The two statements are consistent as definitions of positive and negative reinforcement (Baldwin and Baldwin do not talk about punishment).
Skinner is making the point that punishment is often paired with negative reinforcement of an incompatible behavior.
Note that an aversive stimulus is one whose presentation is punishing and whose removal is negatively reinforcing. Thus, a given stimulus may support both negative reinforcement and punishment depending as you say on the specifics of the contingencies.
At 7:38 PM +0000 11/3/03, Jeffrey Nagelbush wrote:
I was taught that the the effect of negative reinforcers and positive reinforcers depended on how the contigencies were established. The following is a paragraph from the B. F. Skinner Foundation by Skinner. It appears to support both sides of the argument:
Reinforcers may be positive or negative. A positive reinforcer reinforces when it is presented; a negative reinforcer reinforces when it is withdrawn. Negative reinforcement is not punishment. Reinforcers always strengthen behavior; that is what "reinforced" means. Punishment is used to suppress behavior. It consists of removing a positive reinforcer or presenting a negative one. It often seems to operate by conditioning negative reinforcers. The punished person henceforth acts in ways which reduce the threat of punishment and which are incompatible with, and hence take the place of, the behavior punished.
Baldwin & Baldwin, "Behavior Principles in Everyday Life": "To reinforce mean to strengthen, and both positive and negative reinforcement strengthen behavior. They both increase the likelihood that people will repeat a behavior in the future." . . . Postive reinforcement occurs with teh onset of a reinforcing stimulus, and negative reinforcement occurs with the termination fo an aversive stimulus."
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