This exercise provides examples of behaviors that can be described by the four
behavior-consequence relations that make up instrumental (operant) conditioning. The
terminology in this area of psychology is confusing because psychologists have not agreed
upon a common terminology. The terminology used here includes the terms: positive
reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, or negative punishment. The
first part of the term refers to the type of continent relationship that exists between
the behavior and the consequence and the second term describes the change in behavior
caused by behavior-consequence contingency. Read each example and identify the type of
behavior-event relationship.