Activity

Learn how to differentiate between and how to apply positive and negative reinforcement.

Educators often use reinforcement to teach new skills or increase desired behaviors. Although the goal is for students to regulate themselves by responding to intrinsic motivators (e.g., feeling proud), educators initially might need to deliver more tangible reinforcers to encourage appropriate behavior and help students learn to control their own behavior.

When we think of reinforcement, we typically think of what is referred to as positive reinforcement (e.g., giving a student a sticker for completing an assignment, giving a thumbs-up for not talking in the hallway). Positive reinforcement involves providing a desired consequence after a student engages in an appropriate behavior to increase the likelihood of the behavior occurring in the future. Ideally, educators should try to incorporate positive reinforcement into their daily lessons and activities to encourage skill acquisition and desired behavior. Positive reinforcers fall into three categories: tangible, social, and activity.

However, educators can also encourage a student’s acquisition of skills or desired behavior through negative reinforcement. This involves removing an unwanted object or condition once the student has engaged in the desired behavior to increase the likelihood of the behavior occurring in the future. For example, a teacher might give a student a break from a non-preferred task after completing a portion of his problems, or the teacher might exempt students from the final exam if they have an A average for the class. Click the image below to view a video example of negative reinforcement.

Transcript

Notice that the teacher uses negative reinforcement to increase how much classwork Emma completes. Because Emma struggles to complete her mathematics lesson, her teacher decides to temporarily remove the aversive task (i.e., completing mathematics problems) by allowing Emma to take a short break. After the break, she will complete five more math problems, alternating between classwork and breaks until she has completed the task. Over time, the teacher will gradually require her to complete more problems before getting a break. The goal is for Emma to complete classwork without a break.

Read the scenarios below.

Scenario 1: Jagan has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He has difficulty sitting still during 20-minute whole-group instructional time. During this activity, he often loses focus and begins humming and playing with items on his desk, which almost always creates distractions for others.

Scenario 2: Ashanti, who has autism, performs well academically but struggles to work in small-group settings where she must interact socially with her peers. Ashanti’s teacher has worked hard to make sure the classroom is welcoming, respectful, and safe for all students. One of the teacher’s goals for Ashanti this year is to increase her social interactions and participation in small-group activities.

Now respond to the following prompts.

1. For each of the students in the scenarios above:
   1. Describe one positive and one negative reinforcement that their educators could use to help them be more successful in the classroom.
   2. Explain which reinforcement you think would be easier to implement in a classroom situation.
2. When you think about the negative reinforcement you would use for each student, do any potential drawbacks or undesirable side effects come to mind?
3. Try to think of an instance when an educator inadvertently used negative reinforcement. It can be something you witnessed as a student or something you did as an educator. Now complete the following:
   1. Describe the scenario.
   2. What did you or the educator you observed want or expect the student to do?
   3. What did the student actually do?
   4. What could you or the educator you observed have done differently?