So You Think You Know About Reinforcement?

Let’s get back to the basics, reinforcement!

When you hear reinforcement, what do you think of?

You probably think of rewards, like special treats, stickers, tokens and points, praise…

And these things can be reinforcers, but not necessarily for everyone!

Different strokes for different folks, humans are unique in that every individual has different things that reinforces their behavior – although generally, there are a few things that universally reinforce us, like food when we’re hungry, liquids when we’re thirsty, warmth when we’re cold, and so on!

And even now, what I’m describing to you are reinforcers, not the actual process of reinforcement.

So let’s get down to it…

Reinforcement is the process of adding or removing something in a situation right after a behavior that increases the future likelihood of that behaviour happening again!

For example, if you give your child the iPad after they clean up their toys (assuming they like the iPad), they are more likely to clean up their toys next time too!

Another example, what if your kid has a list of 10 chores to do, and they do a fabulous job on the first 7 chores? Because they did such a great job on the first 7, you tell them they don’t need to do the last 3 chores – this is going to make it more likely that they’ll keep up the hard work next time you give them a list of chores!

These two examples help to show the difference between two kinds of reinforcement processes: Positive Reinforcement and Negative Reinforcement. Negative reinforcement is often confused with punishment!

But in the science of behavior, education, and other fields related to teaching and learning, negative means “to remove” and reinforcement means “to increase behavior” – so when you use negative reinforcement, you remove something your child doesn’t like, as a way to reinforce good behaviour!

Here’s another example!

Think about a child in school, and they really don’t like science work – every time they’re given science work, they’ve been taught that they can ask for a break, which lets them get out of doing their work for a short period of time. Asking to take a break is reinforced by the brief removal of the science work (or the expectation to do the science work)! Brilliant!

Positive reinforcement though... you guessed it! Means to add something your child likes as a way to increase appropriate behaviour. This is the reinforcement most people think about, that can involve treats, tokens, stickers, and the like.

Both types of these reinforcements happen to us ALL DAY EVERY DAY. Everything you do has likely been reinforced at some point in your lifetime, or you wouldn’t be doing it!

The first noise you made as a baby was probably followed by your parents or caregivers’ excited and undivided attention!

Same with your first steps, and your first word! The first time you rode a bike without someone holding the seat, the first time you said 2+2 = 4, all of those times probably resulted in praise from people you looked up to, and pride about doing something well!

Other reinforcers come more naturally, like the first time you put a coat on when you were too cold, the first time you played a fun game on a phone/tablet/computer/game system, the first time you baked a delicious chocolate chip cookie and others tried it and loved it…

Some are even more subtle, like pushing buttons on a phone and the buttons working the way they should, or zipping up a zipper, tying your shoe, putting on your sunglasses, cleaning something… all of those things result in some sort of satisfaction and reinforcement, even though subtle!

Here's a video from The Daily BA's YouTube channel giving an example of how just checking our phones involves reinforcement!

The goal when using reinforcement to our advantage, is to use it mostly when teaching something new!

Remember the first time you picked up an instrument? Started learning a new language? Started a new math concept in school? Started to learn to ride a bike?

You probably needed a lot more reinforcement at the beginning of your learning journey, because you need enough reinforcement and motivation to trump the fear of failure and embarrassment, the time commitment, and other resources you invest in the learning journey! As you get better at it, you can fade out that reinforcement, because as you get better, natural reinforcers take over.

It is the same for your kids! When they first started to learn to talk, to reacted often and with lots of attention! Now, you don’t praise them for every sound they make, they just talk, without needing any extra motivation. When I ask you what 2+2 is, you don’t hesitate to say 4, and you don’t need me to praise you for saying 4 to make it more likely you’ll do that again in the future! But when you were young and learning, it was definitely helpful!

This was a long post to explain what seems like such a simple concept! But reinforcement can actually be quite complex!

The best part about reinforcement is that there is no downside to telling someone they’ve done a good job (as long as they like praise – although, when creative enough, there’s almost always a way to tell someone this – just smiling, a pat on the shoulder, a note…)! No one loses!

Behavior goes where reinforcement flows!

Remember, You got this!