Reinforcement is an Operant Conditioning term that refers to a process by which the likelihood of a behavior occurring is increased either by giving a pleasant stimulus (positive reinforcement) or removing an unpleasant stimulus (negative reinforcement).
Imagine I want to teach my dog to sit on command. When I tell him to sit and he does, I give him a treat. Giving the treat increases the probability that he will sit the next time I tell him to sit.
Check out the definitions for Positive Reinforcement and Negative Reinforcement, as well as our Learning and Conditioning topics page for more information.
This content is licensed under a CC-BY license. The CC-BY licenses grant rights of use the scales in your studies (the measurement instrument and its documentation), but do not replace copyright. This remains with the copyright holder, and you have to cite us as the source.
Mohammed Looti, PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES (2023) Reinforcement. Retrieved from https://scales.arabpsychology.com/terms/reinforcement/. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.31575.96163