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Essay On Negative Reinforcement

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Negative reinforcement is when something negative or unpleasant is removed after the situation to reinforce a future behavior. Contrary to reinforcement is punishment. Positive punishment is when an unpleasant event is added to a situation following a behavior (e.g. unpleasant scolding). Negative punishment is when something pleasant is removed from the situation following a behavior (e.g. losing privileges). The alternative to reinforcing or punishing is ignoring a behavior. This is known as extinction (Sigelman & Rider, 2009). Although behaviorism acknowledges a close relation between environment and organism and emphasize active learning (Wilson & Meyers, 2000), action is ultimately determined by environment rather than by self (Taetle & Cutietta, 2002).
The emergence of social learning theories along with cognitive psychology also supports teacher-centered learning. While teacher-centered practices continue to reinforce and/or punish behaviors, cognitive processes have been considered to depict a more holistic view of an independent learner. Bandura’s social cognitive theory (1986, 2000, 2006) views people as cognitive beings, actively processing information in their own learning, behavior, and development. For example, individuals may reinforce or punish themselves with self-talk. In a study on flow, Custodero (2005) observed a teacher-directed, practice-based violin lesson where the teacher was the focus of attention. “Awareness of interactions between teacher and

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