A child is punished and temporarily stops his or her well-established bad behavior. However, the child soon goes back to acting badly. This is probably because __________
A) the effects of punishment have habituated.
B) punishment is known only to temporarily suppress or inhibit a behavior.
C) the bad behavior has spontaneously recovered.
D) the conditional emotional response to the punishment has generalized to another behavior.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Punishment is known to only temporarily suppress or inhibit behavior. It does not teach or reinforce the desired behavior, and the child is likely to return to the previously established behavior once the punishment is removed or no longer effective. Habituation (A) and spontaneous recovery (C) are more relevant to classical conditioning, while conditional emotional response to punishment generalizing to another behavior (D) is less likely in this scenario.

A Child Is Punished and Temporarily Stops His or Her