Which term denotes the process of presenting a stimulus following a response to increase the future frequency of that response?

• A. Post Reinforcement Pause
• B. Premack Principle
• C. Programming Common Stimuli
• D. Positive Reinforcement

Answer: (D)

Positive reinforcement is adding a valued stimulus after a behavior to make that behavior more likely to occur again in the future. When you present something desirable right after a response—like praise, a token, or access to a preferred activity—you’re strengthening that response and increasing its future frequency. For example, giving praise after a correct answer encourages the student to answer correctly again. This differs from a post-reinforcement pause, which describes a brief decrease in responding after reinforcement, and from the Premack Principle, which uses access to a high-probability behavior as a reinforcer for a lower-probability one rather than simply adding a stimulus. Programming Common Stimuli is about maintaining similar stimuli across settings to support generalization, not about presenting a stimulus after a response to increase its frequency.