Reinforcement, Punishment,
Avoidance Learning,
and Escape Learning
HOW TO APPLY THESE IN
AN EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT
Common Problems of the Classroom
 Student attendance is down.
 Students don’t participate in class - they don’t raise their
hands when asked a question.
 Student constantly talks out of turn.
 Students won’t quiet down once class starts.
 Students have a tendency to continue to talk to each
other once class starts.
Common Problems of the Classroom
What other problems can you come up with?
 List
Goals for Today
Learn how to define, recognize, and apply terms to
classroom situations:
 Positive Reinforcement
 Negative Reinforcement
 Punishment
 Avoidance Learning
 Escape Learning
Try and Define
 Positive –
 Negative –
 Reinforce –
 Punish –
Positive Reinforcement
The word positive in positive reinforcement DOES
NOT refer to the pleasantness of the stimulus.
It means a stimulus is added or applied to the
situation.
Any stimulus that works to increase the frequency of
a behavior it follows is a positive reinforcer, even if
it does not seem like it should be rewarding.
http://www.intropsych.com/ch05_conditioning/positive_reinforcement.html
Positive Reinforcement
Simplified:
Behavior =
Increase
Add Something to
What you are adding
Increase Behavior
Pleasant
As long as it increases behavior
Positive Reinforcement
 A high school student helping around the house gets
to borrow the family car.
 A waitress receiving high tips for her pleasant
service.
Negative Reinforcement
Occurs when a behavior is reinforced by removal of a
stimulus.
The word negative DOES NOT mean unpleasant
It means a stimulus is removed or subtracted from
the situation in order to reinforce a behavior.
http://www.intropsych.com/ch05_conditioning/negative_reinforcement.html
Negative Reinforcement
Simplified:
Behavior =
Increase
Remove something to
What you are taking away
Increase Behavior
Unpleasant
As long as it increases behavior
Negative Reinforcement
 Students who turn their work in on time get 1
homework assignment eliminated for every 10 that
are on time.
 A teacher shortens their driving time to work by
waking up an hour earlier and missing heavy traffic.
Positive vs. Negative Reinforcement
Reinforcement is used to INCREASE a behavior
Positive Reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement
+++++++++++++++++++
-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Adding Something
Removing Something
candy, stickers, treat, certificate,
lunch, extra credit
no homework, exemption from test
Punishment
Punishment occurs when the desired affect is to make
a behavior less frequent.
http://www.intropsych.com/ch05_conditioning/punishment.html
Punishment
Simplified:
Behavior =
Decrease
(+ or -) something to
Decrease Behavior
Punishment
 A person parked illegally in a handicapped spot
receives a large fine.
 A child yells at their parent and gets sent to their
room.
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Student attendance is down.
A professor has a policy of exempting students from the
final exam if they maintain perfect attendance during the
quarter. His students’ attendance increases dramatically.
What/Why: The exemption from the final exam is an
example of negative reinforcement because
something is taken away that increases the behavior
(attendance).
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Student attendance is down.
A professor gives extra credit if they maintain perfect
attendance during the quarter. His students’ attendance
increases dramatically.
What/Why: The extra credit is an example of positive
reinforcement because something is added to
increase the behavior (attendance).
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Student attendance is down.
A professor gives additional assignments to those who
miss his classes. His students’ attendance increases
dramatically.
What/Why: The additional assignments are examples of
punishment because this action decreases the
behavior (missing class).
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Student attendance is down.
A professor takes participation points off those who
miss his classes. His students’ attendance increases
dramatically.
What/Why: The removal of participation points is an
example of punishment because this action decreases
the behavior (missing class).
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Students don’t participate in class.
A student gets bonus points for participation.
What/Why: The addition of bonus points is an example
of positive reinforcement because something is
added to increase the behavior (participation).
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Students don’t participate in class.
A teacher will drop the lowest score of a past
assignment if the students have high participation in
class.
