Unit 6: Operant Conditioning Consequences Examples

NP (negative punishment)

Peter keeps swearing in class, each time he does his teacher asks him to put a dime in a jar, since this policy has been implemented Peter's swearing has slowed considerably.

NR (negative reinforcement)

Simone has a terrible headache and takes a new type of migraine medicine. Almost immediately after taking the medicine she feels much better. As a result, she takes the same medicine again in the future.

PP (positive punishment)

Eddie likes to fast. In the last week he has received 2 speeding tickets that will show up on his driving record. Eddie now obeys all traffic laws.

N/A

Greta comes home over 2 hours late. She is grounded by her parents and not allowed to use thee car for 2 weeks. Although she hates being grounded, she continues to be late.

PP (positive punishment)

If every member of a psychology class does not complete their assigned reading, all the students are given twice as much on the next assignment. After this happens a few times, not a single student fails to the reading.

N/A

Robert saw the con for his e-mail flashing at the bottom of his screen; it was so annoying that in order to make it stop, he opened his e-mail to read the new message.

NR (negative reinforcement)

Thirteen-year-old Delilah is being driven past a fast food restaurant, and begins screaming that she must have French fries or she won't survive. Her parents surrender and drive in for a large supply that makes Delilah wants something from her parents, she throws a fit and her parents give into her demands. (parents perspective)

PR (positive reinforcement)

Three-year-old Benjamin behaves himself when he goes to the grocery store and gets to choose a treat at the check out. The next time he is taken to the grocery store he is well behaved.

NP (negative punishment)

Twelve-year old Nina developed a habit of slamming the door to her bedroom when she was not happy about something and this behavior bothered he parents. One day when Nina came home from school she realized her father had removed the door from her bedroom. After the door was returned, two weeks later, Nina never slammed her door again.

PR (positive reinforcement)

harold teases his sister Melissa just to make her angry. She hit him every time he teases her, he thinks it is funny and teases her even more frequently.