Management in Life
Ana’s son, Yakov, did an amazing thing last week. For the first time in a month, Yakov made his bed and picked up his dirty clothes. This greatly excited Ana, and she decided to use reinforcement theory to help make sure that Yakov would continue his room-cleaning behavior. Ana has two methods she can use to increase the likelihood of room cleaning in the future: increase Yakov’s allowance or stop nagging Yakov about the state of his room.
If Ana increased Yakov’s allowance, which reinforcement technique would Ana be using?
Extinction
Positive reinforcement
Avoidance learning
Punishment
On the other hand, if Ana stopped nagging Yakov, which reinforcement technique would this reflect?
Extinction
Punishment
Avoidance learning
Positive reinforcement
Max has not met his sales quota for the last 3 months. His manager, Sally, has talked with him repeatedly, and now she is forced to write him up for poor performance. In her write-up, Sally states that Max will be on probation for the next 3 months. If he meets his quota during that time, he will keep his job; otherwise, he will lose his job. Max starts selling more in order to protect himself from being fired. In reinforcement theory terms, Sally is using to modify Max’s behavior.
Which of the following statements are true? Check all that apply.
Taking away something negative can act as a positive reinforcer.
When people are rewarded for behavior, the satisfaction they get from doing the work increases.
Offering people regular reinforcement for desired behaviors at work guarantees increased long-term productivity.
Non-financial incentives are just as effective as financial incentives in changing behavior.