In the mood to educate on psychology. Just in case anyone doesn't know how operant conditioning works, here's a breakdown.
First off, operant conditioning is conscious learning. The subject changes their behavior in response to a learned outcome. This is different from classical conditioning, which is more involuntary (Pavlov's dog involuntarily drools at the sound of a bell because it is associated with food). You can use classical conditioning bridges with operant conditioning, but this is just the basics.
There are 4 types of operant conditioning: Positive Reinforcement, Positive Punishment, Negative Reinforcement, and Negative Punishment. In some cases, the lines beweteen these may blur, depending on how you define the target behavior. The basic idea is that the subject adjusts their behavior by learning the consequences of their actions.
It is a common misconception that "positive" means "good" and "negative" means "bad," but that is not the case.
Positive = something is added
Negative = something is removed
Reinforcement = goal is to increase the behavior
Punishment = goal is to decrease the behavior
So, if you add something pleasant to encourage the subject to perform a behavior, that's Positive Reinforcement, which most people are fairly familiar with. If I give you a cookie every time you water my plant, your performance of watering my plant will increase because you want the cookie. This is considered the most effective form of operant conditioning.
On the other hand, if I add the stimulus of a harsh scolding or even hit you when you drop my potted plant on the ground, because I don't want you to do that again, that is Positive Punishment. This is considered the least effective form of operant conditioning.
Negative Reinforcement is removing an unpleasant stimulus when the target behavior is performed to encourage performance of the behavior. How this differs from Positive Punishment is in the nature of the target behavior and the timing. When I turn my car on, it makes a very annoying sound until I buckle my seatbelt. The removal of the annoying sound reinforces the behavior of buckling my seatbelt. Where this could get blurry is that it could look like the sound is something added to punish me for not wearing my seatbelt. However, wearing my seatbelt is the target behavior, and the sound is the default state of my car immediately after it is turned on. The sound itself is not the consequence of me not wearing my seatbelt, but the removal of the sound is a consequence of me buckling up.
Finally, Negative Punishment may sound "worse" than Positive Punishment, but it's just the removal of a pleasant stimulus in response to an undesired behavior. If you hit your younger sibling, you're no longer allowed to go to the concert. This should be a lesson to not hit your sibling. Negative Punishment can be as mild as no longer giving your subject any attention when they perform an undesired behavior, just ignoring them.
