Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Positive and Negative Reinforcement †Management Essay

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Positive and Negative Reinforcement – Management Essay Free Online Research Papers Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Positive and Negative Reinforcement Management Essay I will be discussing the two types of operant conditioning which are positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. I will attempt to list the advantages and disadvantages of using either and briefly touch on extinction which is the lack of use of either positive or negative reinforcement. There are four types of operant conditioning namely positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment and extinction. According to Skinner’s terminology, any form of incentives such as goals and rewards may be referred to as positive reinforcers and the receiving of the reward or achieving the goal is termed as positive reinforcement (Skinner B.F., 1969). In positive reinforcement, a particular behaviour is strengthened by the consequence of experiencing a positive condition (mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/nru/opcond.html). Positive reinforcement is effective and largely used for two separate reasons. Firstly, it is one of the most powerful techniques available for the direction or motivation of the actions of other people. The second reason which is more philosophical is the versatility of the concept of reinforcement as an explanation of behaviour (Walker. S, 1975). In other words, the question is why do people behave the way they do? The answer will be that it is because they (people) are reinforced for it (Walker. S, 1975). Many companies employ the use of positive reinforcements to increase productivity, decrease absenteeism and workplace accidents. One company tried holding lottery draws ever month and they noticed a significant consistency in attendance. A construction company offered incentives such as a buffet end of each month if the workers maintained an accident free record. True enough, the accident free record was maintained for a good number of months (Mazur J.E.,1986). When positive rein forcements are used, the desired outcome is that the behaviour is reinforced. Subjects understand that the behaviour is desirable and will tend to repeat it for the rewards. In the negative outcome, subjects may take the rewarding for granted. They may repeat the behaviour with the intention of receiving more of the rewards and not understanding that that behaviour is desirable or they may deem the rewards as part and parcel of things. That is that the education part has failed. Some examples of these negative outcomes may be employees who get verbal praises for everything they do, think that it is all lip service. There is no real intention to compliment them for their good work. Another would be a young child plainly doing things to curry praises (Strain P.S., Joseph G.E.). In a similar fashion, a negative reinforcer is a stimulus one would desire to avoid. The act of escaping or avoiding a negative reinforcer is termed as negative reinforcement. Disincentives are punishers. There is a natural tendency to put punishments under the wing of negative reinforcement. However under the definitions of operant conditioning, negative reinforcement is the strengthening of a particular behaviour by the consequence of experiencing a negative condition (mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/nru/opcond.html). Punishment in the operant conditioning sense is to weaken a particular behaviour as a consequence of experiencing a negative condition. Negative reinforcement is used commonly for education or reform. The use of fines, imprisonment is one such example of the use of negative reinforcement to warn of the negative consequences of associating with social ills. Skinner (Skinner,1953) and many others prefers the use of positive reinforcement to encourage good behaviours and do away with the social use of punishment altogether. Advantages of the use of negative reinforcement would be of course ideally the cultivation or strengthening of a desired behaviour after receiving the negative reinforcer. An example would be that an employer informs his or her employee that their work requires some polishing up to meet the customer standards. The employer may go on further to explain that the customer is rather demanding and any negative feedback will tarnish the credibility of the employee. The desired response would be that the employee strives to perform better. Disadvantages of using negative reinforcement would be when the desired behaviour is not achieved. For instance a child was punished for strewing his toys on the floor by facing the wall and repeatedly saying he will not throw his things on the floor. He kept repeating the act and undergoing the punishment but he never understood why he should not leave his