Maricella works as a seamstress. Her boss tells her that every time she completes five shirts, she will receive $5. When done with the five shirts, she dumps them into a bin and gets paid. Her pattern of shirt completion is most likely to be __________
A) rapid shirt completion with a short break after each five completed.
B) long pauses after she receives the $5.
C) a slow, steady rate of shirt-making without pauses.
D) a fast, steady rate of shirt-making without pauses.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Maricella's pattern of work is likely to be influenced by the reinforcement schedule her boss has set up, which is a fixed-ratio schedule. In such schedules, behavior is reinforced after a set number of responses, leading to a high rate of response with a short pause after the reinforcement (in this case, after every five shirts and receiving $5). This creates a pattern of rapid shirt completion with a short break after each reinforcement.

Maricella Works as a Seamstress