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Reinforcement and Reinforcers
Essentially, a reinforcer is the thing that motivates your subject and, thereby, fuels his response and causes him to do what he does. Your reinforcer for going to work is that you get paid. Your reinforcers for going to the store are the things that you will be able to buy when you get there. Your dog's reinforcer for coming when you call him at dinner time is the food that he finds waiting when he arrives.
If your dog makes a response (like begging for food at the table), and you respond by doing something (like feeding him), that causes him to make that response more often in the future, then the thing you did that caused the response to increase is said to be a reinforcer.
In a case like the one cited in the previous paragraph, in which the pay-off involves the presentation of something, like a dog who gets food in exchange for begging, or a human who gets paid in exchange for working, then that particular procedure is said to constitute positive reinforcement.
Other times, the motivating factor that drives the target response involves avoiding something, or getting away from something that your subject does not want. For example, your dog may walk away from a cat, because it allows him to avoid getting scratched.
When the reward that drives the behavior involves terminating, escaping from, or avoiding something your subject does not want, as is the case with a dog that walks away from a cat to avoid being scratched, it is called negative reinforcement. Hence, it can be correctly said that the act of avoiding a ferocious feline larger than one's self is negatively reinforcing, since it allows the dog to avoid being injured, which is something he does not want.
When speaking in terms of reinforcement, the terms positive and negative do not refer to good and bad. Rather, they are a reference to the presence of something - positive - a reinforcer is being presented. Or, a reference to the absence of something - negative - an aversive is being terminated, avoided, or escaped from.
The terms reward and reinforcer are often used interchangeably. However, strictly speaking, a reward can only be considered to be a reinforcer if its presentation is sufficient to cause the rate of the target response to increase.