Question

Suppose that parents catch their teenage daughter stealing beer from a convenience store. If the parents want to decrease the likelihood that their daughter will steal again, which of the following actions would constitute a positive punishment to this desired end?

A. Harshly rebuking their daughter upon detection of the stolen beer
B. Denying their daughter television, Internet, and smart phone privileges for one week
C. Forcing their daughter to return the beer to the store and to write the store owner a letter of apology
D. Buying their daughter a stash of her favorite soft drinks for her to drink in lieu of beer

Answer 1

A. Harshly rebuking their daughter upon detection of the stolen beer

Step-by-step explanation:

B.F. Skinner's theory on operant conditioning gave the concept of positive punishment. Punishment is given with goal to decrease the behavior of the individual that it follows.

In operant conditioning, positive punishment means to add something in order to decrease the likelihood in the behavior. Positive punishment is the method of adding an undesirable stimulus to lower or decrease a behavior.

Thus in the context, when Amanda's parents caught her stealing beer from the store, the parents should rebuke her so that she does not repeat the behavior in the future. Thus this shows that giving negative stimulus helps to decrease the behavior in the future, which is known as positive punishment.

Thus the correct option is --- option (A).