Some of the most common tools parents and teachers use for managing children’s behaviors are rewards and punishments. While these methods tend to lose effectiveness as a child ages, there are times ...

Another one of my pet peeves is the fact that many people – civilians and scientists alike – use the phrase “negative reinforcement” to mean “punishment.” The two are not at all the same; in fact, ...

To put it mildly, parenting can be rough. It's difficult to know what to do, and especially with a toddler or young child, quick thinking is required. As the mom of a 2-year-old, I'll admit that ...

A "punisher" is defined as an event that follows a given response and reduces the future rate of that behavior. For example, if a child has their video game taken away for not completing their ...

There are four main types of reinforcement in operant conditioning: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, ...

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American While second nature to many of us, driving a ...

We always recommend using positive reinforcement when training your pet, no matter if you have a cat, dog, or even rabbit. There are a lot of arguments for training pets with positive reinforcement, ...