Question

operant conditioning worksheet
identify whether each example is positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, or negative punishment.

keys to success
first: identify the behavior in the situation. is it increasing (reinforcement) or decreasing (punishment)?
second: in the remaining part of the statement, figure out whether the stimulus is being added (positive) or removed (negative) from the situation to affect the behavior.

1. claire receives $5 in allowance for every room she cleans throughout the house.
2. when kyra texts during class, her teacher takes her cell phone away.
3. if jacksons dog walks too far ahead of him, jackson yanks the dogs leash to bring him back.
4. ariel sprays her cat with water when she jumps on the dinner counter.
5. bjs mom takes away his grounding after he acts respectfully toward her for two weeks straight.
6. mr. oksiuta draws smiley faces on papers when students turn in excellent work.
7. when tj feels bored, he watches cat videos on youtube.
8. after jawon was caught speeding, his parents took away his car keys for three weeks.
9. dakota was sent to prison for six years after he stole a famous painting from a museum.
10. dakota lost six years of free time after he stole a famous painting from a museum.
11. after saying the “f” word out loud, karley has her mouth washed out with soap.
12. mr. nedelcoff mocks brenna when she gets an answer wrong in class.
13. yanique gets an “a” on an exam that she studied extremely hard for.
14. quintin receives a speeding ticket after hes pulled over for not wearing his seat belt.
15. helen takes an aspirin whenever she starts experiencing a headache.
16. andreas parents buy her a new pair of jeans after she throws a temper tantrum in the mall.
17. brett is arrested after he is caught video taping a movie in the cinema.
18. when corey makes a bad decision during a video game, his teammates yell at him for ruining the game.
19. avery gives her boyfriend a kiss after he brings her flowers on valentines day.
20. anna receives an “ie” in the gradebook after she fails to make up her missing test in a timely manner.
21. finn receives a spanking from his mom after he refuses to eat his vegetables during dinner.
22. when kyle spends too much time playing video games, his mom unplugs the xbox and takes the cord.
23. dan receives a 98% on his curved exam during a college class and his classmates refuse to talk to him.
24. mr. oksiuta gives emma watson more attention when she wears the dress he bought her.

Explanation:

1. Positive Reinforcement: Money is added for cleaning (behavior - cleaning, stimulus - addition of money).
2. Negative Punishment: Cell - phone is removed for texting in class (behavior - texting, stimulus - removal of cell - phone).
3. Positive Punishment: Leash yanking is added when dog walks too far (behavior - dog walking too far, stimulus - addition of leash yanking).
4. Positive Punishment: Water spraying is added when cat jumps on counter (behavior - cat jumping on counter, stimulus - addition of water spraying).
5. Negative Reinforcement: Grounding is removed for respectful behavior (behavior - respectful behavior, stimulus - removal of grounding).
6. Positive Reinforcement: Smiley faces are added for excellent work (behavior - turning in excellent work, stimulus - addition of smiley faces).
7. Positive Reinforcement: Watching cat videos is added for boredom (behavior - boredom, stimulus - addition of watching cat videos).
8. Negative Punishment: Car keys are removed for speeding (behavior - speeding, stimulus - removal of car keys).
9. Positive Punishment: Prison - time is added for stealing (behavior - stealing, stimulus - addition of prison - time).
10. Positive Punishment: Loss of free - time is added for stealing (behavior - stealing, stimulus - addition of loss of free - time).
11. Positive Punishment: Mouth - washing with soap is added for using a bad word (behavior - using a bad word, stimulus - addition of mouth - washing).
12. Positive Punishment: Mocking is added for wrong answer (behavior - getting a wrong answer, stimulus - addition of mocking).
13. Positive Reinforcement: An 'A' is added for hard study (behavior - hard study, stimulus - addition of an 'A').
14. Positive Punishment: Speeding ticket is added for not wearing seat - belt (behavior - not wearing seat - belt, stimulus - addition of speeding ticket).
15. Negative Reinforcement: Aspirin is taken to remove headache (behavior - headache, stimulus - removal of headache by taking aspirin).
16. Positive Reinforcement: New jeans are added after a tantrum (behavior - tantrum, stimulus - addition of new jeans).
17. Positive Punishment: Arrest is added for video - taping in cinema (behavior - video - taping in cinema, stimulus - addition of arrest).
18. Positive Punishment: Yelling is added for bad decision in game (behavior - bad decision in game, stimulus - addition of yelling).
19. Positive Reinforcement: Kiss is added for bringing flowers (behavior - bringing flowers, stimulus - addition of a kiss).
20. Positive Punishment: 'IE' is added for not making up test (behavior - not making up test, stimulus - addition of 'IE' in gradebook).
21. Positive Punishment: Spanking is added for not eating vegetables (behavior - not eating vegetables, stimulus - addition of spanking).
22. Negative Punishment: Xbox cord is removed for excessive video - game playing (behavior - excessive video - game playing, stimulus - removal of Xbox cord). Also, social isolation (classmates not talking) can be seen as negative punishment.
23. Positive Reinforcement: High grade is added for good exam performance (behavior - good exam performance, stimulus - addition of 98% grade).
24. Positive Reinforcement: Attention is added for wearing a certain dress (behavior - wearing the dress, stimulus - addition of attention).

Answer:

1. Positive Reinforcement
2. Negative Punishment
3. Positive Punishment
4. Positive Punishment
5. Negative Reinforcement
6. Positive Reinforcement
7. Positive Reinforcement
8. Negative Punishment
9. Positive Punishment
10. Positive Punishment
11. Positive Punishment
12. Positive Punishment
13. Positive Reinforcement
14. Positive Punishment
15. Negative Reinforcement
16. Positive Reinforcement
17. Positive Punishment
18. Positive Punishment
19. Positive Reinforcement
20. Positive Punishment
21. Positive Punishment
22. Negative Punishment
23. Positive Reinforcement
24. Positive Reinforcement