A teacher shows frustration when a student performs a skill incorrectly. To avoid this response in the future, the student focuses on correcting the skill movement. This is an example of what?

• A. Positive reinforcement
• B. Feedback as Negative Reinforcement
• C. Punishment
• D. External motivation

Answer: (B)

Negative reinforcement occurs when an unpleasant outcome is removed as a result of a behavior, increasing the likelihood that the behavior will happen again. In this case, the teacher’s frustration is the aversive stimulus tied to an incorrect movement. By focusing on correcting the skill, the student avoids triggering that frustration in the future. The removal of the unpleasant feedback reinforces the act of correcting the movement, making it more likely the student will continue using that corrective approach.

This isn’t positive reinforcement, which would add a pleasant consequence after the desired action. It isn’t punishment, which would introduce an unpleasant consequence to reduce a behavior. And while external factors can play a role, the mechanism described here is about removing an aversive stimulus to increase the corrective approach.