Positive Reinforcement According to Heffner

Positive Reinforcement

According to Heffner (2001) reinforcement is anything that follows a behavior that increases or decreases the chances of that behavior occurring again and there for four types of reinforcement:

Positive Reinforcement - adding something positive so the frequency/strength of the behavior increases.

Negative Reinforcement - taking something negative away in order to increase a response.

Punishment - adding something aversive in order to decrease a behavior.

Extinction - removing something in order to decrease a behavior.

The Wall Street Journal article, the 'trophy kids' go to work (2008,), describes the need of the millennials (defined as those born between 1980 and 2001) need for constant positive reinforcement. While this may initially appear to only reinforce their sense of entitlement and superiority, a closer examination reveals that positive reinforcement may actually be the best approach for dealing with this new group of employees.

Without a doubt, millenials are challenging to deal with. Already hiring managers are having trouble according to the Wall Street Journal report which cites a survey showing that more than 85% of hiring managers and human-resource executives said they feel that millennials have a stronger sense of entitlement than older workers. Among their demands are higher pay (74%); flexible work schedules (61%); a promotion within a year (56%); and more vacation or personal time (50%). These demands combined with their superiority beliefs about themselves and an anticipated labor shortage as baby boomers retire make them a difficult, but necessary source of labor.

The article describes the problem as one caused by the parents of millenials who lavishly praised their children when they either did or didn't excel. Now that these children are adults entering the workforce, they aren't receptive of negative criticism of their performance. In fact, they are expecting constant positive performance and need precise guidelines to function in more structured environments than they are used to.

It almost seems that the millennials expect to be waited on by the employers who they are supposed to be working for. One has to wonder how much positive reinforcement will only be reinforcing the sense of entitlement they have received from their parents vs. The hard work and responsibility required to succeed in business. Even Skinner, the researcher who articulated the major theoretical constructs of reinforcement and who was a strong advocate of positive reinforcement, recognized the possibility to encourage negative behavior with positive reinforcement. On this matter, he said, "The same mistake is made by the teacher who offers a treat of some kind when the class is getting out of hand. If this behavior is a kind of aggression toward the teacher, the treat may have an opposing effect. But in the long run, the reinforcement of misbehavior will offset any gain. Unfortunately, the reduction in aggression is immediate but the effect of reinforcement apparent only later. Hence, the practice may be continued, even though in the long run misbehavior becomes even more serious" (Skinner, 1980, 83).