Final answer:
Positive and negative reinforcement can be used to increase wanted behavior through the operant conditioning process, where a desirable stimulus is added or an undesirable one is removed to strengthen the behavior.
Step-by-step explanation:
Positive and negative reinforcement are both strategies used in operant conditioning to increase wanted behavior. The process involves reinforcing behaviors that closely resemble the desired outcome, with positive reinforcement adding a desirable stimulus to encourage the behavior, and negative reinforcement removing an undesirable stimulus to do the same. Unlike reinforcement, punishment is used to decrease unwanted behavior.
Over time, reinforcements should be adjusted to be more specific, only reinforcing the exact desired behavior. Continuous reinforcement rewards the behavior every time, while partial reinforcement does so intermittently, which can lead to a behavior becoming more resilient to extinction. The use of punishment, while sometimes effective, is generally less favored than reinforcement strategies.