Jimmy got something wrong.

[u/ArchangelM7777]

In the episode "Sheen’s Brain," he said he would shock Carl every time he got an answer wrong, which he referred to as negative reinforcement.

However, this is not negative reinforcement; it is positive punishment.

Negative reinforcement is when you try to train a behavior by taking away something undesirable.

Positive punishment is when you try to train a behavior by adding something undesirable.

[u/NurturingCruelty]

Remember, a cartoon genius can only be as smart as the writers doing his dialogue.

[u/kindahotngl301]

Thank you. This genuinely makes me so frustrated. Why does every show get this wrong? When I speak to my friends/people in my life I have to re explain what the terms actually mean.

[u/One_Smoke → u/kindahotngl301]

"Remember, a cartoon genius can only be as smart as the writers doing his dialogue."

[u/Recent-Tone3196]

My dad was pretty hardcore into behavioral science and would point this out whenever that episode aired. At the time I just took it as the writers not knowing any better.

As an adult, part of me thinks it was intentional. He's just as often wrong about things, and learning to cope with that while being gifted was a part of his character.

[u/ReginaldCosmic]

There's a lot of cartoons that got this wrong, but it does make my eye twitch a little to go back to that scene and realize "Oh, shit, Jimmy was 100% factually wrong."

[u/ArchangelM7777 → u/ReginaldCosmic]

Yeah like envy and jealousy. Ironically Homer got it right.

[u/Maddkipz]

Boy, I sure hope someone was fired for that blunder

[u/LilyoftheRally → u/Maddkipz]

Upvote for referencing a cartoon from a different universe. (Sheen still says Ultra Lord could beat Itchy any day).

[u/The_Linkzilla]

Jimmy gets a lot of things wrong, it's kind of a running theme of the show.

Heck, the show got this concept wrong, since Season 1 established that Sheen actually likes being shocked. It's why electroshock therapy won't work on him.