Fred is afraid of spiders. He won't even watch a nature show on TV about them. When he sees a picture of a spider, he has a panic attack, but when he avoids looking at the image, his panic goes away. Fred's avoidance of spiders is being ________.
A) extinguished, because he feels anxious after doing so
B) recovered spontaneously, because he will never get better
C) positively reinforced, because he is rewarded by his anxiety going down
D) negatively reinforced, because he is rewarded by his anxiety going down

Question

Fred is afraid of spiders. He won't even watch a nature show on TV about them. When he sees a picture of a spider, he has a panic attack, but when he avoids looking at the image, his panic goes away. Fred's avoidance of spiders is being ________.
A) extinguished, because he feels anxious after doing so
B) recovered spontaneously, because he will never get better
C) positively reinforced, because he is rewarded by his anxiety going down 
D) negatively reinforced, because he is rewarded by his anxiety going down

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Fred's avoidance of spiders is negatively reinforced because his behavior (avoiding looking at pictures of spiders) is rewarded by his anxiety going down. By avoiding the stimuli (spiders), Fred has successfully removed the source of his anxiety and his anxiety decreases as a result. This serves as a reward for his behavior, making it more likely that he will continue to avoid spiders in the future.

Fred Is Afraid of Spiders