Asked by Yalisa Sanchez on Jul 27, 2024
Verified
Mark and Kathy take their 2-year-old son to the supermarket every Saturday. Each week, the same sequence of events unfolds: Their son screams, demanding that they buy him treats. Although they refuse to give in to his demands, he continues to scream. Finally, either Mark or Kathy gets in their son's face and yells at the top of their lungs "Shut up!" He stops screaming instantly. What operant conditioning concepts are illustrated in this story?
A) The parents are using negative reinforcement to increase their son's screaming.
B) The parents are in a very dysfunctional marriage; their child's screaming is his way of trying to get his parents to remain married.
C) The parents are using punishment to suppress the screaming; their use of punishment is negatively reinforced by the cessation of screaming.
D) Their son probably learned how to scream by observing his parents at home, and now he is reinforced on a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement.
Negative Reinforcement
A process in operant conditioning where removing an unpleasant stimulus strengthens a behavior's occurrence.
Punishment
A consequence applied to reduce or eliminate unwanted behavior, often discussed within the context of learning theory and behavior modification.
Variable-interval Schedule
A reinforcement schedule in which the reinforcement of a response occurs at unpredictable time intervals, enhancing response consistency.
- Comprehend the effects and applications of punishment, and differentiate it from negative reinforcement.
- Assess real-world cases to determine operant conditioning principles at play.
Verified Answer
ED
Evelyn De LimaJul 28, 2024
Final Answer :
C
Explanation :
The parents are using punishment (yelling "shut up") to suppress the screaming, and the cessation of screaming negatively reinforces their use of punishment. This is an example of negative reinforcement, where the removal of aversive stimuli (in this case, the screaming) increases the likelihood of a behavior (in this case, the parents' use of punishment). Option A is incorrect because the parents are not using negative reinforcement to increase their son's screaming, but rather using punishment to decrease it. Option B is an irrelevant and unfounded interpretation of the situation. Option D is incorrect because there is no evidence to suggest that the son is reinforced on a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement.
Learning Objectives
- Comprehend the effects and applications of punishment, and differentiate it from negative reinforcement.
- Assess real-world cases to determine operant conditioning principles at play.