Final answer:
Little Brian's father is using negative punishment by spanking him to decrease his crying, not negative reinforcement. Negative punishment involves removing a pleasant stimulus to deter an undesirable behavior, whereas negative reinforcement would involve the removal of an unpleasant stimulus to encourage a desirable behavior.
Step-by-step explanation:
When little Brian's father spanks him to decrease his crying, he is using negative punishment. Negative punishment involves removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease an undesirable behavior. In this scenario, the pleasant stimulus of feeling unspanked or not experiencing the discomfort of being spanked is removed when Brian cries, with the intention of reducing the behavior of crying.
It's crucial to differentiate this from negative reinforcement, which involves the removal of an unpleasant stimulus to increase a desirable behavior. An example of negative reinforcement would be a car's seatbelt reminder that stops beeping once the seatbelt is fastened, thereby increasing the likelihood of the behavior (wearing a seatbelt) being repeated in the future.
Punishment, including physical punishment like spanking, can have significant drawbacks. It may instill fear or cause children to become more aggressive. Therefore, parenting experts and psychologists favor reinforcement over punishment, and 23 states in the U.S. have official policies against corporal punishment in schools.