What is the negative reinforcement in psychology and examples

Within its many postulates, behavioral psychology affirms that behavior is regulated through the sum or elimination of stimuli. In this way, the individual is able to assimilate and gradually show desirable behaviors.

Therefore, within pedagogy, sociology and other behavioral orientation currents there is talk of negative reinforcement as an effective strategy to guide people to improve their behaviors and attitudes. In this psychology-online article, we will tell you What is negative reinforcement in psychology And you will see some examples that will help you identify when this psychological technique is appropriate or not to implement.

1. What is negative reinforcement
2. Characteristics of negative reinforcement
3. Negative reinforcement examples
4. Difference between negative reinforcement and punishment

What is negative reinforcement

The negative reinforcement theory was proposed by American psychologist and researcher Burrhus Frederic Skinner, within his postulates on operating conditioning. Specifically, the negative reinforcement consists of Remove or remove a stimulus that is annoying or uncomfortable for the person with the objective of enhance behavior or behavior.

In other words, The unwanted stimulus is taken from the scene so that the person strives so that it does not reappear. Within these negative stimuli we can talk about psychological or physicists, since they seek to avoid discomfort or discomfort in individuals.

An example of a negative reinforcement would be if you decide to eat a copious dinner, but before you eat an antacid to avoid discomfort. Similarly, if you prepare to face a complicated day and adopt behaviors to avoid annoying moments we would also talk about negative reinforcement.

Characteristics of negative reinforcement

As we mentioned, the negative reinforcement is part of the operating conditioning proposed by Skinner. Therefore, it has to do with the fact of Remove a stimulus and whose retirement involves a positive consequence for the person. Also, this behavioral technique has the following characteristics:

• Seeks to get desired behavior.
• Does not take into account mental processes, but the person's need to obtain a reward.
• Promote behavior change.
• It generates rapid results that are kept in time.
• It is based on avoidance to prevent behavior from appearing.
• Is Ideal for reinforceR learning.

It is essential to keep in mind that the negative reinforcement must be applied in moderation and with a lot of touch to meet the desired objective. Otherwise, it can become an element of personal coercion and can even cause some personal imbalance that limits social interaction.

Negative reinforcement examples

One of the clearest negative reinforcement examples is that of the mother who scolds her children when they don't clean your room. In this case, the direct consequence will be the children will order their room only for the need to avoid the scolding of the mother. Next, we will show you other examples of negative reinforcement in children and adults so you can better understand the concept.

Negative reinforcement examples at school

Discover different examples of negative reinforcement in the classroom:

• When the teacher is correcting the students because they speak a lot in the classroom and the students stop talking so that the teacher ceases their scolding.
• A teacher decides eliminate a task to students who strive and that have better notes.
• The teacher who threatens students with a retention in case they do not comply with the standards. Therefore, students They try to do what they are asked to avoid negative reinforcement, that in this case is retention.
• When students prepare for an evaluation with the intention of not getting bad notes.

Negative reinforcement examples at home

Some of the examples of negative reinforcement in adults that apply at home are:

• Clean everything before going to work so that when everything is returned it is clean and tidy.
• Use ears protectors when you sleep with a person who snores too much so that noise does not affect your rest.
• Take out the trash of the house to avoid its bad smell.

Negative reinforcement examples at work

In the workplace there are also cases of negative reinforcement such as the following:

• A supervisor who decides Delete hours from working days to those who demonstrate that they have greater productivity in sales or their activities.
• The people who decide leave an hour before to get early to your work and, in that way, avoid heavy traffic.

There is another behavioral psychological strategy that follows a methodology opposed to this. If you want to know it, do not miss this article about what is positive reinforcement in psychology and examples.

Difference between negative reinforcement and punishment

Although people tend to confuse negative reinforcement with punishment, the reality is that they are two different concepts. To start the negative reinforcement seeks to reduce bad behavior, while The punishment wants to eliminate it completely.

On the one hand, the negative reinforcement eliminates the unpleasant stimulus only when a good behavior is manifested, which increases the possibility that this behavior is maintained and repeated in the future.

For its part, the punishment implies an unpleasant consequence When the person has already committed the fault. Therefore, what the punishment seeks is that the behavior is not repeated in the future, which is the opposite objective of the negative reinforcement.

This article is merely informative, in psychology-online we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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