things on the floor. That is a negative outcome . Different organisations may choose to employ different styles of reinforcements or non at all. Commercial and non-commercial organisations may also use different approaches. One may use positive reinforcements to encourage repetition of the desired behaviours. Others may use negative reinforcements to discourage behaviours that are not in line with their policies. There are slight differences in how public and private schools educate their students. In general, schools tend to use negative reinforcements on rule breaking students as a method to educate them. The typical examples are verbal reprimands, being sent out of the classrooms, detentions, etc. There is an element of shame within these punishments which is intended to allow the students to discover how to behave well. Critics oppose to the use of negative reinforcements in schools and largely recommend the use of positive reinforcements. Negative reinforcements are used and positive reinforcements are easily ignored due to the strong cultural ethos that encourages the use of punishments. The use of punishments is effective ninety-five percent of the time. The remaining students are those with challenging behaviours who do not respond to traditional forms of punishments. So unless figures show otherwise, Skinner’s hope that positive reinforcement be used totally cannot be easily realized and punishments will still be the tool employed by schools to educate and to deter wayward behaviours. The proverb â€Å"spare the rod and spoil the child† explains the continued use of such traditional methods of educating (Maag J.W., 01-01-2001). It is a good point to emphasise that the discussion is on the use of negative reinforcements on students to shape a desired behaviour and not on punishments. Punishments here are merely the reinforcers or the tools of reinforcement. Maag suggests using new approaches to handle challenging students which are effective reinforcers which are ideally negative but wi thout the use of punishments (Maag J.W., 05-01-2001). Commercial organizations depending on situations, use positive and negative reinforcements. Although there is no premeditated use of scheduled reinforcements on encouraging desired behaviours and discouraging undesired behaviours, some managers do enforce them. As more managers understand the needs for better and efficient management styles, they also understand that subordinates seek job satisfaction. Job satisfaction can be achieved in many ways such as pay rises, day offs, or even simple words of encouragement, praises and recognition (Zielinski D., 05-01-2001). More than often the occasional verbal praises for a job well done does a lot to make an employee feel appreciated. Researches have shown that positive reinforcements increase the attendance of workers, improve their performances and also increase safety awareness. Negative reinforcements are sometimes used on the occasional lackadaisical employees. Romero and Kleiner believes that the use of positive reinforcements is a management concept, and that it should be used in the workplace both domestic and international (Romero J., Kleiner B.H.). Research was done on people in several countries on the relation between personality and motivational traits and work related attitudes. It is found that the use of positive reinforcements greatly motivated workers and the whole economy of the country gained greater growths. In bad management styles, employees are swiftly reprimanded for failing to attain their employers’ standards and are often not complimented for completing their tasks excellently. Many are so accustomed to these practices that they begin to become complacent due to the lack of recognition and rewards. The failure to positively reinforce an employees’ good performance which is a form of extinction may discourage them from giving more than they should since no recognition or rewards will be given for it. Much research has been done on operant conditioners. More people are aware of the existence of positive and negative reinforcements. More are championing the use of positive reinforcements to increase productivity, attendances, safety awareness, job satisfaction and to reduce absenteeism and accidents. Depending on the situations, positive and negative reinforcements when applied strategically can be effective in strengthening a desired behaviour. Strategic application of reinforcements would mean the use of reinforcements at intermittent schedules such as at fixed ratios or variable ratios combined with the understanding of what motivates their subjects of interest. Doing away with punishments may be the ideal case for Skinner, I believe that it is not possible to do away. However we can reduce the use of punishments when positive reinforcements are adequately and effectively employed. The advantages of the use of positive reinforcements are highly explanatory of itself. References: mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/proj/nru/opcond.html, Operant Conditioning Basics, Accessed 28/08/05 Maag J.W., 01-01-2001, Rewarded by punishment: Reflections on the disuse of positive reinforcements in schools [elibrary], http://elibrary.bigchalk.com.proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/ libweb/australia/do/document?set=searchgroupid=1requestid= lib_australiaresultid=1edition= ts=B4E4C92E89D05327EF55EBECBC8E285F_1128427488378urn=urn%3 Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B40887961, 2001 The Council for Exceptional Children, Accessed 28/08/05 Maag J.W., 05-01-2001, Management of surface behavior: A new look at an old approach[elibrary], Counseling and Human Development, http://elibrary.bigchalk.com. proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/libweb/australia/do/document ?set=searchgroupid=1requestid=lib_australiaresultid=107 edition=ts=36D65314D08785A2310AB40D5723A400_112843611954 5urn=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B45689102, Accessd 04/09/2005 Mazur J.E.,1986, Learning and Behavior (Third Edition), Prentice Hall Romero J., Kleiner B.H., Global Trends in Motivating Employees [Emerald FullText], Management Research News, emeraldinsight.com.proxy.library.adelaide. edu.au/Insight/viewContentItem.do?contentType= ArticlehdAction=lnkpdfcontentId=866695, Accessed 28/08/05 Skinner B.F., 1953, Science and Human Behaviour, New York: Macmillan Skinner B.F., 1969, Contingencies of Reinforcement: A Theoretical Analysis, New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts Strain P.S., Joseph G.E., 01-01-2004, A Not So Good Job with Good Job: A Response to Kohn 2001 [elibrary], Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, http://elibrary.bigchalk.com.proxy.library.adelaide. edu.au/libweb/australia/do/document?set=searchgroupid= 1requestid=lib_australiaresultid= 19edition=ts=B4E4C92E89D05327EF55EBECBC8E285F_1128 427488378urn=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument% 3B89268459, Accessed 02/09/2005 Walker S., 1975, Learning and Reinforcement, Mathuen Co Ltd Zielinski D., 05-01-2001, Motivating the masses [elibrary], Presentations, http://elibrary.bigchalk. com.proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/libweb/australia/do/ document?set=searchgroupid=1requestid=lib_australiaresultid= 198edition=ts=36D65314D08785A2310AB40D5723A400_11284 37775279urn=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument% 3B78062471, Accessed 10/09/2005 Research Papers on Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Positive and Negative Reinforcement - Management EssayThree Concepts of PsychodynamicIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug UseRelationship between Media Coverage and Social andMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenComparison: Letter from Birmingham and CritoBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfResearch Process Part OneCapital Punishment

November Calendar of Famous Inventions and Birthdays

November Calendar of Famous Inventions and Birthdays November is the month of Thanksgiving and some of the best inventions that made their official public debut with the registration of their patents, trademarks, or copyrights. Literary works, new methods of manufacturing, and new products all made their appearance for the first time in November. Throughout history, the 11th month of the year has also been when many great  inventors and scientists were born, and you can find out which famous figures and inventions share your November birthday below. Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights From the birth of Apple Jacks cereal  to several special  Thanksgiving  Day inventions, there are many great creations that got their official start with the registration of their patents, trademarks, and copyrights in the month of November. November 1 1966: Apple Jacks cereal was trademark registered. November 2 1955: Jim Hensons Kermit the Frog, the first Muppet, was copyright registered. November 3 1903: Listerine was trademark registered. November 4 1862: Richard Gatling received a patent for the machine gun. November 5 1901:  Henry Ford received a patent for a motor carriage. November 6 1928: Colonel Jacob Schick patented the first electric razor. November 7 1955: The movie Guys and Dolls, based on stories by Damon Runyon,  was copyright registered. November 8 1956: Cecile B Demilles The Ten Commandments was copyright registered. November 9 1842: George Bruce received the first design patent for printing typefaces. November 10 1981: The board game Trivial Pursuit was registered. November 11 1901:  NABISCO, the snack food manufacturer, was trademark registered. November 12 1940: Batman, the original comic strip, was trademark registered. November 13 1979:  Robert Jarvik was granted a patent for an artificial heart. November 14 1973: Patsy Sherman and Samuel Smith obtained a patent for a method for treating carpets known