RE: Negative reinforcement (was: apparition)

[DeVolder Carol L]

Yeah, Jeff! :)

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Bartel [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, November 11, 2003 12:18 PM
To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences
Subject: RE: Negative reinforcement (was: apparition)

On 11 Nov 2003 at 11:25, Paul Brandon wrote:

> Possibly this is because the use of the terms positive and negative

> punishment never became common,

Why is that, by the way? 

I've seen positive and negative punishment in a couple places (okay, I confess, I saw it in General Psychology textbooks -- sources that, I realize, are not always the most reliable for psychology information :), and I think it makes a lot of sense to use this distinction when we're teaching.  As has been discussed (ad nauseam) here, you can explain that "positive" should be thought of in terms of "+" (addition of something) and "negative" as "-" (removal of something).  Combine this with these definitions of reinforcer ("something that makes the frequency of the behavior it follows more likely") and punisher ("something that makes the frequency of the behavior it follows less likely").  Now students can just put the two parts together.

negative reinforcer = something whose removal makes the behavior it follows more likely

negative punisher = something whose removal makes the behavior it follows less likely

What am I missing?  I'm confident some TIPSter can shed some light on why this approach never caught on.

In addition to making it easier for students, we don't have any problem with assuming the relationships among the four consequences are in any way symmetrical.  Such a relationship may exist (application of a particular "negative reinforcer" might serve to punish a behavior; in which case we would describe it as a "positive punisher" because something was added that reduced the frequency of the behavior), but it doesn't have to.  That is, as Stephen Black mentioned earlier, an empirical question.  Further, a particular event might be reinforcing to one person and punishing to another.  All we focus on is (1) whether the behavior became more or less frequent and (2) whether the frequency changed due to the addition or removal or something.

Jeff

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Jeffrey Bartel

Assistant Professor

Department of Psychology

Shippensburg University

[EMAIL PROTECTED] / 717.477.1324

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