Choose a behavior that you would like to change in yourself or someone else. This can be a behavior that you would like to increase or decrease. Tell how you would use two different operant conditioning techniques (positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, or negative punishment) in order to increase or decrease that behavior. Be sure to carefully explain and label both techniques you choose.

In discussing operant conditioning, we use several everyday words-positive, negative, reinforcement, and punishment-in a specialized manner. In operant conditioning, positive and negative do not mean good and bad. Instead, positive means you are adding something, and negative means you are taking something away. Reinforcement means you are increasing a behavior, and punishment means you are decreasing a behavior. Reinforcement can be positive or negative, and punishment can also be positive or negative. All reinforcers (positive or negative) increase the likelihood of a behavioral response. All punishers (positive or negative) decrease the likelihood of a behavioral response. Now let's combine these four terms: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment

talking to much