#Negative reinforcement how to

The employee stopped following a rule they used to follow all the time. Extinction refers to when a behavior that used to happen, isn’t happening anymore.

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#Negative reinforcement how to

I will go into more details on how to positive reinforce in a future post. This is the difference between negative and positive reinforcers. On top of that – the disciplinary action actually takes longer to do (when you are timing how many minutes it takes), then the positive reinforcer when they are doing the behavior right. So many times, a manager’s first thought is – if the employee isn’t going to follow the rules, I’m going to write them up!! What happens is a behavior change, but when measured, it is only for a short period of time. So, all those “ Good Jobs”, “ I Like What Your Doing”, and “ Keep Up the Good Work” is better for changing behavior than the Write-Ups or Suspensions. Studies have shown that although you get behavior change from both positive and negative reinforcers, it is the positive reinforcers that have longer lasting behavior change effects. Another focus is preventing extinction meaning that you want a previously learned good behavior to continue. You are either giving positive reinforcement, meaning the goal is to increase the good behavior or, negative reinforcement which is decreasing the bad behavior. The basis of operant learning is reinforcement. By understanding how to use different reinforcers, you can get employees to change their behaviors for the good. The studies on operant learning can be applied directly to safety. You are fighting years of influence to get them to change. They are developed through that employee’s upbringing, experiences, and knowledge. This is because we are actually trying to change behaviors.īehaviors are so ingrained in people that changing them is difficult. It is that last part that we struggle with more often and is the most difficult. The focus of all safety programs is developing safe work practices and getting employees to follow them. Although sometimes we may want to shock them into following safety rules, that is not how you apply this model to your program.