Question

When a behavior causes something undesirable to be taken away and the behavior is therefore more likely to be repeated in the future, the type of consequence used is called:

a) Negative reinforcement.
b) Positive reinforcement.
c) Avoidance learning.
d) Extinction.

Answer 1

Negative reinforcement involves the removal of an undesirable stimulus to increase behavior, such as a seatbelt reminder stopping when the seatbelt is buckled, encouraging the behavior to be repeated.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a behavior causes something undesirable to be taken away, and as a result, the behavior is more likely to be repeated in the future, the type of consequence used is called negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement takes away an undesirable stimulus to increase the likelihood of a behavior. An example of negative reinforcement is the beeping of a seatbelt reminder that stops when the seatbelt is fastened, thereby increasing the likelihood that a person will buckle up in the future to avoid the irritating sound. It's important to distinguish this from punishment, which aims to decrease a behavior, whereas both forms of reinforcement (positive and negative) aim to increase behavior.