What exactly is positive reinforcement?

[coloradodem2005]

I feel so dumb right now.

[brainshrub]

1. Rewarding positive behavior rather than punishing negative behavior.

It's significant more effective at altering habits.

[coloradodem2005]

3. Especially when you consider...

...that punishing negative behavior, if nothing else does not deter the action for the sake of detering the action, but for the sake of not being punished and it makes people try to sneak around more.

[iconoclastic cat]

4. Not according B.F. Skinner, brainshrub.

The term "positive reinforcement" refers only to a "new" stimulus that is produced by a specific action. That stimulus could be pleasant or unpleasant.

[brainshrub]

6. It's a good thing I not a behaviorist.

I'm more into the systemic-approach to psychology.

However, my own experience is that positive re-enforcement is light-years more effective than pain or guilt-based modes of behavior modification.

[On the Road]

2. It's a Term from Behavioral Psychology

popularized by BF Skinner. Skinner's theory was that animals gravitate toward behaviors that satisfy one of their primal drives -- hunger, thirst, sex, warmth. Positive reinforcement is a conscious attempt to satisfy those drives and modify behavior.

The term is now part of popular culture and is basically used for any type of reward used to elicit change.

[iconoclastic cat]

5. From an educational psychology textbook:

"Positive reinforcement is the strengthening of a behavior by presenting a desired stimulus after the behavior." The term "desired" here refers to desire on the part of the subject; it may not be desireable to anyone else.