ASWB Clinical Practice Exam 2025 – Complete Study Resource

The scenario presented illustrates the concept of negative reinforcement. In this context, the husband is expressing a desire for his behavior to improve contingent on the removal of his wife's complaints. By suggesting that he would behave better if the complaining stops, he is indicating that the cessation of an unpleasant stimulus (the complaints) will lead to an increase in a desirable behavior (his improved behavior).

Negative reinforcement involves the strengthening of a behavior because a negative condition is removed after the behavior occurs. The husband believes that if he meets the condition of ‘behaving better,’ he will eliminate or escape the nagging or complaints, thus reinforcing the behavior he wants to present.

In contrast, the other behavioral concepts do not align with this situation. Positive reinforcement involves adding a pleasant stimulus to increase a behavior, positive punishment introduces an aversive consequence to decrease a behavior, and negative punishment involves removing a pleasant stimulus to decrease a behavior. The husband’s suggestion clearly relates to the removal of an aversive situation (the wife’s complaints), which underlies the definition of negative reinforcement.