A supervisor complimented each of his workers as he or she arrived promptly to work every morning.Due to time constraints, the supervisor had to stop this practice, resulting in a much higher rate of tardiness among his workers.Which of the following statements best explains this situation in operant terms?
A)The supervisor was inadvertently punishing his workers by not complimenting them, so the workers didn't arrive on time any more.
B)The supervisor's negative reinforcement strategy was stopped, thus extinguishing the behaviour of arriving promptly.
C)The supervisor was using a continuous, immediate reinforcement strategy, and behaviour learned under such conditions is easily extinguishable.
D)The supervisor was using a partial reinforcement strategy, and behaviour learned under such conditions is easily extinguishable.
E)The supervisor was using a delayed reinforcement strategy, and behaviour learned under such conditions is easily extinguishable.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The supervisor's practice of complimenting workers for arriving on time is an example of a continuous, immediate reinforcement strategy. When reinforcement (compliments) for a specific behavior (arriving on time) is provided every time the behavior occurs, it is considered continuous reinforcement. The behavior was quickly extinguished when the reinforcement stopped, which aligns with principles of operant conditioning stating that behavior learned under continuous reinforcement conditions is easily extinguished once the reinforcement ceases.

A Supervisor Complimented Each of His Workers as He or She