THEORY OF REINFORCEMENT

HISTORY
The theory of reinforcement was introduced by a famous Behaviorist, B.F Skinner,to illustrate the
concept of behavior and the actions associated with them. According to Skinner every person’s
behavior is the result of the effect of his actions. Theory of Reinforcement is also named as
‘Behaviorism’ or ‘Operant Theory’. Some researchers of that time were not satisfied with the methods
of humanism or psychoanalysis as they wanted to support the behavior mechanism by scientific
evidences to make their ideas more strong. Skinner and other researchers concentrated on analyzing
those actions which could be measured and experimental. The ones who follow Skinner’s concept may
find modern psychology inappropriate. To get better insight of behavior pattern of people in various
industries Skinner’s ideas to modify motivation by different incentives is used. He emphasized that the
way in which any being behaves is not linked with his aims or objectives but is affected by external
dealings and surrounding.

CONCEPT
Many fields like up bringing of kids, training of animals and inspiring the workers in organizations
apply reinforcement theory. Reinforcement theory is a kind of operant conditioning which concentrates
on apparent attitude and natural elements to mold a person’s manner of conducting oneself. Stimuli are
required to develop behaviors according to reinforcement theory. This theory have four main
techniques.

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT:
A reaction which comes from any beneficial or good outcome and the chance to repeat that reaction
boosts is positive reinforcement.
Reward system is applied in positive reinforcement. In reward system brain manages and commands to
shape behavior by generating satisfying outcomes. The wanted attitude may not be produced by
providing the incentives but it can encourage an individual to develop the desired behavior and
considered as positive reinforcement. The reinforcement should be very attractive and inspiring for
individuals.
Many experiments were performed by B.F Skinner especially on animals to properly demonstrate
positive reinforcement. One of his experiment is in which a rat was trapped in a box having a lever
which when pressed released food. When a rat was trapped in the box it was observed that at first the
rat idly moved in the box and accidentally pressed the lever. But after several unconcious attempts the
rat learned that pressing the lever gives food. So after that the rat always pressed the lever when it was
hungry. This experiment showed that positive reinforcement do give the wanted behaviors.

NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT:
It is a way to increases the possibility of repeating a behavior by eliminating an undesirable condition
when a reaction which is needed occurs.
Negative reinforcement works by getting rid of the elements which are irritating or unpleasant in order
to get the required manner of conduct. For example, at work an employee do not like to be checked
constantly so he can avoid constant supervision by doing his work efficiently. In this way an
employee’s devoted behavior towards his work eliminated the factor of being supervised.
Rat experiment was used by B.F Skinner to explain negative inforcement but this time he used the lever
to turn of the electric current which was circulating in the box. The electric current was an unwanted
condition for the rat and after several attempts the rat learned that he can get rid of electric current by
going to lever and pressing it.
POSITIVE PUNISHMENT:
Positive punishment or Punishment includes reducing the amount of any unwanted attitude for a certain
condition. This technique works by enforcing adverse consequences on the person who exhibited the
undesirable behavior. When a person is pressurized by exposing him to harsh consequences lessen the
chances of repeating the unwanted behavior. For example, a worker who distract other workers by
engaging them all in irrelevant topics may be threatened to deduct pay or his sitting arrangement may
be changed which causes that worker to become more concentrated on his work related tasks rather
than being chatty.

APPLICATION:
Immediately after the publication of Skinner’s work on reinforcement theory it started to be widely
used by management of organizations and found it highly effective in areas from reducing irregularity
in employees attendance to improving an employee’s performance at work.
For example, hospitals used to provide the surgeons with the choice to set the time and date of the
surgeries in the middle of a week, this was advantageous for the surgeons but was a problem for the
hospital as many surgeries were delayed or canceled due to lateness of surgeons or crowded operation
theaters. A hospital in Springfield, Missouri adopted reinforcement theory to eliminate this problem.
They decided to charge penalty for those surgeons who arrived late for the surgery and those fines were
gathered to reward the surgeons who arrived on time for the surgeries. The fine on late comers was a
negative reinforcement whereas the reward to the surgeons who come on time was a positive
reinforcement.

CRITICISM:
Many objections have been made about the theory of reinforcement. The term reinforcement is said to
be circular as it seems to claim that reaction is raised in intensity by the reinforcement whereas
reinforcement is defined as an element which adds effectiveness to the reaction.