Psych In Your World: Punishment and Reinforcement

By Chip Panahon

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The “Psych In Your World” video series features short lectures by psychology professors at Minnesota State University, Mankato on a range of topics connected to psychology. These videos were created as resources for teachers of psychology at all levels. We also provide discussion questions for each video for you to use with your students.

In this video, Dr. Chip Panahon talks about the principles of reinforcement and punishment. These are core ideas that relate to a lot of our real-world experiences with learning.

As you watch the video, think about the following discussion questions: 

  • Can you think of examples of positive reinforcement, positive punishment, negative reinforcement, and negative punishment? 

  • How can teachers use these concepts to help shape student behavior? 

  • When is pizza more likely to be an effective reinforcer—when you haven't had it for weeks, or if you just had it for lunch? Why?

Resources

This lesson plan and accompanying activity provide more resources to use with this video.

Outreach, PedagogyKarla Lassonde