Positive and Negative Reinforcement Reinforcement:

Positive and Negative Reinforcement

Reinforcement: Positive and negative

Describe (5) situations in which you've used positive reinforcement.

I have used positive reinforcement throughout my life. Perhaps the first and most positive situation where I used this conditioning method was when I was babysitting a young child as a preteen. I told the child that if he or she listened to me (doing her homework, taking a bath, putting on her pjs when I asked) she could watch TV and have ice cream for dessert. This was not successful, because she began to misbehave after the 'reinforcement' was given to her, and I still had to supervise her for the rest of the evening. A more effective form of positive reinforcement was praising my dog while housebreaking him when he asked to go outside, which eventually shaped his behavior in such a manner that he would ask to do so automatically and not soil in the house. I practiced more subtle forms of positive reinforcement while working as a waitress when I was a teen. Of course, I wanted customers to order more expensive items, so when they inquired about or mentioned such entrees, I would nod my head vigorously and say "good choice." Often, this would work, especially if they were dining as a couple on a first date. I have, at times, also rewarded myself for completing an unpleasant task, such as filling out my taxes, with chocolate! Because the task is necessary, this also is successful!

While these situations are fairly humorous, in my military service I found myself performing tasks that required me to use positive reinforcement in very difficult scenarios. For example, in 1994, the Coast Guard was involved in its largest peacetime operation since the Vietnam War. It was faced with a two-pronged wave of mass migrations from Haiti and from Cuba. Its mission was to save the lives of over 63,000 migrants but also prevent them from illegally entering the U.S. At age 28, I was a rescue swimmer as part of Operations ABLE MANNER and ABLE VIGIL. I was in charge of leading lower-level enlisted swimmers who seemed to constantly want to give up. They were weakened and fatigued by the rough surf, and also by the depressing nature of the human suffering they witnessed. "You can do it!" I would say, every time their enthusiasm flagged. I also reminded them of their duty as part of the U.S. Armed Forces in a positive way, stating how good they would feel after they completed such hard work.

Of course, in such a scenario, positive words will not always be enough to bolster the spirits of all soldiers in an adequate fashion, but by and large their sense of duty combined with the approval of a fellow officer encouraged them to work harder. This made me appreciate the degree to which one's role can affect the response of the reinforced individual. A child minded by an older child frequently does not respect the teen. But a soldier understands the need to be obedient, by and large, because of his or her basic training and because of a certain amount of self-selection, regarding who chooses to enter the military.

Describe (5) situations in which you've used negative reinforcement

In general, I have found negative reinforcement to be much less effective than positive reinforcement, in terms of my personal interactions. To return once again to my childhood, I was teased a great deal in the third grade. I was instructed by my mother to ignore the behavior, using the negative reinforcement of refusing to reward the other children by getting 'riled up' and seeming to be angry or upset. But despite the fact I ignored my tormenters, they continued to attack me, and eventually my mother had to intervene and talk to the teacher.

Another failure of negative reinforcement occurred when someone was playing loud music late at night, when I was trying to sleep. I repeatedly knocked on the door and asked them to 'cease and desist' the behavior, but they found my anger to be humorous, rather than intimidating, and continued to persist in the behavior, until they moved away.

On a personal level, I have tried to condition myself with negative behavior by trying to encourage myself to lose weight by posting an unflattering picture of myself on the refrigerator, to discourage in-between meal snacking. I have to admit that this was initially motivational for me, given that the vision was so unpleasant. However, to condition one's own behavior through negative reinforcement requires a great deal of zeal for such self-punishment. Eventually, I grew tired of looking at the picture and simply removed it. I was similarly unsuccessful in attempting to de-condition myself from selecting unhealthy foods from the cafeteria by putting a photograph of myself at a higher weight in my wallet and forcing myself to look at it before I ate.

The most serious experience I ever had, however, with the difficulties of using negative reinforcement occurred during one of my most difficult trials as a soldier. This took place during the Luby's massacre, a mass murder on October 16, 1991, in Killeen, Texas, United States when George 'Jo Jo' Hennard drove his pickup truck into a Luby's Cafeteria and shot 23 people, wounded another 20, and subsequently committed suicide by shooting himself.

I had just left the restaurant with four friends and was on my way back to Fort Hood when I heard the news on the local radio station. It was a chilling scenario: through this impersonal medium, we all discovered we had lost several friends in the massacre. I had to use both positive and negative reinforcement. Some of my friends wanted to go back and find George Hennard and kill him. They wanted immediate revenge, rather than waiting for justice to take its course.

I had to talk them out of this, using negative reinforcement. I reminded them of the consequences they would suffer. They themselves would go to jail and they would dishonor their position as a soldier by doing so. I even had to restrain one of my friends physically from turning the car around. Although it did not deteriorate into a physical scuffle, I know that in this instance the negative reinforcement I used, because it was so uncharacteristic and extraordinary in our relationship, was necessary.

Describe (5) situations in which you've observed the use of positive reinforcement. Include in your descriptions what the situation was, where it occurred, the behavior you observed, what reinforcement was used and what was the response.