After completing his history assignment, nico is excused from having to wash the dishes, a task he detests. nico's parents are attempting to use to increase nico's studying.

Nico's parents are attempting to use a negative reinforcement technique embodied in the operant conditioning framework to increase Nico's studying.

Operant conditioning is a learning mechanism which consists on affecting the strength of a behaviour by reinforcement or punishment, depending if the aim is to increase or decrease it , respectively.

In this example, Nico's parents want him to acquire good studying habits, hence they allow him to quit from tasks he hates at home if he does so, for instance, doing the dishes. Hence, if he does not behave properly he will suffer the consequences and do the dishes. This a negative reinforcement as if the conduct is not appropiate, the response will be the obligation to do a task he hates.  

Negative reinforcement

Explanation:

By this way of doing so, Nico's parents are reinforcing negatively the tasks that Nico had to perform in case he doesn't complete his history assignment.

This is a way to increase productivity and focus.

the atm that sounds like it should be the answer

question - in 1827, john walker, a druggist in a small english town, tipped a splint with sulphur, chlorate of potash, and sulphid of antimony, and rubbed it on sandpaper, and it burst into flame. the druggist had discovered the first friction-chemical match, the kind we use to-day. it is called friction-chemical because it is made by mixing certain chemicals together and rubbing them. although walker's match did not require the bottle of acid, nevertheless it was not a good one. it could be lighted only by hard rubbing, and it sputtered and threw fire in all directions. in a few years, however, phosphorus was substituted on the tip for antimony, and the change worked wonders. the match could now be lighted with very little rubbing, and it was no longer necessary to have sandpaper upon which to rub it. it would ignite when rubbed on any dry surface, and there was no longer any sputtering. this was the phosphorus match, the match with which we are so familiar. according the paragraph what was the benefit of the new phosphorus match? it burst into flame when rubbed on sandpaper. it was made by mixing chemicals. it could be ignited on any dry surface. it threw fire in all directions.

answer - matches required natural chemicals