Question

After buying an electric grass trimmer, Richard changed into his shorts and went out in his bare feet to trim the grass. When he moved the trimmer too close to his leg, the rotating line gashed and cut his ankle. Richard no longer wears shorts or goes barefoot when he uses the grass trimmer. Richard's behavior of dressing inappropriately for gardening has been changed as a result of:

a. negative reinforcement.
b. punishment by removal (negative punishment).
c. punishment by application (positive punishment).
d. learned helplessness.

Answer 1

Richard's dressing behavior change is due to the punishment by application (positive punishment) after the injury from the grass trimmer. The gash acted as an unpleasant stimulus, leading to the decrease of the unsafe dressing habit when using the trimmer.

Step-by-step explanation:

The behavior change in Richard after cutting his ankle with the electric grass trimmer is an example of c. punishment by application (positive punishment). In this case, Richard experienced an unpleasant stimulus (the gash on his ankle) due to wearing shorts and going barefoot while using the grass trimmer. Consequently, the application of this aversive consequence (the injury) serves to decrease the likelihood that Richard will engage in the same behavior in the future, which means he no longer wears shorts or goes barefoot when trimming the grass.

Punishment, especially when it is immediate, is a known method to decrease undesirable behavior. This is opposed to negative reinforcement, which aims to increase a behavior by removing a negative condition, and negative punishment (punishment by removal), which reduces a behavior by taking away a pleasurable stimulus.