What/Why: The bonus points are an example of
negative reinforcement because something is
removed to increase the behavior (participation).
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Students don’t participate in class.
Students have to write papers on why they don’t participate
in classroom discussion.
What/Why: The papers are examples of punishment
because this action decreases the behavior (lack of
participation).
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Student constantly talks out of turn.
Every time the student speaks up without being called the
teacher makes them go stand in the corner.
What/Why: Removing the student from the class is an
example of punishment. The instructor is trying to stop
an undesirable behavior. (talking out of turn)
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Student constantly talks out of turn.
Every time the student raises their hand they are giving
verbal praise for following directions.
What/Why: Praise is an example of positive
reinforcement. The instructor is trying to encourage a
different behavior. (raising their hand to be called on)
Try and Define
 Escape –
 Avoid –
Escape Learning
Occurs when the animal learns to perform an operant
to terminate an ongoing, aversive stimulus.
It is a "get me out of here" or "shut this off"
reaction, aimed at escape from pain or annoyance.
The behavior that produces escape is negatively
reinforced (reinforced by the elimination of the
unpleasant stimulus)
http://www.intropsych.com/ch05_conditioning/avoidance_and_escape_learning.html
Escape Learning
Child 1 wants Child 2’s toy. Child 1 pinches Child 2
until they give them the toy.
A cashier getting robbed hands over the money in her
register.
Avoidance Learning
Escape conditioning is converted into avoidance
conditioning by giving a signal before the aversive
stimulus starts.
If the animal receives a cue or signal that an aversive
stimulus is coming, then after one or two occurrences of
the punishing stimulus the cue will trigger an
avoidance behavior.
This kind of learning occurs quickly and is very durable.
http://www.intropsych.com/ch05_conditioning/avoidance_and_escape_learning.html
Avoidance Learning
A college student won't get into a car with a driver who has
had too much to drink
The student is aware of drunk driving statistics so they
avoid getting into the car.
A teacher sets their work to auto save every 5 minutes.
They have heard other teachers have lost work because
their computer has crashed. It is set to save to avoid
losing any work.
Escape vs. Avoidance
Escape stops during
Avoidance stops before it arrives because of a cue
CUE
Escape Learning to Avoidance Learning
 Escape: When a kid gets spanked he stops being
disruptive.
 Avoidance: When a parent raises their hand to
spank the kid stops being disruptive.
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Students won’t quiet down once class starts.
The teacher blows a loud whistle until the noise ceases.
What/Why: The loud whistle is the annoying stimulus the
students wish to stop. This is an example of escape
learning because the behavior stops once the students
hear the whistle.
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Students won’t quiet down once class starts.
The teacher raises a loud whistle to her mouth and the
students quiet before she has to blow it.
What/Why: The loud whistle is the annoying stimulus the
students wish to keep from happening. This is an example
of avoidance learning because the behavior stops before
the arrival of the unwanted stimulus. (whistle)
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Student attendance is down.
A professor gives additional assignments to those who
miss his classes. His students’ attendance increases
dramatically.
What/Why: This also demonstrates avoidance learning
because the students avoid the additional assignments
(stimulus) by coming to class.
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Student attendance is down.
A professor takes participation points off those who
miss his classes. His students’ attendance increases
dramatically.
What/Why: It is also avoidance learning because the
students want to avoid having the participation points
removed. (stimulus)
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Students don’t participate in class.
Students have to write papers on why they don’t participate
in classroom discussion.
What/Why: It is also avoidance learning because the
students want to avoid having to write the papers.
(stimulus)
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Student constantly talks out of turn.
Every time the student speaks up without being called the
teacher makes them go stand in the corner.
What/Why: It is also avoidance learning because the
students want to avoid having to stand in the corner.
Being removed from class is the unwanted stimulus.
Back to the Classroom
Problem: Students have a tendency to continue to talk to
each other once class starts.
Need 1 more for escape/avoidance
What/Why: