Question

in the following examples, identify which element is being used to control behavior:
a. positive reinforcement
b. negative reinforcement
c. punishment
d. extinction

1. b the smoke detector in jesses house is low on batteries. it emits an annoying chirp every few seconds. jesse installs a new battery so it will stop making that noise.
2. a dr. smith, a doe college instructor, is having difficulty getting students to turn in papers. previously, he had not assigned credit for homework; rather, he had simply assumed that students would do it for the practice. dr. smith establishes a policy that all students who turn in papers will get full credit for their work. students now turn in papers much more often.
3. d robert puts $0.85 in the coke machine to buy his daily coke. today, nothing comes out, and he does not get his money back. robert does not put any more money in the machine.
4. b jeff is playing with his food at the dinner table. his mother tells him to stop playing with his food. when he does not stop, she takes his food away, leaving jeff hungry all night. jeff never plays with his food again.

12 c jeff is playing with his food at the dinner table while his parents are trying to carry on an adult conversation. when his mother notices what jeff is doing, she stops talking with her husband and directs her attention to jeff. she yells at him to stop playing with his food, and says that playing with his food is a horrible and disgusting habit. jeff plays with his food again several times during that meal, and even more frequently the next night.

1. jeff is diligently working on an art project at school. his teacher notices how nicely he is working and praises him loudly for his efforts. jeff immediately seems less interested working on his project. the teacher praises the little bits he completes as time goes on, and jeff stops working on the art project entirely.

Explanation:

For question 13, when Jeff is praised by the teacher, he loses interest in the art project and eventually stops working on it. This is a case of extinction. Extinction occurs when a behavior that was previously reinforced no longer receives reinforcement, leading to a decrease or cessation of that behavior. In this situation, Jeff's initial interest in the art project (a behavior) was likely internally motivated. When the teacher started praising him (an external reinforcement), it might have changed his motivation. As the teacher continued to praise (but perhaps the praise became less novel or the reinforcement schedule changed in a way that didn't sustain his interest), Jeff's behavior of working on the art project extinguished.

Answer:

1. d. extinction