Scenario A. Suppose that your employee Umberto has been having trouble with the paperwork he must do for his job. Your goal is for the employee to improve his performance; i.e. decrease his rate of errors. You are considering two approaches:
1. Option 1 is to spend time with Umberto every day helping him with his job. This is an appealing option to Umberto because he appreciates the attention and sees it as a positive reward.
2. Option 2 is to tell Umberto that has now lost his incentive option until his performance improves.
3. Option 3 is to tell Umberto that you are not taking away his incentive option for the coming quarter provided he makes improvements.

-Suppose you use option 1 and spend time with Umberto every day and his work improves.When you stop meeting with employee daily,his performance declines.How might you explain this change?
A)You have punished him by stopping the meetings.
B)You have inadvertently decreased the desired behavior through extinction.
C)You have negatively reinforced his behavior.
D)You have disproved the law of effect.
E)You have delivered an aversive consequence.

Question

Scenario A. Suppose that your employee Umberto has been having trouble with the paperwork he must do for his job. Your goal is for the employee to improve his performance; i.e. decrease his rate of errors. You are considering two approaches:
1. Option 1 is to spend time with Umberto every day helping him with his job. This is an appealing option to Umberto because he appreciates the attention and sees it as a positive reward.
2. Option 2 is to tell Umberto that has now lost his incentive option until his performance improves.
3. Option 3 is to tell Umberto that you are not taking away his incentive option for the coming quarter provided he makes improvements.

-Suppose you use option 1 and spend time with Umberto every day and his work improves.When you stop meeting with employee daily,his performance declines.How might you explain this change?
A)You have punished him by stopping the meetings.
B)You have inadvertently decreased the desired behavior through extinction.
C)You have negatively reinforced his behavior.
D)You have disproved the law of effect.
E)You have delivered an aversive consequence.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Option 1 involves providing continuous reinforcement in the form of attention and assistance. When this reinforcement is removed, Umberto's behavior (performance) returns to its prior state due to extinction. In other words, the desired behavior (improved performance) was inadvertently decreased through the removal of reinforcement.