In Skinner's experiments, the rats in the box were rewarded were rewarded with food each time they pressed the lever.

What would be a good reinforcer for humans? For a child, rewards such as stickers, praise, money, toys, and more could be used to reinforce learning. If the child was rewarded after cleaning their room or scored a point or goal in their favourite sport, you would be using a primary reinforcer.

Primary reinforcers are reinforcers that have innate reinforcing qualities. These kinds of reinforcers are not learned.

Water, food, sleep, shelter, sex, and touch, among others, are primary reinforcers. Pleasure is also a primary reinforcer. Organisms do not lose their drive for these things.

For most people, jumping in a cool lake on a very hot day would be reinforcing and the cool lake would be innately reinforcing—the water would cool the person off (a physical need), as well as provide pleasure.

A secondary reinforcer has no inherent value and only has reinforcing qualities when linked with a primary reinforcer. Praise, linked to affection, is one example of a secondary reinforcer, as when you congratulate a person on their achievement.

Another example, money, is only worth something when you can use it to buy other things— either things that satisfy basic needs (food, water, shelter—all primary reinforcers) or other secondary reinforcers.

If you were on a remote island in the middle of the ocean and you had stacks of money, the money would not be useful if you could not spend it.

Sometimes, instead of money, a token is used. Tokens, which are also secondary reinforcers, can then be traded in for rewards and prizes.

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Entire behaviour management systems, known as token economies, are built around the use of these kinds of token reinforcers. Token economies have been found to be very effective at modifying behaviour in a variety of settings such as schools, prisons, and mental hospitals.

For example, one study found that use of a token economy increased appropriate social behaviours and reduced inappropriate behaviours in a group of autistic school children. Autistic children tend to exhibit disruptive behaviours such as pinching and hitting.

When the children in the study exhibited appropriate behaviour (not hitting or pinching), they received a 'quiet hands' token. When they hit or pinched, they lost a token. The children could then exchange specified amounts of tokens for minutes of playtime.

Parents and teachers often use behaviour modification to change a child's behaviour. Behaviour modification uses the principles of operant conditioning to accomplish behaviour change so that undesirable behaviours are switched for more socially acceptable ones.

Some teachers and parents create a sticker chart, in which several behaviours are listed. Sticker charts are a form of token economies. Each time children perform the behaviour, they get a sticker, and after a certain number of stickers, they get a prize, or reinforcer.

The goal is to increase acceptable behaviours and decrease misbehaviour. It's best to reinforce desired behaviours, rather than to use punishment.

In the classroom, the teacher can reinforce a wide range of behaviours, from students raising their hands, to walking quietly in the hall, to turning in their homework. At home, caregivers might create a behaviour chart that rewards children for things such as putting away toys, brushing their teeth, and helping with dinner.

In order for behaviour modification to be effective, the reinforcement needs to be connected with the behaviour; the reinforcement must also matter to the child and be done consistently.

Time-out is another popular technique used by caregivers in behaviour modification with children. It operates on the principle of negative punishment.

When a child demonstrates an undesirable behaviour, she is removed from the desirable activity at hand. For example, say that Sophia and her brother Mario are playing with building blocks.

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Sophia throws some blocks at her brother, so you give her a warning that she will go to time-out if she does it again. A few minutes later, she throws more blocks at Mario.

You remove Sophia from the room for a few minutes. When she comes back, she doesn't throw blocks.