Question

4. Reinforcement perspectives on motivation (Connect, Perform) Read the short scenario below and then use your understanding of how reinforcement affects motivation to answer the questions. Management at Work Rosa manages a local sandwich shop which has ten employees. One employee, Nick, has been making sure to fully dean the sandwich prep area several times during his shift. Rosa has decided to use reinforcement theory to help make sure that Nick continues with his positive behavior, Rosa has two methods she can use to increase the likelihood of cleaning behavior: Increase Nick's pay or stop nagging Nick about the state of the sandwich prep area. If Rosa Increased Nick's pay, which reinforcement technique would Rosa be using? Avoidance learning O Extinction O Punishment O Positive reinforcement On the other hand, if Rosa stopped nagging Nick, which reinforcement technique would this reflect? Positive reinforcement O Extinction O Punishment Avoidance learning You manage employees in several cities, and while you try to visit the various offices as much as possible, your travel schedule is unpredictable. When you do see an employee performing a desirable behavior, you are quick to praise that person. What reinforcement schedule are you using, and is it heative in promoting desirable behavior

Answer 1

Answers

• Positive reinforcement
• avoidance
• variable interval; effective

Explanation

stimulus	Response
Desirable added	Behaviour increase(desired effect happening)	Positive reinforcement
Aversive removed	Behaviour increase(desired effect happening)	Negative reinforcement
Desirable removed	Behaviour decrease (desired effect happening)	Punishment
Aversive added	Behaviour decrease (desired effect happening)	Punishment
Previous desirable/aversive stimuli removed	Behaviour decrease (desired effect not happening)	Extinction

Operant conditioning is   a method of learning occurring in humans using   rewards and punishments for behaviour. It is of several types

(Note: here positive and negative do not mean good and bad.)

Reinforcement- is done to increase behaviour

Something is added /removed to increase behaviour.

        Positive reinforcement- stimulus   presented to increase behavior

Negative reinforcement -Negative Stimulus is removed- stimulus removed to increase behaviour

Avoidance -A type of negative reinforcement

-Here in which performing a response prevents an aversive stimulus from occurring in the first place

Punishment- is done to decrease behaviour

Here

Aversive Stimulus(punishment) stimulus   presented to decrease behaviour

Desirable Stimulus(gifts/applause) removed   to decrease behaviour

Extinction

Desirable behaviour becomes extinct once stimulus that was once offered is no longer presented

If Rosa Increased Nick's pay,

Pay is a desirable stimulus.

It is added

to increase behaviour

This is positive reinforcement

stop nagging Nick about the state of the sandwich prep area.

‘nagging Nick’ is an aversive stimulus

It is removed

Cleaning increases -Behaviour increases (Nick cleans the area often to avoid nagging)

Aversive stimulus is removed and Behaviour increases. This is avoidance (negative reinforcement)

Note: in extinction, the stimulus is stopped and the behaviour decrease. The desired effect actually has stopped happening .

Eg nagging stopped à Nick stops cleaning. Then this is extinction

Based on frequency of offering stimulus, conditions is classified into 4 types

• Fixed ratio - Reinforcement offered after a set number of responses. E.g. salesmen being offered bonuses after 5 clients are acquired
• Variable ratio- reinforcement is offered after random number of responses. e.g. salesmen being offered bonuses sometimes after 5 clients are acquired sometimes after 4/8 clients are acquired
• Fixed interval - Reinforcement provided at predictable time intervals eg every quarterly
• Variable interval - Reinforcement provided at un predictable time intervals eg supervisor randomly visiting a worker

In this question , as stated, my travel schedule is unpredictable -random. Hence this is variable.

Also I am offering reinforcements every time i visits, not based on number of tasks/goals(ratio) achieved-TIME BASED.

Hence this is variable interval

It is very effective indeed. If he knows that i visits him every two weeks(fixed interval), he may try to exhibit desired behaviour only on those days I visit.

But, now, Because the employee does not know when I visits, he tries to be cautious and is always ready to exhibit desired behaviour

Answer -variable interval; effective