Association of Social Work Boards Bachelor (ASWB) Practice Exam

The behavior exhibited by a child who cries when prompted to shower but stops when left alone is best understood through the concept of negative reinforcement. In this scenario, the child’s crying serves as a behavior that leads to the removal of an undesirable stimulus – in this case, the demand to take a shower. By crying, the child is likely attempting to escape the situation, and the parent or caregiver might choose to leave the child alone, which reinforces the crying behavior because it achieves the desired result of avoiding the shower.

When the child cries and is subsequently left alone, they learn that this behavior effectively avoids the unpleasant experience of showering. This is a classic example of negative reinforcement, where the removal of an aversive stimulus (the pressure to shower) increases the likelihood of the behavior (crying) in the future.

In contrast, positive reinforcement involves the addition of a pleasant stimulus to encourage a behavior, punishment involves applying an unpleasant consequence to reduce a behavior, and modeling refers to learning behaviors by observing others. In this case, none of those concepts apply to the child's reaction and outcome.