Zoe is grounded for coming home after curfew. Additionally, her parents have taken away her cell phone for a month. Losing her cell phone privileges is an example of __________.
A) punishment by removal
B) negative reinforcement
C) punishment by application
D) learned helplessness

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Taking away Zoe's cell phone is an example of punishment by removal, where a positive stimulus (in this case, her phone) is taken away in order to decrease the likelihood of the behavior (coming home after curfew) occurring again in the future. Negative reinforcement would involve increasing a behavior by removing a negative stimulus. Punishment by application would involve adding a negative stimulus (e.g. spanking) to decrease behavior, which is not occurring in this scenario. Learned helplessness is a psychological concept where a person stops trying to improve their situation because they have learned to feel powerless to change it, and is not relevant in this scenario.

Zoe Is Grounded for Coming Home After Curfew