Bribery or Reinforcement

I’ve been accused of bribing kids.

As a behavior therapist(BCBA), there are a lot of times that I will give a child a piece of candy or a Cheeto or toy after I see them doing something good. I do this so that they will do this behavior more in the future. We call this reinforcement.

Some call this a bribe. I disagree. As an adult, I go to work and then I receive a paycheck. My paycheck is not a bribe. It’s the way employers reinforce their employees so they will come back to work again.

So then, what is a bribe? Let me give you an example. An exhausted mom takes her child to Walmart. At the checkout line, the child starts whining and grabbing things. Mom says, “If you be good, I’ll give you a candy bar.” The child instantly stops whining and grabbing and mom gives her a candy bar. That is not reinforcing good behavior, that is a bribe. And chances are very high that the next time this child is at the checkout counter, she is going to whine and grab things because mom taught her that if she wants candy, all she has to do is whine and grab things and then mom will offer it to her.

Bribes will temporarily induce good behavior but they will increase the bad behavior in the future.

Reinforcement increases good behavior in the future.

So what’s the difference?

Reinforcement happens after a behavior and increases that behavior in the future. So if we want to increase good behavior, we give a reinforcement after we see a good behavior.

Bribes happen after a bad behavior. A deal happens to convince the child to be good. Example: Stop screaming and we will go outside.

More examples:

A child is in the backseat of the car looking out the window. Mom hands him his toy and says, “I love the way you are using a quiet voice and looking out the window. Here’s your toy.” In the future, the child looks out the window quietly more often. (This is reinforcement.)

A child is sitting in the backseat of the car. He’s screaming and kicking the chair in front of him. Mom says if you stop screaming and kicking the seat, I’ll give you this toy. The child stops screaming and kicking and looks out the window quietly. Mom gives him the toy. In the future, the child screams and kicks the seat more often but always calms down when mom gives him a toy. (This is bribery.)

Let’s look for times that our kids are using good behavior and reinforce it!