Primer on Reinforcement

Paul Richardson 2011

I am posting this Primer on Reinforcement that I wrote a few
years ago for inclusion in a management training manual. I
decided to post is now because of a report on CBS Sunday
Morning, 01/09/11 about the school bullying problem and the New
Jersey law just passed. New Jersey enacted a law this past week
that requires schools to appoint anti-bullying experts, and to make
regular public reports on bullying incidents.
To me this is just another example of the educators “go to”
approach of putting another band aid on the problem rather than
addressing the underlying problem. One interesting point of the
report from CBS was that the problem seems worst in middle
schools. That makes sense because the middle school years are
the “change” phase between elementary school “children” and
high school “young adults.”
A core problem in all schools but worse in middle and high school
is the lack of discipline. Teachers operate from a fear stance
because they are afraid their administrators will not support them
against complaints from parents. This Laissez Faire environment
sets the stage for students to act out because it is a way to get
some attention even if negative.
Education school training especially for leadership positions is “of
no value” as Arthur Levine commented in his Educating School
Leaders report in 2005. Thus, they don’t have even the most
basic foundational human psychology understanding vital to being
an effective leader. The following primer is a tiny part of what
they need to know but it is powerful in and of itself. While it was
written for adult settings it is applicable to school settings as well.
All sorts of excuses are floated to justify why teachers can’t spend
the time to exercise discipline to a high level such as class size. I
can tell you that in my K-12 school experience the classes were
much larger than they are today and yet the teachers exerted
discipline and direction to the primary mission of learning, not all
of the distractions that get in the way of performance in today’s
schools.
 Primer on Reinforcement for Managers

Behavior modification can be achieved by objective use of

reinforcement techniques.

Positive Reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is giving anything that is desired or needed

by the person being reinforced. Positive reinforcement
strengthens the behavior you are reinforcing. Examples include,
achieving a goal on time, helping others achieve their goals, and
perfect attendance. These are all behaviors that deserve
reinforcement. To be effective the reinforcement must follow the
behavioral response immediately. Realize that people have
varying needs in the type of reinforcement so thought should be
given to the type of reinforcement that is both possible to give and
most valued by the positive performer at the time given.

Negative Reinforcement

Punishment or negative reinforcement is used to weaken the

behavioral response it immediately follows. Thus, you are trying
to prevent the reoccurrence of that behavior. It must be a
stimulus negative enough that the individual will modify their
behavior rather than let it happen to them again.

Remember, negative reinforcement motivates people not to do

again. Positive reinforcement motivates them to repeat positive
performance.
Extinction

By withholding reinforcement (positive or negative), the behavior

is on extinction. That is, while negative reinforcement tends to
suppress a behavior, extinction tends to make it go away
completely. Be careful of ignoring behavior altogether as it gives
people the impression that you don’t care what they do. That will
definitely not help morale or organizational goal achievement.

Caveats

Some managers fall into the trap of treating their people like
children. That is, they do not want to be too harsh and hence
withhold the corrective negative reinforcement that is vital in
keeping an organization on track to positive achievement. If
people refuse to follow through on tasks assigned then
punishment is called for. If you don’t, they never learn to face
their responsibilities. They must be treated like adults and
expected to earn their keep as an adult should. People need
objective feedback about their performance to learn and grow. If
you withhold that feedback you are doing them and the
organization harm.

You must treat your best performers well and make the poor
performers face the consequences of their actions. Otherwise
you reward sloth and penalize the ones who have to carry the
load that should have been carried by the poor performers.
Failing to do this is the worst possible abrogation of your
responsibility as a manager and leaves you open to punishment
(which you deserve) from your superior(s). Thus, the best course
is to be fair and objective in your reinforcement technique, which
gives the best results.