Positive and Negative Reinforcement of Behavior

¶ … mother in this case study wants to reinforce the behavior of eating peas. She is using operant conditioning, and positive reinforcement methods in particular. The term reinforcement refers to the strengthening of a desired behavioral outcome (Heffner, n.d.). However, there are many methods of reinforcement and positive reinforcement is only one. The mother would be more successful with both children if she identified methods of using negative reinforcement on the child who is not responsive to positive reinforcement.

The positive reinforcement method the mother has chosen involves rewarding the children with praise based on how many peas they have eaten. Using stickers, stars, or any other proxy to tally the number of peas is arbitrary. What matters is that the child receives praise for eating peas. Obviously one of the two children responds well to the praise, and is motivated enough by the praise to continue eating more peas. It could also be that the child actually enjoys peas, too, which could be viewed as another form of positive reinforcement. If the food tastes pleasurable, then the child is more likely to eat it because the eating is being reinforced by both the pleasure of satisfying the taste buds and pleasing the mom.

However, the other child does not respond to the positive reinforcement. It is not that the child does not appreciate praise. Rather, the child might need negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement refers to the "removal of an unpleasant reinforcer" in ways that can strengthen the desired behavior (McLeod, 2015). The child who does not respond to the positive reinforcement might need negative reinforcement in order to change his or her behavior. A negative reinforce could be something the child does not like. For example, if the child does not like doing the dishes, the reward for eating peas could be exemption from doing the dishes that night. Perhaps the child is motivated more by the removal of unpleasant stimuli rather than by the introduction of praise and other positive stimuli.

Negative reinforcement should not be confused with a punishment, which is another way to motivate the child to eat peas. The mother could ground the child who is not eating peas, or refuse to allow video games or television until a set number of peas have been eaten. Although positive reinforcement has been shown to be the most effective means of behavioral change, other types of reinforcement might also be necessary (McLeod, 2015). In this case, the taste of the peas might be perceived as a punishment in itself, because the peas might be overcooked or under-seasoned. If the peas taste bad, the child might feel like he or she is already being punished. Therefore, making the peas taste better could remove the unpleasant stimulus and cause the child to eat more peas.

Therefore, three ideas for increasing pea consumption for the children include the following. First, the method of positive reinforcement could be strengthened using a more concrete reward such as cash or the offering of a dessert to the child who eats a certain amount of peas. Praise might not be sufficient positive reinforcement for both children. Concrete rewards that are consistent and in direct response to the pea-eating are going to be more effective than the use of the "star" system that includes too far of a time lapse between the behavior and reward.