Question 1

Which of the following decreases the likelihood that the response will occur again by initiating discomfort?

Accepted Answer

Positive punishment decreases the likelihood that the response will occur again by adding something unpleasant or initiating discomfort after the behavior.

Question 2

A politician who irritates you is being interviewed on the evening news. You change channels so you won't have to listen to him. Your channel changing is

Accepted Answer

Changing the channel to avoid listening to the politician reduces the irritation, which is an example of negative reinforcement because it removes an unpleasant stimulus, leading to an increase in the behavior (channel changing).

Question 3

If the teacher scolds her students for talking and they decrease their talking, the teacher has used

Accepted Answer

Positive punishment involves adding an unpleasant stimulus to decrease a behavior, which in this case is the teacher scolding (adding scolding) to decrease talking.

Question 4

Taking away a teen's privileges or using time out with younger children are examples of

Accepted Answer

These are examples of punishment, as they involve adding or taking away something to decrease a behavior.

Question 5

Preschoolers Jordan and Darius were throwing sticks at other students on the playground, so their teacher made them sit on the sidewalk for five minutes, taking them away from the fun activities on the playground. Their teacher was using

Accepted Answer

Negative punishment involves removing a desirable stimulus (in this case, the fun activities on the playground) to decrease undesirable behavior (throwing sticks).

Question 6

A team coach who scolds and benches a player for poor performance is using

Accepted Answer

Punishment involves adding or taking away a stimulus to decrease the likelihood of a behavior recurring. In this case, scolding and benching (adding a negative stimulus and taking away the positive stimulus of playing time) are used to decrease the likelihood of poor performance, making it punishment.

Question 7

A second type of punishment in which a reinforcer or positive state of affairs is removed, such as the loss of privileges, is called

Accepted Answer

Negative punishment involves the removal of a positive stimulus following an undesirable behavior, with the aim of decreasing that behavior's occurrence. In this case, the loss of privileges is a form of negative punishment because a positive condition (privileges) is removed to decrease a behavior.

Question 8

Every time you give advice to a friend, she suddenly turns cold and rude toward you. Lately, you've stopped offering her advice because giving your friend advice has been

Accepted Answer

Punished. The friend's cold and rude behavior acts as a punishment, discouraging the behavior of giving advice.

Question 9

After receiving several tickets for speeding, Joseph lost his driver's license for several months. When he got his driver's license back, Joseph stopped speeding. The reason he stopped speeding is due to the consequence known as

Accepted Answer

Joseph stopped speeding because his driver's license was taken away for several months, which is an example of negative punishment. Negative punishment involves removing a desirable stimulus to decrease a behavior, in this case, removing the privilege to drive to decrease speeding behavior.

Question 10

You live in an apartment and your neighbor's stereo is blasting so loudly that your ears hurt. If you pound on the wall and the volume suddenly drops, you are more likely to pound on the wall again if the stereo is loud because

Accepted Answer

Pounding on the wall resulted in the removal of an unpleasant stimulus (the loud music), which is an example of negative reinforcement. This increases the likelihood of pounding on the wall again in the future to remove or avoid the unpleasant stimulus.

Question 11

Because Nousha was disruptive during the family game time, she was sent to her room. Being sent to her room and away from the family fun is an example of the behavioral procedure known as

Accepted Answer

Time out is a behavioral procedure that involves the removal of an individual from a situation where reinforcement is available (in this case, family game time) as a consequence of inappropriate behavior (disruption), with the aim of decreasing that behavior.

Question 12

Tristan and his brother Ian are fighting over a video game. So, Mom takes the video game system away from them for an hour. Mom has used

Accepted Answer

Response cost is a form of punishment that involves removing a desirable stimulus after a behavior occurs. In this scenario, the video game system (a desirable stimulus) is taken away because of the fighting behavior, which fits the definition of response cost.

Question 13

When a teenager loses his phone privileges or is "grounded," the parent is using

Accepted Answer

Response cost is a form of punishment that involves removing a desirable stimulus to decrease a behavior. In this case, taking away phone privileges or grounding a teenager is an example of response cost, as it removes a positive aspect of their environment (access to their phone or freedom) to reduce undesirable behavior.

Question 14

Any event that follows a response and decreases the likelihood of the response occurring again is referred to as

Accepted Answer

Punishment is defined as any event that follows a response and decreases the likelihood of the response occurring again, aiming to reduce or eliminate a specific behavior.

Question 15

The best-known form of response cost involves children being removed from situations that normally allow them to gain reinforcement, a procedure known as

Accepted Answer

Time out is a form of response cost where children are removed from situations that normally allow them to gain reinforcement, effectively reducing the likelihood of the undesired behavior occurring again.

Question 16

If you make a snide remark to the school bully and you get "beat up," you will be less likely to make another snide remark to this bully due to the consequence known as

Accepted Answer

Positive punishment involves adding an unpleasant consequence after an undesired behavior to decrease the likelihood of that behavior happening again. In this scenario, getting "beat up" serves as a positive punishment for making a snide remark, as it adds an unpleasant experience to discourage the behavior.

Question 17

Negative reinforcement and punishment

Accepted Answer

Negative reinforcement increases the likelihood of a behavior by removing an aversive stimulus, while punishment decreases the likelihood of a behavior by introducing an aversive stimulus or removing a desirable one.

Question 18

Regarding the effects of negative reinforcement and punishment on responding, which of the following statements is TRUE?

Accepted Answer

Negative reinforcement increases responding by removing or avoiding a negative outcome after the desired behavior is performed, encouraging the behavior to occur more frequently. Punishment decreases responding by introducing a negative consequence or removing a positive stimulus following an undesired behavior, discouraging that behavior.

Question 19

In its most basic form, response cost can be described as

Accepted Answer

Response cost is a behavior modification technique that involves the removal of a reinforcer to reduce or eliminate undesirable behaviors.

Question 20

If a parent follows misbehavior with an unpleasant consequence, such as scolding or spanking, the parent is using

Accepted Answer

Positive punishment involves adding an unpleasant consequence after an undesired behavior to decrease the likelihood of that behavior occurring in the future. Scolding or spanking are examples of adding something unpleasant, thus fitting the definition of positive punishment.

Quiz 6: Conditioning and Learning