FTCE Professional Education Practice Exam

What is an example of negative reinforcement?

1. A teacher praises students when they do well.

2. The teacher gives extra homework for poor grades.

3. The teacher stops complaining about the messy floor after the students clean it up.

4. The teacher assigns detention for bad behavior.

The correct answer is: The teacher stops complaining about the messy floor after the students clean it up.

Negative reinforcement involves the removal of an undesirable stimulus to increase the likelihood of a desired behavior being repeated. In this scenario, the teacher stops complaining about the messy floor after the students clean it up. The act of complaining serves as an unpleasant stimulus, and by cleaning the floor, the students eliminate this negative consequence. As a result, the removal of the teacher’s complaints reinforces the behavior of maintaining a clean environment, encouraging students to keep the floor tidy in the future. The other options present different concepts. Praising students when they do well represents positive reinforcement, where a pleasant stimulus is introduced to encourage behavior. Giving extra homework for poor grades is a form of punishment, aiming to decrease undesirable behavior. Assigning detention for bad behavior also serves as a punitive action rather than reinforcing a positive behavior. Overall, it is crucial to differentiate between reinforcement and punishment to understand how behaviors can be shaped in an educational context.