Which of the following is an example of positive punishment in operant conditioning?

• A. A student receives praise for completing homework, increasing future homework completion.
• B. A dog stops barking when its owner ignores it, leading to less barking in the future.
• C. A child touches a hot stove and feels pain, decreasing the likelihood of touching it again.
• D. A teenager is grounded and loses access to their phone after missing curfew.

Answer: (C)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Understand the concept of positive punishment in operant conditioning. Positive punishment involves presenting an aversive stimulus after a behavior to decrease the likelihood of that behavior occurring again.
2. Step 2: Identify the key elements in each option: the behavior, the consequence, and whether the consequence is adding something unpleasant (positive punishment) or removing something pleasant (negative punishment), or adding something pleasant (positive reinforcement).
3. Step 3: Analyze the first option: 'A student receives praise for completing homework, increasing future homework completion.' This is adding a pleasant stimulus (praise) to increase behavior, which is positive reinforcement, not positive punishment.
4. Step 4: Analyze the second option: 'A dog stops barking when its owner ignores it, leading to less barking in the future.' Ignoring removes attention (a pleasant stimulus), so this is negative punishment, not positive punishment.
5. Step 5: Analyze the third option: 'A child touches a hot stove and feels pain, decreasing the likelihood of touching it again.' Here, an unpleasant stimulus (pain) is added following the behavior, which decreases the behavior, fitting the definition of positive punishment.