Positive and Negative Reinforcement
Select a procedure and a strength of preceding behavior below to view an example of reinforcement or punishment. Continue to select different combinations to view all of the examples.
 Strength of preceding behavior
 IncreasedDecreased
Usually
Positive
(Presented)
Procedure
Usually
Negative
(Removed)
The definition of reinforcement and punishment depends upon whether an event is presented or removed after a response is made, and whether the subject's responding increases or decreases. Any event that increases responding is called reinforcement and any event that decreases responding is called punishment; any event that is presented is called positive and any event that is removed is called negative. Each square above defines one possibility: for example, if a subject's rate of responding increases after an event is presented, we say that positive reinforcement has occurred.