B.F. Skinner is often associated with behavioral psychology, it is Edward Thorndike who set the stage for field. Thorndike's Law of Effect (1901) that successful behaviors tend to be repeated and unsuccessful ones do not set the stage for modern theorists along with the work of Pavlov (1927). Thus we now know that reinforcement always increases the probability that a behavior will occur or be repeated (Skinner, 1953). Positive reinforcement involves providing a stimulus to increase behavior, most often through of the use of a reward like food or praise, whereas negative reinforcement typically involves the removal of an aversive stimulus, such as a noise or pain, to increase the probability that a behavior will occur or be repeated (Skinner, 1953). Negative reinforcement is often confused with punishment but the two techniques perform completely different functions. Whereas reinforcement, positive or negative, always increases the chance that the behavior preceding it...
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