The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again.
Typically, if you reward something, you get more of it. You punish something, you get less of it. And our businesses have been built for the last 150 years very much on that kind of motivational scheme.
The way positive reinforcement is carried out is more important than the amount.
Properly used, positive reinforcement is extremely powerful.
We have seen that in certain respects operant reinforcement resembles the natural selection of evolutionary theory. Just as genetic characteristics which arise as mutations are selected or discarded by their consequences, so novel forms of behavior are selected or discarded through reinforcement.
Behavior is determined by its consequences.
Reinforce what you want to see repeated.What gets rewarded gets done.
I early learned that it is a hard matter to convert an individual by abusing him, and that this is more often accomplished by giving credit for all the praiseworthy actions performed than by calling attention alone to all the evil done.
