Question

Mark and Kathy take their two-year-old son to the supermarket every Saturday. Each week, the same sequence of events unfolds: Their son screams, demanding that they buy him treats. Although they refuse to give in to his demands, he continues to scream. Finally, either Mark or Kathy gets in their son's face and yells at the top of their lungs "Shut up!" He stops screaming instantly. What operant conditioning concepts are illustrated in this story?a. Their son probably learned how to scream by observing his parents at home, and now he is reinforced on a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement.

b. The parents are using punishment to suppress the screaming; their use of punishment is negatively reinforced by the cessation of screaming.
c. The parents are using negative reinforcement to increase their son's screaming.
d. Their son probably learned how to scream by observing his parents at home, and now he is reinforced on a fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement.

Answer 1

A). The parents are using punishment to suppress the screaming; their use of punishment is negatively reinforced by the cessation of screaming.

Step-by-step explanation:

B.F. Skinner's psychological concept of "Operant conditioning" implies a learning process through rewards and punishments as a consequence of particular behavior. Skinner demonstrated that it helps an individual to associate an action to a consequence that inculcates learning in them. In this situation(as per the question), Mary and Kathy employ punishment to suppress their kid's screaming as they refuse to give in to his demands. However, their use of punishment has negatively reinforced the cessation of screaming in the child as it may mar him demanding even the essential things in the future.