Responses that lead organisms to get rid of painful stimuli or avoid and escape from them provide ______.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Negative reinforcement
Option (1) Positive reinforcement — Incorrect. Positive reinforcement adds something pleasant after a response, such as the mother cooking a child’s favourite dish whenever homework is done on time. The question is about removing or escaping something painful.
Option (2) Negative reinforcement — Correct. Responses that lead organisms to get rid of painful stimuli or avoid and escape from them provide negative reinforcement. One learns to put on woollen clothes or use a heater to avoid the unpleasant cold, and to move away from dangerous stimuli.
Option (3) Aversive reinforcement — Incorrect. The technique built on an aversive (unpleasant) consequence is aversive conditioning: the repeated association of an undesired response with an aversive consequence, as with an alcoholic given a mild shock on smelling alcohol. It makes a response unpleasant so that it is given up, while the responses in the question are strengthened because they end the pain.
Option (4) Token economy — Incorrect. In a token economy a person is given a token as a reward every time a wanted behaviour occurs, and the tokens are exchanged for a reward such as an outing. It rewards behaviour; it is not about escaping pain.
NCERT (2025-26): “Behavioural Techniques … Negative reinforcement and aversive conditioning are the two major techniques of behaviour modification. As you have already studied in Class XI, responses that lead organisms to get rid of painful stimuli or avoid and escape from them provide negative reinforcement. For example, one learns to put on woollen clothes, burn firewood or use electric heaters to avoid the unpleasant cold weather. One learns to move away from dangerous stimuli because they provide negative reinforcement. Aversive conditioning refers to repeated association of undesired response with an aversive consequence. For example, an alcoholic is given a mild electric shock and asked to smell the alcohol. With repeated pairings the smell of alcohol is aversive as the pain of the shock is associated with it and the person will give up alcohol. If an adaptive behaviour occurs rarely, positive reinforcement is given to increase the deficit. For example, if a child does not do homework regularly, positive reinforcement may be used by the child’s mother by preparing the child’s favourite dish whenever s/he does homework at the appointed time. The positive reinforcement of food will increase the behaviour of doing homework at the appointed time. Persons with behavioural problems can be given a token as a reward every time a wanted behaviour occurs. The tokens are collected and exchanged for a reward such as an outing for the patient or a treat for the child. This is known as token economy.” |