A statement is an expression that indicates that a thing, something, a situation is true.
Expression that indicates that something is true
The affirmation is one of the most common acts that human beings perform and basically by which we grant our consent or intellectual endorsement to a certain statement that is duly declared as valid, supporting its reality and certainty without the presence of any doubt about it. "His statements before the court, regarding the involvement of María in the kidnapping, were the ones that finally marked the sentence of guilt that fell on María. “
Meanwhile, when we offer our commitment and consent to a statement but also admit the possibility of error or a contradiction about it, then we will obtain as a result a opinion.
Opinion is repeatedly considered as a weak statement, however, this differentiation, many times, is not delimited as it should and is considered forcing the affirmation of the question.
Gesture to say yes
Another use of the term allows to refer to that gesture that an individual makes to say yes.
“Faced with the impossibility of expressing himself, Juan nodded with affirmative gestures to each of the answers that the doctor made..”
There are gestures that are already absolutely standardized, agreed upon and, for example, have spread throughout the world, beyond differences in languages, cultures, etc., that is, all the inhabitants of the world use them and we do not need to know a language or of an interpretation to be able to decode them and this is precisely what happens with the gesture of affirmation, of the yes, which consists in making a movement of the same that oscillates from top to bottom through our head.
When someone, due to a situation, cannot answer something with their words, either because they cannot speak, because they have a physical handicap that makes it impossible, or simply cannot do so because their mouth is busy or they are performing a task, they usually use this typical movement of the head to express affirmation or consent to some question that is being asked or discussed.
On the contrary, when someone wants to express the denial or not of something, they usually use another gesture or movement with their head that also has a widespread use everywhere, which is to move the head from one side to another, from right to left. or vice versa.
The other side is denial
The concept that is directly opposed to that of affirmation is that of denial, which implies the absolute and forceful rejection of the veracity of a question.
“Since the trial began, Martín maintained a position of denial regarding his participation in the jewelry robbery.”
Psychological reinforcement: applying a stimulus to increase the repetition of a behavior
And in the field of psychology we find the concept of psychological reinforcement that consists of the application of a stimulus, which will be known as a reinforcer, which will increase the probability that a behavior will be repeated in the future.
This reinforcer is determined in relation to the effect they have on behavior and not by their own characteristics.
Now, we must clarify that some stimuli that a priori would be considered as reinforcers may not be so in some cases or special situations.
The aforementioned reinforcement may be positive when the response is followed by a reward or any other positive event. And thus the possibility of repeating itself is increased.
Giving a dog a cookie after he has done something right is positive reinforcement.
On the other hand, the negative occurs when the answer is followed by an uncomfortable and unpleasant fact, for which such a circumstance will remain ascribed and will be remembered for that, and thus it will tend to be avoided in the future.
