Reinforcement vs. Punishment — What's the Difference?

In behavioral psychology, reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus. This strengthening effect may be measured as a higher frequency of behavior (e.g., pulling a lever more frequently), longer duration (e.g., pulling a lever for longer periods of time), greater magnitude (e.g., pulling a lever with greater force), or shorter latency (e.g., pulling a lever more quickly following the antecedent stimulus).

Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon a group or individual, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a response and deterrent to a particular action or behavior that is deemed undesirable or unacceptable. It is, however, possible to distinguish between various different understandings of what punishment is.The reasoning for punishment may be to condition a child to avoid self-endangerment, to impose social conformity (in particular, in the contexts of compulsory education or military discipline), to defend norms, to protect against future harms (in particular, those from violent crime), and to maintain the law—and respect for rule of law—under which the social group is governed.

The act or process of reinforcing or the state of being reinforced.

The imposition of a penalty or deprivation for wrongdoing

Something that reinforces.

A penalty imposed for wrongdoing

Often reinforcements Additional personnel or equipment sent to support a military action.

Rough treatment or use

The occurrence or experimental introduction of an unconditioned stimulus along with a conditioned stimulus.

The act or process of punishing, imposing and/or applying a sanction.

The strengthening of a conditioned response by such means.

A penalty to punish wrongdoing, especially for crime.

An event, circumstance, or condition that increases the likelihood that a given response will recur in a situation like that in which the reinforcing condition originally occurred.

A suffering by pain or loss imposed as retribution

(uncountable) The act, process, or state of reinforcing or being reinforced.

(figuratively) Any harsh treatment or experience; rough handling.

(countable) A thing that reinforces.

The act of punishing.

(in the plural) Additional troops or materiel sent to support a military action.

Any pain, suffering, or loss inflicted on a person because of a crime or offense.

The process whereby a behavior with desirable consequences comes to be repeated.

A penalty inflicted by a court of justice on a convicted offender as a just retribution, and incidentally for the purposes of reformation and prevention.

See Reënforcement.

Severe, rough, or disastrous treatment.

A military operation (often involving new supplies of men and materiel) to strengthen a military force or aid in the performance of its mission;

The act of punishing

Information that makes more forcible or convincing;

(psychology) a stimulus that strengthens or weakens the behavior that produced it

A device designed to provide additional strength;

An act performed to strengthen approved behavior