How are negative and positive reinforcement different and how are they the same?

1 Answer
Mar 1, 2016

They are the same in both being "reinforcement", or a pressure to a particular thing. They are different in the mechanism applied.

Explanation:

Negative is an action that has an unpleasant outcome, and positive is an action that has a pleasant outcome for the subject. For example, getting a piece of cake after finishing a homework assignment would be a positive reinforcement. Not being able to watch TV for a period of time (normally allowed) for not completing it would be a negative reinforcement.