Mr. Edwards teaches high school psychology. He has tried several times over the past few weeks to get the students in his psychology class to understand the difference between "negative reinforcement" and "punishment." His students continue to confuse the two terms and he knows he must come up with a good example to help them understand the meaning of the concepts. As an avid lover of music, Mr

Question

Edwards decides to apply his music tastes to the understanding of negative reinforcement and punishment. He explains to his students that his own behavior that he is trying to change relates to doing laundry. Mr. Edwards shares with his students that he procrastinates as long as he can and he hates doing his laundry. He also shares with this class his musical preferences. Mr. Edwards loves classic hard rock and dislikes country music. How could Mr. Edwards teach the concepts of negative reinforcement and punishment to explain how his music preferences could be used to change his behavior regarding doing laundry?

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Mr. Edwards could explain to his class that he would get to listen to one of his favorite alternative songs after each step of the laundry process. For example, after he places the clothes in the washer he gets to listen to one of his favorite songs. He also gets to listen to one of his favorite songs after he loads the wet clothes in the dryer. He receives further positive reinforcement after folding his clothes. So far, these are examples of positive reinforcement that increase behaviors. Negative reinforcement also involves strengthening the behavior. Mr. Edwards might start the day playing country music, which he hates. In order to earn the right to turn off the country music (take away the negative), Mr. Edwards must load his clothes into the washer. Thus, his "laundry" behavior is strengthened. Negative reinforcement involves strengthening a behavior by removing an aversive stimulus (i.e., country music). Punishment also weakens or suppresses behavior. For example, if Mr. Edwards does not do his laundry within the next three days he must listen to country music for three hours straight. For him this is a painful experience and the punishment serves to decrease his procrastination behaviors related to doing his laundry. He might also use removal punishment by taking away his privilege of listening to his favorite music until he does his laundry.