ACE Health Coach Certification Practice Test

After months of being upset whenever his wife cooked a "boring, healthy dinner," what reinforcement has your client's husband exhibited?

1. Positive reinforcement

2. Negative reinforcement

3. Extinction

4. Punishment

The correct answer is: Negative reinforcement

The scenario describes the husband being upset about his wife's cooking, which suggests he is expressing dissatisfaction with the "boring, healthy dinner." In behavioral terms, negative reinforcement occurs when a behavior is strengthened by the removal of an unpleasant stimulus. In this context, the husband's upset reaction may have been an attempt to express his displeasure, leading to a behavioral change in the wife’s cooking habits. If the wife adjusts her cooking to alleviate his unhappiness, the unpleasant feeling he experienced is removed, reinforcing his behavior of being upset, which subsequently influences her cooking choices in the future. This understanding emphasizes that the husband's reaction serves to change the environment (in this case, dietary choices) to avoid the discomfort of having to eat meals he finds unappealing. Negative reinforcement is essentially about increasing the likelihood of a certain behavior by eliminating something undesirable. Thus, the correct answer lies in recognizing how his upset demeanor may lead to a change that alleviates his dissatisfaction, which is characteristic of negative reinforcement.