating/reinforcing stimulus to the person after

the desired behavior is exhibited, making the behavior more likely to happen in the future.

Example:

In psychology class, you watch a video about the human behavior and write a paper about what
you learned. Your instructor gives you 10 extra marks for your work.

Negative reinforcement:

Negative reinforcement occurs when a certain stimulus (usually an aversive stimulus)

is removed after a particular behavior is exhibited. The likelihood of the particular behavior
occurring again in the future is increased because of removing/avoiding the negative
consequence.

Negative reinforcement should not be thought of as a punishment procedure. With negative

reinforcement, you are increasing a behavior, whereas with punishment, you are decreasing a
behavior.
Example:

 You decide to clean up your mess in the kitchen in order to avoid getting in a fight with
your roommates.

 On Monday morning, you leave the house early to avoid getting stuck in traffic and
being late for class.

Difference between positive and negative reinforcement:

1. Positive Reinforcement implies a process of adding a stimulus when a certain behavior is

shown, to increase the likelihood of recurrence of that behavior. On the other hand,
negative reinforcement refers to a process in which the experimenter, in spite of adding
something undesirable, he/she removes the unwanted stimuli, to motivate the organism to
perform a certain activity again.

2. In positive reinforcement, a favorable stimulus is added, whereas, in negative

reinforcement, an unfavorable stimulus is removed.

3. Stimuli involved in positive reinforcement, have pleasant outcomes. Conversely, in

negative reinforcement, the stimuli can have unpleasant or even painful outcomes.

4. In positive reinforcement, the stimuli act as a reward, for doing something, whereas in
negative reinforcement, the stimuli act like a penalty, for not doing something.

5. Positive Reinforcement strengthens or maintains the probability of recurrence of

response. On the contrary, in negative reinforcement, the organism learns to get rid of
nasty responses.
 My strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths weaknesses
 Honesty  Lack of confidence
 Discipline  Easily trust people
 Parents and best friend  Does not like conflict
 Kindness  Aggressive
 Learning power  Stubborn