Your doggie is sitting, salivating and looking forlornly while you eat dinner. Your mother gives your doggie some food from her plate, and your doggie stops looking pathetic but starts again when they have finished eating. Your mother gives your doggie some more food. In this situation, your dog has been _____, and your mother has been _____.

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Positive reinforcement adds a desirable stimulus to increase a behavior; negative reinforcement removes an aversive stimulus to increase a behavior.

1. Relevant knowledge points and concepts
- Operant conditioning: behavior is shaped by consequences (reinforcers or punishers).
- Positive reinforcement: presenting (adding) a pleasant stimulus after a behavior, which increases the likelihood of that behavior recurring.
- Negative reinforcement: removing an unpleasant/aversive stimulus after a behavior, which increases the likelihood of that behavior recurring.
- Punishment: presenting or removing a stimulus to decrease a behavior.

2. Step-by-step reasoning
- Observe the dog's behavior: sitting, salivating, looking forlornly (begging). The dog’s begging is an operant behavior.
- Consequence for the dog: mother gives food from her plate (a desirable stimulus is added).
- Effect on the dog: the begging behavior stops temporarily but returns later; the added food makes it more likely the dog will beg again in the future.
- Therefore the dog’s begging is increased by the presentation of food → positive reinforcement.

- Consider the mother’s behavior: she gives food when the dog looks pathetic.
- Consequence for the mother: once she gives food, the dog stops begging (an aversive stimulus for her—annoyance or persistent begging—is removed).
- Effect on the mother: removal of the aversive begging makes it more likely she will give food again to stop the begging.
- Therefore her behavior is strengthened by removal of an aversive stimulus → negative reinforcement.

3. Intermediate logical steps (explicit)
- Dog’s action (begging) → add food (pleasant) → dog more likely to beg again = positive reinforcement.
- Mother’s action (give food) → remove begging (aversive) → mother more likely to give food again = negative reinforcement.

4. Why the correct answer is correct
- The dog receives food (an added reward) contingent on begging, so the dog is positively reinforced.
- The mother’s giving removes the annoying begging, so her giving is negatively reinforced.

5. Why other options are incorrect
- a: "operantly conditioned; positively reinforced" — dog is operantly conditioned but this option implies the mother is positively reinforced (she isn’t; she is negatively reinforced by removal of begging).
- b: "classically conditioned; punished" — dog’s begging is operant, not classical conditioning, and neither is the dog nor mother being punished.
- c: "negatively reinforced; punished" — the dog is not negatively reinforced (food is added, not an aversive removed) and the mother is not punished.

6. Conclusion
- The dog has been positively reinforced, and the mother has been negatively reinforced. This matches the provided answer.

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