Question

Module 2 Discussion 1

After reading the information in Chapter 6, imagine a child sitting in a high chair at McDonald's. The child is eating french fries and becomes frustrated because she has eaten all of them. She wants more fries and begins to scream and yell. Her parents give her more french fries and she happily eats the fries. Later that week, in another restaurant, the child begins to yell and scream loudly because she wants more ice cream. From this scenario:
a). Identify the child's behavior (state the specific behavior) that is being learned through operant conditioning.
b). Identify and Discuss whether the child's behavior is being learned through positive or negative reinforcement or positive or negative punishment. Justify your selection of positive or negative reinforcement or positive or negative punishment.

Answer 1

a) The child's behavior that is being learned through operant conditioning is screaming and yelling to get what she wants.

b) The child's behavior is being learned through positive reinforcement because she is getting what she wants (more fries or ice cream) when she screams and yells