Whenever Calvin throws his sister's doll in the toilet,his mother locks Calvin in his room.As soon as Calvin apologizes,his mother lets him out.Eventually,Calvin learns to apologize immediately,so that he can get out of his room sooner.Calvin is demonstrating ____.

Question

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Calvin is demonstrating escape conditioning, as he learns to engage in a behavior (apologizing) to escape or end an aversive consequence (being locked in his room). Punishment and avoidance conditioning both involve the use of aversive consequences to decrease behavior, but in this scenario, Calvin's behavior is actually increasing (he is apologizing more quickly) in order to escape the aversive consequence. Positive reinforcement involves the use of a pleasant consequence to increase behavior, which is not present in this scenario.

Whenever Calvin Throws His Sister's Doll in the Toilet,his Mother