Question

in class, kelsey stops paying attention to the lesson and begins to focus on tapping her pencil on her desk. her teacher slowly walks to kelseys desk and gently takes her pencil from her. how would behaviorist b.f. skinner most likely describe this response?

a. this is a positive reinforcement.

b. this is not related to operant conditioning.

c. this is a neutral operant.

d. this is a negative reinforcement.

Explanation:

B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning includes positive and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement adds a pleasant stimulus to increase a behavior. Negative reinforcement removes an aversive stimulus to increase a behavior. Here, the teacher taking the pencil is not adding a pleasant or removing an aversive thing to increase a behavior. It's not a form of reinforcement. A neutral operant has no effect on the probability of a behavior occurring. This situation is not a neutral operant either as the teacher's action is a response to Kelsey's behavior. The act is related to operant conditioning as the teacher is responding to Kelsey's behavior to modify it.

Answer:

None of the above options are correct as the teacher's action is a form of punishment (removing the pencil to decrease the pencil - tapping behavior) which is not among the given options. If we must choose from the given options, the best - fitting incorrect option is that it is not related to operant conditioning (Option B) since the other options about reinforcement and neutral operant are clearly wrong in this context. So the answer is B. This is not related to operant conditioning.