Confusion between negative punishment and negative reinforcement

[deleted647690]

I thought the answer to this question was A because the parents are technically taking away driving privileges to increase the behavior of their kids not drinking

Actually, now that I look at it, aren't A and B the same thing? In both of them, the parents will take away a present condition if the kids follow the rules (thus they increase the good behavior of the kids not drinking)

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[rabbott1971]

A is negative punishment because it seeks to prevent bad behavior (drinking). It is negative, taking something away (privileges).
B is negative reinforcement because it is taking away something (being grounded) to try to reinforce desired behavior (not drinking).

You *could* view punishment as reinforcement, but don't do that. Look at precisely what is prompting the punishment/reinforcement. Determine whether it is something that the parent wants to prevent (punish to prevent), or encourage (reinforce to encourage). Then you just have to see if it is a taking away (negative), or an adding in (positive).

 

[deleted647690]

A is negative punishment because it seeks to prevent bad behavior (drinking). It is negative, taking something away (privileges).
B is negative reinforcement because it is taking away something (being grounded) to try to reinforce desired behavior (not drinking).

You *could* view punishment as reinforcement, but don't do that. Look at precisely what is prompting the punishment/reinforcement. Determine whether it is something that the parent wants to prevent (punish to prevent), or encourage (reinforce to encourage). Then you just have to see if it is a taking away (negative), or an adding in (positive).

Oh, so the key is this question for A was that the action would be taken (taking something away) if the teenagers were caught doing the bad behavior, while in B, the action would be given (taking something away) as a reward to continue good behavior.
In A, the teenagers are doing something bad and will be punished for it. In B, the teenagers are doing something good (not participating in bad behavior) and that is reinforced.
Thank you.

 

[aldol16]

I think you might benefit from looking at positive/negative punishment/reinforcement again. You can think of these as two conditions or questions that you can ask. 1) Are you giving them something or taking something away? Giving something is positive and taking something away is negative. 2) Are you trying to promote the behavior or discourage it? Promoting a behavior is reinforcement and discouraging it is punishment.

Here, it wants a case of negative reinforcement. So you're looking for them to take something away in order to promote a behavior. A involves taking something away (negative) but it's to discourage drinking (punishment). So it's only a half match. B is correct because it involves taking something away (being grounded) to promote behavior (not drinking).