AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Negative reinforcement increases the target behavior by taking away something aversive. Negative punishment decreases the target behavior by taking away something preferred. In the following example, a student’s “target behavior” is not paying attention to her teacher, or off-task behavior.

Detailed explanation-2: -Have your kids ever cleaned their room, just to avoid your nagging? This is a perfect example of negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement occurs when something unpleasant or uncomfortable is removed or taken away in order to increase the likelihood of the desired behavior.

Detailed explanation-3: -Negative punishment is when you take something away. An example of negative punishment is taking away your child’s favorite toy because they refuse to pick up after themselves. The goal of negative punishment is to get your child to pick up after themselves to avoid having toys taken away.

Detailed explanation-4: -At dinner time, a child pouts and refuses to eat her vegetables for dinner. Her parents quickly take the offending veggies away. Since the behavior (pouting) led to the removal of the aversive stimulus (the veggies), this is an example of negative reinforcement.