A primary reinforcer is a reinforcer which has innately rewarding properties. Put more simply, it is something which is reinforcing without prior training, such as food. A secondary reinforcer is a reinforcer which has no innately rewarding properties, but acquires its reinforcing properties through associations with a primary reinforcer. Reinforcement procedures Skinner defined reinforcement as any process that increases the likelihood that a response will occur in the future, either by positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement . Punishment , on the other hand, is the process which leads to a decrease in the likelihood that a behaviour will occur in the future, either by positive punishment or negative punishment .
Positive reinforcement refers to conditioning behaviour by providing a desirable consequence.
Negative reinforcement involves increasing the incidence of a behaviour by the removal of a negative state upon its elicitation. For example, if you subject an animal to a minor, but painful, electric current, it can stop the current by making a simple lever press response. Once the animal has learned this, the lever pressing will increase in frequency because it mitigates an unpleasant state. This type of response is called an escape response . The animal can also learn an avoidance response if the escape behaviour can be made in response to a signal, preventing the shock altogether.