Question

What process of reinforcement is at work when I scream at my friend and he leaves, and the next time I want him to leave, I scream at him again?

1) Social positive
2) Social negative
3) Automatic negative

Answer 1

The process of reinforcement at work when you scream at your friend and he leaves, and you, in turn, scream at him again when you want him to leave is an example of negative reinforcement.

Step-by-step explanation:

The process of reinforcement at work when you scream at your friend and he leaves, and you, in turn, scream at him again when you want him to leave is an example of negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement involves removing an undesirable stimulus to increase a behavior. In this case, when you scream at your friend, the undesirable stimulus for him is your shouting, and he leaves to remove that stimulus.

To illustrate further, think of the example of a car seatbelt system. The annoying beeping sound when the seatbelt is not fastened is a negative stimulus. When you fasten your seatbelt, the beeping stops, removing the negative stimulus. Thus, each time you scream at your friend and they leave, you are inadvertently reinforcing their behavior of leaving when you want them to.