The 80% Rule

With the basics of reinforcement understood, we are now ready to move on to another aspect of reinforcement theory: the 80% rule. The 80% rule is effective with virtually any child in any situation. In order for a learning activity to be rewarding or reinforcing to a child, it must be sufficiently pleasurable for him. Experience shows that for a learning activity to be pleasurable for a child, he should be able to respond correctly 80% of the time.


For example, if you are working on color identification with your young child by throwing him one colored ball at a time and letting him tell you what color it is, he should be able to respond correctly 8 out of every 10 times you throw a ball. If you are using four balls of different colors and your child gets every second ball color wrong, then the activity is too hard for him. In order to keep the activity reinforcing to him, remove two colored balls and play with only two balls of different colors. If he can say the correct color 8 out of every 10 times, then the activity is appropriate for his skill level in identifying colors. On a later occasion, add back in one ball color at a time until he is proficient at identifying the original colors and the new colors about 80% of the time.


In any learning activity, it is important for your child to hear consistent praise and encouragement from you. But without following the 80% rule, even your best efforts to praise will not be enough. It is simply not reinforcing enough for a child to hear time after time, “You got it wrong again, but keep trying! That was a really good try!” If a child continuously responds incorrectly, it ceases to matter how much you praise him for his efforts. It will not be fun or satisfying for him to be wrong most of the time.


What do you think about the 80% rule?  Please let me know your thoughts.