It can be hard to distinguish whether reinforcement is happening or punishment. It can also be hard to distinguish whether it is positive or negative. Reinforcement is when behavior is increased. Whether it is negative or positive reinforcement, the behavior is always increased. Positive reinforcement is when a positive stimuli is presented and negative reinforcement is when behavior is increased by taking away a negative stimuli. An example of positive reinforcement would be getting a sticker every time you do well on a test. An example of negative reinforcement would be the annoying beeping sound in the car when you don’t put your seatbelt. This is considered negative reinforcement because once you put on the seatbelt, the negative stimuli (beeping sound) is taken away.
I recently got a new a puppy and we have been using reinforcement help house train her. Basically what we do is every time she goes the side door to be let out and she waits until she is outside to relieve herself, we give a small treat. We do this in hope that she will continue to wait by the side door when she need to go to the bathroom rather than going inside the house. This is an example of positive reinforcement. We are trying to increase her behavior (which is why it is reinforcement and not punishment) and it is positive since we presenting a positive stimuli and not taking away a negative stimuli. The stimuli in this scenario would be the treats and the behavior would be waiting by the side door.
It is important to be able to identify reinforcement. The first step is to see if the behavior is increasing or decreasing. If the behavior is increasing then you know that it must be some kind of reinforcement. Once you have identified it as reinforcement you can then see if it is positive or negative reinforcement. If a stimuli is being presented then it is positive and if a stimuli is being taken away then it is negative reinforcement.
Hi! I thought that you clearly explained the difference between reinforcement and punishment and positive and negative reinforcement. Your post allowed me to realize that behavior in young children can also be controlled using the same mechanism of positive reinforcement. I remember when my brother was being potty-trained, my mother would give him some kind of treat (cookie, chocolate, lollipop, etc.) every time he told her that he had to go to the bathroom instead of wetting his pants. Similar to your dog, this method worked, and my brother was successfully potty-trained. The same technique could be used for other aspects as well, thus showing the power of techniques, such as reinforcement and punishment, in controlling behavior.