Operant conditioning

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basophilic

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How do I distinguish between two choices that I would feel like both explain the behavior in question? For example, from a KA passage:

Before receiving treatment, Katie avoided certain activities that made her anxious so that she could reduce the number of panic attacks she experienced. What operant conditioning term describes this behavior?
Negative punishment
Negative reinforcement
Positive punishment
Positive reinforcement

The answer was A. Fair enough because she is reducing a behavior (the panic attacks). However, based on the question stem, I could also argue that she is removing something negative - the "certain activities that made her anxious"; hence this could be negative reinforcement. In general for conditioning questions, maybe it's better to look at whether a behavior in question is being increased or decreased and THEN see what's being done to make that change??

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If an action is being encouraged, it is always reinforcement. If an action is being discouraged, it is always punishment.

Why I don't understand is why this is negative punishment. Seems like she is avoiding the behavior so she doesn't get a panic attack, which I would have characterized as positive punishment?
 
To your question, KA's reasoning: "Katie is removing activities (through avoidance) to decrease the amount of panic attacks that she experiences. This is negative punishment."
So she is removing something to decrease a certain behavior, which I guess constitutes negative punishment. They also seem to be assuming that the removed activity is positive, which makes sense if it's something like socializing, shopping, giong to public spaces, etc.

But my argument was that she is removing something negative (i.e. anxiety-inducing activities), which is why this could mean negative reinforcement; sure, the fact that avoiding these activities decreases her panic attacks, but it also increases her quality of life. Isn't that reinforced? I guess the problem is what's the correct way to interpret the activities: KA says they are positive, I'm saying they are negative.
 
Positive punishment works by presenting a negative consequence after an undesired behavior is exhibited.

Negative punishment happens when a certain desired stimulus/item is removed after a particular undesired behavior is exhibited, resulting in the behavior happening less often in the future.


Unless this girl desires to have panic attacks, I think Kaplan may have made a mistake.
 
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I agree with your definitions, but their reasoning makes sense if you see the "activities" as positive (hence she'd be removing something positive to decrease a behavior).
Why would you think she is reinforcing the panic attacks? Though I do think she could be reinforcing her quality of life as I mentioned above.
 
This very much sounds like negative reinforcement. My understanding is that punishment is some sort of action (positive [adding something] or negative [removing something]) this is used to decrease an undesirable BEHAVIOR. Reinforcement is something (positive or negative) that increases the likelihood of a desired outcome. In this situation Kate is avoiding certain things (this seems like negative because she is removing something, not adding something new), and this avoidance causes the desirable outcome of decreased panic attacks. Whereas punishment seeks to end a behavior, reinforcement seeks to increase it. In Kate's situation, the action of avoidance will be encouraged because it results in something favorable. I agree that the answer given is incorrect. Plus, is just seems weird to think that Kate would be punishing herself to make her life better.
 
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Negative: something is removed
Positive: something is added
Punishment: intent is to decrease targeted behavior
Reinforcement: intent is to increase targeted behavior

Kate is removing something from her life (stress caused by certain activities) in order to decrease the incidence of her panic attacks (the targeted behavior). It's an odd question stem, but I would agree that negative punishment is the best choice.
 
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I think bee17 has a good point. I have to agree though that the question stem is a bit bizarre. Often we think of punishment/reinforcement as something involving at least two people. This question stem makes Kate the administer of the punishment/reinforcement (whichever is correct) and the recipient of the punishment/reinforcement.

Its almost like saying a father takes his son's toy away when his some yells at his sister. This is negative punishment. However, what type of operant conditioning is happening to the father? Taking away his toys is being encouraged. The op's question stem smooshes these two scenarios in to one. I think your best best is to just focus on the basics and the way bee17 lays it out.
 
Negative: something is removed
Positive: something is added
Punishment: intent is to decrease targeted behavior
Reinforcement: intent is to increase targeted behavior

Kate is removing something from her life (stress caused by certain activities) in order to decrease the incidence of her panic attacks (the targeted behavior). It's an odd question stem, but I would agree that negative punishment is the best choice.

I definitely agree with your reasoning and agree that negative punishment is probably the best choice in this case. However, I want to know why the following reasoning is wrong:
The "activities" are anxiety-inducing = so they are negative
She removes these activities = so she is removing something negative
Removing something negative = negative reinforcement
While she does decrease her panic attacks, she is simultaneously improving her quality of life, which supports the negative reinforcement idea.
I guess the biggest difference is that: your reasoning above is more top-down and mine here is more bottom-up
 
Basophilic, I think your thinking is more of top down and his is bottom up.

removing something : doesn't mean it's negative reinforcement. It just mean it 's negative. IMO, it'd best to stick to basic and not overthink this question
punishment and reinforcement are depend on your targeted behavior.
 
A good definition of negative reinforcement is not "removing something negative," but rather, "removing something (usually negative) in order to reinforce a behavior or outcome."

In this case, she is not trying to increase her panic attacks, so any kind of reinforcement is out.

Once again, I think this is a poor/confusing question stem, because we almost always talk about conditioning in terms of one individual trying to change the behavior of another individual. @Labrat07 is right to advise you not to over think MCAT questions. Oftentimes, you just have to pick the answer that is the least wrong. This may not be a textbook example of negative punishment, but it is more likely to fit negative punishment than any other answer.
 
Reinforcement = increase in activity
Punishment = decrease in activity
Positive = addition of something
Negative = removal of something

She "avoided" something...implying removal...so negative...she wanted to "reduce the activity"...which implies punishment. Thus, negative punishment is your answer.
 
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