Over the years at Cosmos Widget Factory, Mr. Cosmos has noticed that each employee tends to be most productive in the weeks just before his or her biannual performance review. Had Mr. Cosmos read Chapter 5, "Learning," he would know that his employees' behavior is:
A) the result of being conditioned on a fixed-interval schedule of reinforcement.
B) an example of learned helplessness.
C) an example of stimulus control.
D) the result of being conditioned on a fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The behavior of employees being most productive before their biannual performance review is an example of being conditioned on a fixed-interval schedule of reinforcement. This means that the employees' behavior is being reinforced by the upcoming performance review, which occurs on a fixed interval schedule of every six months. The anticipation of the reward (the positive evaluation) motivates the employees to work harder in the weeks leading up to the review.

Over the Years at Cosmos Widget Factory, Mr