. 2018 Sep 24;11(4):496–503. doi: 10.1007/s40617-018-00284-8

Table 2.

Definition of reinforcement and examples

Definition	Examples
Reinforcement is a procedure used to increase the likelihood that the behavior will occur again the future.	Example: Tommy often ignores his teacher’s directions to clean up. Today, when the teacher said it was time to clean up, Tommy put away all of his materials. Immediately after he put his materials away, the teacher praised Tommy and gave him a sticker on his sticker chart. Tommy’s cleaning up increased because he wanted praise and a sticker. Example: Tommy often wanders around the room during morning work time. Today, Tommy completed all of his morning work before the bell rang. As a reward, his teacher took away one homework assignment for Tommy and all the other students who completed their morning work on time. Tommy’s morning work completion increased because he wanted to avoid doing a homework assignment.

Definition

Examples

Reinforcement is a procedure used to increase the likelihood that the behavior will occur again the future.

Example: Tommy often ignores his teacher’s directions to clean up. Today, when the teacher said it was time to clean up, Tommy put away all of his materials. Immediately after he put his materials away, the teacher praised Tommy and gave him a sticker on his sticker chart. Tommy’s cleaning up increased because he wanted praise and a sticker.

Example: Tommy often wanders around the room during morning work time. Today, Tommy completed all of his morning work before the bell rang. As a reward, his teacher took away one homework assignment for Tommy and all the other students who completed their morning work on time. Tommy’s morning work completion increased because he wanted to avoid doing a homework assignment.