By BFS

Positive Reinforcement I wondered about positive reinforcement. Was it really a good thing for coaches to conciously practice? Was it worth The Negatively Reinforced Group: Nocomment was given on any successful attempt, just you” and then praise him when he gets it right. A coach the effort to find positive ways to look at, and comment on negative results? example: individual in an instant but he also has the power to help Was it worth the effort to use praise when something good was accomplished? the greatness of that individual progress to his fullest potential. I encourage “The last guy was doing better” etc. efforts to be positive.

The end result will be more wins, more successes and more friends. idea what were good or poor results. I couldn’t very well be “Good,” and “Super”. Every fifth attempt, including convincingly negative if a person sank 24 out of 25 free Far Better It Is To Dare Mighty Things, To Win were made. For example: “I like your style’, ““You’re doing great’, “Good you’re 3 for 15”, “I knew you’d do well’, “One of the best efforts so far” etc. throws. I chose a skill game from Mexico. It is played with object is to swing the ball up into the cup. Most of you are probably familiar with this game but have only tried it once or twice years ago. That’s perfect.

I selected at random 60 students and divided them thirty. One was the negatively reinforced group, the other the positively reinforced group. No one knew in advance the purpose of the study.

Failure; Than To Take Guess which group had the most successful attempts? It wasn’t even close. The They Live In The Grey Twilight That Knows On three different occasions during speaking engagements, Ihave demonstrated the effects Not Victory Nor Defeat. know I was lucky but all three times it has worked out right. The positive reinforced people got the ball in that cup more often. Obviously, this had a dramatic effect and makes for a convincing demonstration. the groups: of positive and negative reinforcement with two people. I even flipped a coin to confidence. insure unbiasness as to who was reinforced negatively. I positively reinforced group was significantly superior.

For those statisticians, it was significant at the .01 level of Each individual was given 10 warm-ups to learn some acquainted with the skill. Then 25 trails were given and the number of successful attempts were recorded. The following is what was said to Minnesota :

From BFS Magazine — November/December 1980. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).