Question

Barney is a somewhat distractible second-grade student who finds schoolwork a bit boring. After a couple of minutes of working silently, Barney often starts to misbehave until his teacher, Ms. Skinner, calls his name and scolds him. However, he enjoys this attention from her and continues to misbehave. With respect to Barney’s misbehavior, Ms. Skinner’s attention serves as _______.

Answer 1

Answer:

- Positive reinforcement.

Explanation:

Positive reinforcement exemplifies a branch of 'Operant Conditioning' that involves the reinforcement of desired behavior by attaching a pleasant stimulus. In behavioral psychology, operant conditioning works on the principle of reinforcing a particular behavior into a child through rewards(positive reinforcement) or punishments(negative reinforcement). Skinner proposed this theory of 'positive reinforcement' that enhances the probability of the repetition of desired behavior in the future too.

Thus, the given situation exemplifies 'positive reinforcement' as Barney wishes to seek Ms. Skinner's attention which is accomplished(the desired behavior) when he misbehaves and therefore, he repeats it(pleasant stimulus). Therefore, 'positive reinforcement' is the answer.