Question

in each of the following examples, identify the behavior (strengthened/weakened) and the consequence (pleasant/unpleasant, presented/taken away) and the appropriate principle of operant conditioning at work!

1. joey gets a sticker each time he makes his bed. joe then uses these stickers to \buy\ tv time. joey makes his bed every day!
2. molly loses her glasses while playing in the park. her parents yell at her for being careless. molly hasnt lost her new pair yet.
3. duchess is a dog. her owners are trying to train her to stay in the yard by using an electric collar and fence. shortly after installation, duchess runs out into the street and receives a painful shock that doesnt stop until he returns to the yard.
4. while getting a shot at the dr’s office, sean is asked to stay still. afterwards, he is given a lollipop for good behavior. the next time he’s at the office, he doesn’t squirm at all.
5. a teacher tells her bored class that if everyone participates during the discussion she will let them out early for lunch. the children happily participate in order to get out of the boring class early.
6. jess used to tease gabi, making her cry. lately, gabi hasn’t been affected by the teasing and she no longer responds. jess isn’t getting as much pleasure out of picking on gabi.
7. mitch plays roller hockey in front of his neighbor’s house. in a shot on goal, his hockey puck breaks his neighbor’s car window. his father yells at him and demands he get a job to earn the money to replace the window.
8. tommy’s mom has been nagging him ever since he got up because his room is messy,. after an hour of nagging he goes into his room and cleans it up. when he’s done his mom leaves him alone. the next time his room gets messy, he cleans up before she can say anything.
9. bill makes a mess when he cooks in the kitchen. one evening, he’s cleaning up as his wife enters the kitchen. she gives him a big hug and says “thanks bill, i really appreciate your neatness.” bill begins to clean up after himself more often.
10. dylan has been taking extra long lunches for the past few weeks. finally, his boss sends him a memo that says “since you’ve seen fit to take extra time off in the middle of the day, i’ve seen fit to take away your friday half days.” dylan goes back to a strict one hour lunch break.
11. you have a stray dog you’re keeping in your basement that has an annoying habit of coming up and scratching on the door. when this happens, you open the door and talk loudly to the dog and wave your arms to get him away from the door. over time, you find the dog spending more time at the top of the stairs.

Explanation:

Question 1

• Behavior: Making the bed is strengthened (Joey does it every day).
• Consequence: Pleasant (sticker, which can be used for TV time) is presented (gets a sticker each time).
• Principle: Positive Reinforcement (presenting a pleasant consequence to strengthen behavior).

• Behavior: Losing glasses is weakened (hasn't lost new pair).
• Consequence: Unpleasant (parents yell) is presented (yelled at for carelessness).
• Principle: Positive Punishment (presenting an unpleasant consequence to weaken behavior).

• Behavior: Running out of yard is weakened (implied she will avoid it).
• Consequence: Unpleasant (painful shock) is presented (receives shock when runs out) and stops when she returns (so to avoid shock, she stays).
• Principle: Positive Punishment (presenting unpleasant shock to weaken running out behavior). Also, when she returns, the shock stops (negative reinforcement for staying, but the main behavior targeted is running out, which is punished).

Answer:

Behavior: Strengthened; Consequence: Pleasant, Presented; Principle: Positive Reinforcement

Question 2