When it comes to reinforcement in operant conditioning there are two main kinds; but first let me start of with a simple definition of operant conditioning.  Operant conditioning forms association between behaviors and resulting events, which in turn affects what and how people learn.  Within operant conditioning there is positive and negative reinforcement.  Reinforcement is any event that strengthens the behavior it follows so that behavior goes up.  Positive reinforcement increases behaviors by presenting positive stimuli and adding a desirable stimulus.  Negative reinforcement increases behaviors by removing negative stimuli.  In the context of reinforcement and punishment, positive and negative do not mean good and bad.  This is a very common misconception.

I have had many experiences with these types of reinforcements because my parents were always trying to find ways to get be to do good things and do what they wanted.   One example of positive reinforcement is when it came to my grades.  My parents always wanted me to do well in school so when I got a report card that had all A’s on it they would give me a certain amount of money.  When I got a report card with some B’s on it, the amount of money I received would decrease.  Receiving money for good grades was a positive reinforcement because it added a stimulus that I enjoyed, which was money, and it made me want to do well and study hard.  Because I really wanted to get good grades my parent’s way of reinforcing what they wanted worked.  I now noticed what they were doing the entire time and how much it worked.

An experience that I had with negative reinforcement was when I when I was driving home from work one day.  They driver in front of me was driving very poorly as well as very slow.  I was obviously not happy about this because I just wanted to get home from work and sleep after my long shift that night.  After a couple minutes I decided enough was enough and honked my horn at the car.  This was a negative stimulus for the car in front of me because people tend to not like loud noises, especially car horns.  After I honked my horn the car sped up to the actual speed limit and started driving more like they should have been which is the behavior that I wanted from them.  I therefore got what I had originally wanted by applying negative reinforcement.