AlexBanter

Skinner was obviously a b*****d, however, negative reinforcement is not the same thing as punishment. In this context 'negative' and 'positive' refer to addition or removal of a stimulus, not any sort of value judgment. Reinforcement and punishment are talking about whether you are encouraging a desirable behavior or discouraging an undesirable behavior. This produces four categories, which are as follows. Positive reinforcement introduces a pleasant stimulus in an attempt to encourage desirable behavior. This is the classic reward. An example would be getting a bonus at work for performing especially well. Negative reinforcement is the removal of an unpleasant stimulus to encourage a behavior. We all experience this when we put our seatbelts on to get rid of that annoying dinging sound in the car. Positive punishment is the introduction of unpleasant stimulus to discourage a behavior. One of the earliest examples of this is getting your butt kicked because you pissed somebod