as Scotchguard. November 15 1904: Patent Number 775,134 was granted to King C. Gillette for a safety razor. November 16 1977: Stephen Spielbergs Close Encounters of the Third Kind was copyright registered. November 17 1891:  Emile Berliner was issued a patent for a combined telegraph and telephone. November 18 1952:  ELMERS glue was trademark registered. November 19 1901:  Granville Woods was issued a patent for a third rail to operate electrified railways. November 20 1923: Patent Number 1,475,024 was granted to Garrett Morgan for a traffic signal. November 21 1854: Issac Von Bunschoten patented a rosin-oil lamp. November 22 1904: Design patent for the Congressional Medal of Honor was granted to George Gillespie. November 23 1898:  Andrew Beard was granted a patent for a railway car coupler. November 24 1874: Patent Number 157,124 was granted to Joseph Glidden for barbed wire fencing. November 25 1975: Robert S. Ledley was granted patent Number 3,922,522 for diagnostic X-ray systems known as the CAT-Scan. November 26 1895: Russell Penniman received a patent for a transparent photographic film. November 27 1894: Mildred Lord was granted a patent for a washing machine. November 28 1905: ARM HAMMER baking soda was trademark registered. November 29 1881: Francis Blake was granted a patent for the speaking phone. November 30 1858: John Mason patented the screw neck bottle called the Mason Jar. November Birthdays From Marie Curie, who discovered radium, to the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, who invented the sandwich, November has given birth to a number of influential scientists and inventors throughout history. Listed by date and year they were born, the following famous figures changed the world with the accomplishments they made in their lifetimes. November 1 1950: Robert B. Laughlin  was an American physicist who won the 1998 Nobel Prize in physics for producing  body wave function in the  fractional quantum Hall effect.1880: Alfred L Wegener was a German meteorologist that revealed the continental shift.1878: Carlos Saavedra Lamas was an Argentinian who was the first to be awarded the Latin American Nobel Peace Prize in 1936. November 2 1929: Amar Bose was an electrical engineer with a Ph.D. from MIT and the founder and chairman of Bose Corporation, which patented advanced speakers that mimic being inside a concert hall.1942: Shere Hite is an author and sex therapist, who wrote the Hite Report. November 3 1718: John Montague was the Fourth Earl of Sandwich and the inventor of the  sandwich. November 4 1912: Pauline Trigere was the fashion designer that created bell-bottom pants.1923: Alfred Heineken was a beer brewer that founded Heineken  beer. November 5 1534: Carlos Saavedra Lamas was a German botanist and physician who wrote the first horticulture catalog.1855: Leon P Teisserenc de Bort was a French meteorologist who discovered the existence of Earths stratosphere.1893: Raymond Loewy was an American industrial designer that designed everything from Coca-Cola vending machines to  Pennsylvania Railroads S1 steam locomotive.1930: Frank Adams was a British mathematician, who greatly advanced concepts of  homotopy theory.1946:  Patricia K Kuhl is a speech and hearing scientist and a major contributor to the neuroscience, language acquisition, and speech recognition communities. November 6 1771: Alois Senefelder invented  lithography.1814: Adolphe Sax was the Belgium musician who invented the saxophone.1861:  James Naismith  invented the rules of basketball. November 7 1855: Edwin H. Hall was an American physicist who discovered the Hall effect.1867: Marie Curie  was the French scientist who discovered radium and won the Nobel Prize in 1903 and 1911.1878: Lise Meitner was the Austrian-Swedish physicist who discovered protactinium.1888: Chandrasekhara Raman was the Indian physicist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics for his advancements in the study of light scattering in 1930.1910: Edmund Leach was a British social anthropologist who greatly influenced the field of British structural-functionalism.1950: Alexa Canady was the first black woman to become a neurosurgeon. November 8 1656: English astronomer Edmund Halley discovered the Halley comet.1922: Christiaan Barnard was a South African surgeon who performed the first heart transplant.1923:  Jack Kilby  was an American scientist who  invented the integrated circuit (the microchip).1930: Edmund Happold was the structural engineer who founded engineering constituency. November 9 1850: Lewis Lewin was a German toxicologist who is considered the father of psychopharmacologist.1897: Ronald G. W. Norrish was a British chemist who won the Nobel Prize in 1967 for the development of flash photolysis.1906: Arthur Rudolph was a German rocket engineer who helped develop the American space program. November 10 1819: Cyrus West Field financed the first transatlantic cable.1895: John Knudsen Northrop was an