What I’ve left out is what to do during the difficult transition time between he continually rips off his clothes and when he keeps them on. Instead, throughout the days when John is at school, the teachers should say, “We’re so glad you’re here with us today, John!” That’s positive reinforcement, something added to John’s school day that strengthens the good behaviour of keeping his clothes on. And they shouldn’t praise him for keeping his clothes on. “So what are they supposed to do?” I asked her. What they think is punishment is, in fact, negative reinforcement for John. Sending John home, which the staff feel is punishment for his behaviour, is, in fact, a reward for John. In fact, John has started stripping on the school bus on the way to school so he doesn’t even have to go through the charade of going to class. But here’s the thing – John might have a developmental delay but he knows what’s what: he doesn’t like school. Frustrated with John’s continual stripping, the school decides they have no choice but to send John home when he strips, punishing him for his behaviour. John like to strip his clothes off at school. Okay, back to the conversation with my wife.) I can imagine some amazing clicker questions about positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment. Getting grounded because you haven’t cleaned your room is not negative reinforcement. Why don’t you watch TV for half an hour, calm down, and then clean your room….” It reinforces the undesired behaviour.Įvery source I googled made sure to point out negative reinforcement is not the same as punishment. Suppose you say, “Okay, I understand you don’t want to do it. Your kid is having a fit because she doesn’t want to clean her room. Negative reinforcement strengths the unwanted behaviour. That action strengthens the person’s motivation to repeat the behaviour. Like a high-5 by the coach after a good play, for example. Positive reinforcement is something that’s added, typically by the person in authority – a parent, teacher, boss – after a person does something good. Oh, and when I’ve mentioned I’m writing this post, everyone I’ve spoken to gives a different definition of negative reinforcement, so it’s possible the one below is different than yours… I’m out of my depth when it comes to psychology so let me remind me (and you) about the difference, in overly-simplified terms I can get my head around. The other day, we were talking about how to change people’s behaviours and she gave me an example of positive, no wait, negative, erm, reinforcement. She often gets called in when some Grade 6’er starts whippin’ it out – either for the reaction he gets or because he doesn’t realize that’s not what typical Grade 6ers do. Imagine the hormones of a teenaged boy with the impulse-control of a 5-year-old. My wife works with people with developmental delays, like autism and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
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