When a dog touches a hot stove and burns its nose, what type of learning occurs?

In this scenario, when a dog touches a hot stove and experiences a painful burn, the type of learning that occurs is classified as positive punishment. Positive punishment involves adding an unpleasant stimulus in response to a behavior, which decreases the likelihood of that behavior occurring in the future.

When the dog touches the hot stove, the immediate consequence—the pain from the burn—serves as a negative experience that discourages the dog from repeating that behavior. The pain acts as a direct consequence, causing the dog to associate the action of touching the stove with a negative outcome. As a result, the dog learns to avoid that behavior in the future, demonstrating the principles of positive punishment effectively.

In this context, reinforcement and habituation are different concepts and would not apply to the experience of the dog in this scenario. Reinforcement, whether positive or negative, aims to increase a behavior, while habituation refers to a decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated exposure. Thus, the correct classification for this incident is positive punishment.