Megan, who pushes Scott down and causes him to scrape his knee, is told she will not watch TV later in the day. What type of consequence is this?

• A. Logical
• B. Negative reinforcement
• C. Unrelated
• D. Punishment

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is how consequences after a behavior shape future behavior. When Megan pushes Scott and the consequence is that she will not watch TV later, that outcome is meant to reduce the chance she repeats the pushing. That makes it punishment, specifically negative punishment, because a desirable privilege (TV watching) is being removed after the misbehavior.

It’s not negative reinforcement, since there’s no removal of something to increase a desired behavior. It’s not unrelated, because the consequence is directly tied to the act of pushing. So the consequence serves to discourage the pushing by taking away a privilege.