Question

Name and describe the four basic instrumental conditioning procedures, clearly indicating the two defining characteristics and the effect on behavior of each procedure. Give a laboratory example and a daily-life example of each instrumental conditioning procedure.

Answer 1

1. Positive reinforcement – also called reward training

Positive reinforcement involves presenting a favorable outcome, such as giving a child a treat after she cleans her room

2. Negative reinforcement -involves the removal of an unpleasant stimulus, like telling a child that if she eats all her potatoes then she won’t have to eat her broccoli. Since the child considers broccoli an unpleasant consequence and eating ?the potatoes leads to the removal of this undesirable consequence, eating the potatoes is then negatively reinforced.

3. Positive punishment means applying an unpleasant event after a behavior. Spanking, for example, is a common example of positive punishment. This type of punishment is often referred to as punishment by application. A negative consequence is directly applied to reduce the unwanted behavior.

4. Negative punishment involves taking away something pleasant after a behavior occurs. For example, if a child fails to clean her room, her parents might tell her that she cannot go to the mall with her friends. Taking away the desirable activity acts as a negative punisher on the preceding behavior.