Negative Reinforcement

Often misused and misunderstood

In this post I will be talking about “Shaping” behavior, specifically negative reinforcement and punishment. Most of what I know and use in my classes are pulled from Karen Pryor’s book “Don’t Shoot the Dog”. As such most quotes will be from the book. Karen Pryor pioneered the clicker training that is commonly used amongst dog trainers nowadays. I encourage those who are interested to look more into her work and achievements. As a dog owner that has hired a few dog trainers in the past, I discovered that most of them based their training methodologies off her work, but after reading through the book myself I’ve realized that they are misinterpreting and misusing the training methods, specifically regarding never using aversive training methods such as punishment and negative reinforcement (we see this in some parenting nowadays too). The principles apply to other animals and humans too not just dogs.

My instructor, Philippe runs a coaching clinic few times a year to certify new coaches. I’m often asked to help him run the projector slides even if I have no need to be re-certified. In the last session, one of the attendees asked about what his thoughts were on dealing with disruptive children and children on the spectrum. Philippe directed that question to me since I teach the young kids class where I have to manage a lot of disruptive behavior, and behavioral issues. My response in short was to learn how to properly use reinforcers along with enough assistant instructors, but if you’re unable to then it might be best to remove the children from the class.

What is a Negative Reinforcer?

A reinforcer is something that increases a behavior; but it doesn't have to be something the learner wants. Avoiding something you dislike can be reinforcing, too. Laboratory research shows that behavior can be increased by aversive stimuli if a change in behavior will make the aversive stimulus go away. Such stimuli are called negative reinforcers: things a person or animal will work to avoid.

Without quoting the half the book, a negative reinforcer can be something as mild as a disapproving look from your instructor, to getting yelled at by them every time you do a technique wrong. Or in the case of children, yelling at them when they aren’t paying attention. The aversive stimulus (yelling) goes away once they start paying attention. So I will pay attention, to avoid being yelled at.

What is Punishment?

Negative reinforcement, however, is not the same as punishment. So what is the difference? In the first edition of this book I wrote that punishment is an aversive stimulus that occurs after the behavior it was meant to modify, and therefore it can have no effect on the behavior. "A boy being spanked for a bad report card may or may not get better report cards in the future, but he surely can't change the one he has just brought home." Indeed, when we punish with intent, we frequently do it far too late, but that is not the actual difference between punishment and negative reinforcement.

Modern behavior analysts identify punishment as any event that stops behavior. A baby starts to put a hairpin into the electric socket. His mother grabs him and/or slaps his hand away from the socket: this life-threatening behavior has to be interrupted now. The behavior stops. Lots of other things may start-the baby cries, the mother feels bad, and so on-but the hairpin-in-electric outlet behavior ceases, at least for that moment. That's what punishment does.

The short version is, punishment stops the behavior at that very moment in time, but it does very little to influence the behavior in the future. In context of Judo training we see this in many classes where you punish kids with burpees or pushups.

While negative reinforcement is a useful process, it's important to remember that each instance of negative reinforcement also contains a punisher. Overuse of negative reinforcers and other aversives can lead to what Murray Sidman, Ph.D., calls "fallout," the undesirable side effects of punishment (see Chapter 4).

The overpunished child may become hostile, evasive, and a punisher himself in adulthood. In contrast, the child that grows up striving not to please, exactly, but to bring a halt, if only temporarily, to chronic disapproval, may become timid, self doubting, and anxious in adult life. A therapist specializing in phobic patients tells me that her clients, with their crippling irra tional fears of crowds or elevators, were all raised on a steady diet of negative reinforcement.

Timing of Reinforcers

A reinforcer must occur in conjunction with the act it is meant to modify whether it is positive or negative. Applying reinforcers too early or too late tends to be ineffective. This is where most coaches make mistakes. Telling people something they did wrong or well from a few minutes ago, versus yelling out “YES!” the moment they perform the action or behavior you desire. From a context of teaching Judo to children, lots of instructors like to keep a strict, authoritarian atmosphere in the classroom and will not praise positive behaviors until the end of class or in some cases until belt promotions.

Conclusion

If the content of this post is interesting to you, I highly recommend you read the whole book. In short, negative reinforcement and punishments are not wrong, it’s just that they are just used too often and the first things coaches tend to use when coaching because it stops the behavior then and there, but does very little to change the behavior in the future. Your coaching should consist of mostly positive reinforcers.

Negative Reinforcers are also individualized, some kids simply don’t care if you give them a time out, and some will experience shame with a simple talk about how you disapprove of their behavior. But most coaches will just jump into punishment right away.

So when do I personally use negative reinforcers and punishment? I use negative reinforcers for behavioral problems that occur, and punishment when safety is a concern. When good behavior is occurring I reinforce that behavior with positive reinforcers, something that is sorely missing in most Judo classrooms.

For those who plan to implement this knowledge in your classroom, getting parents to understand this is the most challenging part.