Questions: 6.3. How Do You Learn Through Operant Conditioning? Children at Happy Hills Summer Camp can earn tokens for "super awesome" behaviors like helping out another camper or pitching in to clean up. If they misbehave, then they lose a token. All the campers who end the week with at least 15 tokens get to stay at the pool and play games for an extra hour on Friday afternoon. The kind of reward system used by the counselors at Happy Hills is called a token economy. Which of the following elements of operant conditioning are at play here?

The answer is:

• Secondary reinforcement
• Negative punishment
• Positive reinforcement

Explanation:

1. Secondary reinforcement: Tokens are used as a form of secondary reinforcement. They are not inherently valuable but can be exchanged for a desirable outcome (extra pool time), thus reinforcing the behavior.

2. Negative punishment: When campers misbehave and lose a token, it is an example of negative punishment. Something desirable (a token) is taken away to decrease the likelihood of the misbehavior occurring again.

3. Positive reinforcement: Earning tokens for "super awesome" behaviors like helping out or cleaning up is an example of positive reinforcement. A desirable stimulus (tokens) is added to increase the likelihood of the behavior being repeated.

The other options, positive punishment and negative reinforcement, do not apply in this scenario:

• Positive punishment involves adding an unpleasant stimulus to decrease a behavior, which is not described here.
• Negative reinforcement involves removing an unpleasant stimulus to increase a behavior, which is also not described in this scenario.