aircraft designer who founded Northrop Air.1918: Ernst Fischer is the German chemist who won the Nobel Prize in 1973 for pioneering the field of organometallic chemistry. November 11 1493: Paracelsus was the  Swiss scientist who is known as the father of toxicology. November 12 1841: John W. Rayleigh was the English physicist won the Nobel prize in 1904 for discovering argon. November 13 1893: Edward A. Doisy Sr. was an American biochemist who invented a way to manufacture Vitamin K1 and won the Nobel prize in 1943.1902: Gustav von Koenigswald was a paleontologist who found Pithecanthropus erectus. November 14 1765:  Robert Fulton  built the first steamboat.1776: Henri Dutrochet discovered and named the process of osmosis.1797: Charles Lyell was  a Scottish geologist who wrote The Principles of Geology.1863:  Leo Baekeland  was a Belgian-American chemist who invented the  bakelite. November 15 1793: Michel Chasles was a  French mathematician who  specialized in geometry. November 16 1857: Henry Potonie was a German geologist who studied coal formation. November 17 1906: Soichiro Honda was the founder and first CEO of the Honda Motor Company.1902: Eugene Paul Wigner was a  Mathematician and physicist and the co-inventor of the A-Bomb who won the Nobel Prize in 1963. November 18 1839: August A. Kundt was a  German physicist who researched sound vibration and invented the test of Kundt.1897: British physicist, Patrick M. S. Blackett invented a nuclear reaction won the Nobel Prize in 1948.1906: American physiologist/biologist, George Wald won the Nobel prize in 1967. November 19 1912: George E Palade is cell biologist who discovered ribosomes and won the Nobel Prize in 1974.1936: Yuan T. Lee is a Taiwanese chemist who was the first from the country to win a Nobel Prize for his work on the dynamics of chemical elementary processes. November 20 1602: Otto von Guericke invented the air pump.1886: Karl von Frisch was a zoologist and bee expert who won the Nobel Prize in 1973.1914: Emilio Pucci is an Italian fashion designer known for his prints.1916: Robert A. Bruce was a pioneer in exercise cardiology. November 21 1785: William Beaumont was a surgeon who was first to research digestion.1867: Vladimir N. Ipatiev was a  Russian petroleum chemist who made huge advancements in the field. November 22 1511: Erasmus Reinhold was the German mathematician who calculated planetary table.1891: Erik Lindahl was a  Swedish economist who wrote The Theory of Money and Capital.1919: Wilfred Norman Aldridge was a biochemist and toxicologist. November 23 1924: Colin Turnbull was an anthropologist and one of the first ethnomusicologist who wrote The Forest People and The Mountain People.1934: Rita Rossi Colwell is an  environmental microbiologist  whos known around the world for her research. November 24 1953: Tod Machover is an  American composer who invented the use of new technology in music. November 25 1893: Joseph Wood Krutch was an American environmentalist and writer whose nature books on the American Southwest and critiques of reductionistic science made him famous.1814: Julius Robert Mayer was a  German scientist who was one of the founders of thermodynamics.1835: Andrew Carnegie was an industrialist and a noted philanthropist. November 26 1607: John Harvard was a clergyman and scholar who founded Harvard University.1876:  Willis Haviland Carrier  invented air-conditioning equipment.1894: Norbert Wiener was the American mathematicians who invented cybernetics.1913: Joshua William Steward invented polymath. November 27 1701: Anders Celsius was a Swedish scientist who invented the centigrade temperature scale.1894: Forrest Shaklee founded Shaklee Products.1913: Frances Swem Anderson was a technologist who researched nuclear medicine.1955: Scientist actor, Bill Nye is a scientist and actor who hosts a show on Netflix about science based on his original Bill Nye the Science Guy show from the 80s and 90s. November 28 1810: William Froude was an English engineer and a naval architect.1837:  John Wesley Hyatt  invented celluloid.1854: Gottlieb J. Haberlandt was a German botanist who discovered plant tissue cultures. November 29 1803: Christian Doppler was an Austrian physicist who invented Doppler effect radar.1849:  John Ambrose Fleming  invented the first practical electron tube called the Fleming Valve and the vacuum tube diode.1911: Klaus Fuchs was a British atomic physicist who was arrested for being a spy.1915: Earl W. Sutherland was the American pharmacologist who won the Nobel Prize in 1971 for discoveries concerning the mechanisms of the actions of hormones. November 30 1827: Ernest H. Baillon was a French botanist who wrote The History of Plants.1889: Edgar D. Adrian was an  English physiologist who won the Nobel Prize in 1932 for his work on neurons.1915: Henry Taube was a chemist who won the Nobel prize in 1983 for his work  in the mechanisms of electron-transfer reactions, especially in metal complexes.