Final answer:
Escape conditioning involves strengthening a behavior by removing an aversive stimulus, while positive reinforcement involves adding a rewarding stimulus to strengthen a behavior. Both methods serve to increase the likelihood of behavior but differ in their procedural approach and types of stimuli involved.
Step-by-step explanation:
The difference between escape conditioning and positive reinforcement primarily lies in the nature of the stimulus and the resulting behavior. Escape conditioning is part of operant conditioning where a behavior is strengthened because it stops or removes an unpleasant experience or aversive stimulus. On the other hand, positive reinforcement involves introducing a pleasant or rewarding stimulus following a behavior to increase the likelihood of that behavior occurring again in the future.
In escape conditioning, for instance:
- A student may learn to turn in assignments on time to avoid scolding from a teacher (the undesirable stimulus being the scolding).
For positive reinforcement:
- That same student might also study diligently because they get praise and good grades, which is reinforcing.
Both strategies aim to increase the likelihood of certain behaviors by manipulating consequences. However, escape conditioning is about avoiding a negative outcome, while positive reinforcement is about obtaining a positive one.
The effects of both strategies can be similar because they each can strengthen a behavior - one does so by avoiding negative stimuli and the other by gaining positive stimuli.