We have all been there; vowing to eat healthier, to exercise regularly or cut back on sugar, only to fall back into the same old spiral of guilt and gluttony. If you have vowed to make healthier choices this year, and if it tops your list of resolutions, you need to know all about reinforcement and how this simple practice can help you make healthier choices this year.
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What Is Reinforcement?
According to the concept of reinforcement, we are more inclined to repeat a behaviour when it results in positive outcomes. Furthermore, actions that result in negative outcomes might be less likely to be repeated. An example of this would include rewarding yourself after running a mile, or depriving yourself of one when you did not do so.
Reinforcement is used in health settings to promote good habits like regular exercise, a balanced diet, and taking medications as prescribed. Patients who adhere to their treatment programs and attain the intended health outcomes, for instance, may receive praise or other incentives from their doctors.
What Did Research Uncover?
Feeling good about one's progress was a better predictor of plans to maintain healthy behaviour in the future, according to a study that sought to determine which kind of reinforcement was most effective with regard to exercising, eating healthily, and drinking less. In other words, compared to those who felt negative about their progress, those who felt good about it indicated stronger intentions to maintain healthy practices.
In order to determine if encouraging people to feel good or bad about their success would impact their commitment to healthy eating, the researchers conducted a second study. It was discovered that when people felt good about their achievement, they were more likely to eat properly than when they felt negative.
Types Of Reinforcement
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Positive Reinforcement- Giving a youngster praise after they finish a task is an example of positive reinforcement, which is giving something to boost response. This would encourage the child to participate in the activity.
Negative Reinforcement- Removing something in order to increase response is known as negative reinforcement. For example, payment may be withheld until the task is finished. The individual would continue to be driven to complete the task in order to receive remuneration.
Punishment- The goal of punishment is to change behaviour by introducing an unpleasant element. Yelling at a child for misbehaving is one example. The child in this scenario would link punishment to any bad behaviour. This would stop the child from acting in the same way again.
Extinction- It is the process of eliminating something in order to change a particular reaction. This is referred to as extinction or negative punishment. When an adolescent arrives home late, for example, the parents limit their use of the phone. The adolescent would reconsider breaking the curfew the next time.
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How To Reinforce Good Habits In Yourself and Your Loved Ones?
Making our behaviours stick requires reinforcement and repetition. Strong correlations between reactions and environmental cues are created when a behaviour is repeated, and it is more likely to be repeated when it is rewarded.
Habit change is also significantly influenced by the surroundings. It can be beneficial to change your environment; facilitating the access to desired behaviours promotes positive habits, while eliminating cues that cause undesirable behaviour breaks negative ones.
Habits can be strengthened and weakened by understanding how to activate your own goal-directed system. When attempting to break old patterns, it's important to remain conscious and intentional because stress, time constraints, and exhaustion can cause them to recur.