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Related Concept Videos

Punishment01:27

Punishment

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Negative reinforcement and punishment are often confused but serve distinct functions in behavior modification. Reinforcement, whether positive or negative, increases the likelihood of a desired behavior, while punishment decreases it.
Punishment can be positive or negative. Positive punishment involves adding an undesirable stimulus, such as scolding, to decrease a behavior. Negative punishment involves removing a desirable stimulus, such as taking away a favorite toy, to decrease behavior....
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Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination02:55

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Humans are very diverse and although we share many similarities, we also have many differences. The social groups we belong to help form our identities (Tajfel, 1974). These differences may be difficult for some people to reconcile, which may lead to prejudice toward people who are different. Prejudice is a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on one’s membership in a particular social group (Allport, 1954; Brown, 2010). Prejudice is common against people who...
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Timing and Consequences on Behavior01:08

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In operant conditioning, the timing of reinforcement is crucial. For animals like rats and cats, immediate reinforcement (within a few seconds) is much more effective than delayed reinforcement. For example, a food reward for a rat needs to follow within 30 seconds of pressing a bar to be effective. 
Humans, however, can respond to delayed reinforcers. We often make decisions between immediate small rewards and delayed larger rewards. This ability to delay gratification is a significant...
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Generalization, Discrimination, and Extinction01:24

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Generalization, discrimination, and extinction are key concepts in operant conditioning that influence how behaviors are learned and maintained.
Generalization occurs when a behavior reinforced in one context is performed in similar situations. For instance, a student who studies diligently for calculus and receives excellent grades might apply the same study habits to psychology and history, expecting similar results. Generalization shows how learning in one setting can influence behavior in...
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Negative Regulator Molecules01:23

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Positive regulators allow a cell to advance through cell cycle checkpoints. Negative regulators have an equally important role as they terminate a cell’s progression through the cell cycle—or pause it—until the cell meets specific criteria.
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Work is done on an object when energy is transferred to the object. In other words, work is done when a force acts on a body that undergoes a displacement from one position to another. By definition, the work done by a force is the integral of the force with respect to the displacement along its path. Forces can vary as a function of position, and displacements can occur along various paths between two points. The magnitude of a force multiplied by the cosine of the angle that the force makes...
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Updated: Feb 8, 2026

Behavioral Determination of Stimulus Pair Discrimination of Auditory Acoustic and Electrical Stimuli Using a Classical Conditioning and Heart-rate Approach
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Does a negative discriminative stimulus function as a punishing consequence?

Vikki J Bland1, Sarah Cowie1, Douglas Elliffe1

  • 1The University of Auckland.

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior
|June 22, 2018
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers found that a negative stimulus, signaling no food, can effectively punish pigeon behavior. This discovery offers a new approach for behavioral treatments and addressing addiction-related choices.

Keywords:
choicekey-peckmultiple schedulenegative discriminative stimuluspigeonspunishment

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Area of Science:

  • Behavioral psychology
  • Animal behavior studies

Background:

  • Ethical concerns limit punishment use in behavioral treatments.
  • Need exists for methods to reduce harmful behaviors resistant to differential reinforcement.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if a negative discriminative stimulus (S-) can punish behavior maintained by positive reinforcers.
  • To explore the efficacy of S- stimuli in reducing operant behavior.

Main Methods:

  • Pigeons were trained to discriminate between a positive stimulus (S+) for food and a negative stimulus (S-) indicating absence of food.
  • Response-contingent presentation of S- followed S+ responses, with response rates and choice behavior analyzed across conditions.

Main Results:

  • A majority of pigeons showed decreased response rates to S+ when it produced S-.
  • Choice behavior shifted away from the S+ alternative that produced S-, even with equal reinforcement ratios.

Conclusions:

  • Contingent presentation of S- stimuli effectively punishes operant behavior.
  • Negative discriminative stimuli show potential as a tool in behavioral treatments for problem behaviors and addiction.