Last Friday, I went to get some groceries at a supermarket. I overheard a loud argument between a mother and her child. The child was throwing tantrums to his mother, he expressed that he wanted some fruit loops for a snack. However; his mother opposes the idea because the snack was unhealthy and too sugary. Since the child kept on crying and throwing tantrums, the mother raised her voice and took a stuffed animal away from the child’s hands. She said, “ I would not give Mr. teddy back if you would not stop crying.” When the child notice that his stuff animal was taken away, his behavior drastically changes to be quiet and relax. The child mumbles and gradually stop crying.
Operant conditioning is a method of learning behavior patterns that can be altar by a specific environment or situation. Through operant conditioning, a subject can make an association with particular actions and learn consequence after the action occur. The consequence can be explained in two ways which are reinforcement and punishment. The reinforcement and punishment can be either positive or negative. The consequence that a subject expected after their response can determine how a subject will choose to increase or decrease their behavior.
In my example, the behavior demonstrates by the mother taking the stuffed animal away from the child. When the mother took the stuffed animal, the result of the child behavior decreased. So taking away the child’s stuffed animal served as a negative punishment, which led the child to reduce his tantrum behavior and changed his behavior to be more calm and relaxed. The child expected that if he is calm and relaxes, he can assure that his stuffed animal will be back to his possession and not be taken away. Since the child learned that if he decreased his behavior, he would not receive punishment, therefore it’s an example of negative punishment.
