Maya's written program states that the RBT delivers praise and one token immediately after each independent correct response. To keep the session moving, the RBT runs all ten trials first and then hands Maya ten tokens with praise at the end of the block. Which feature of reinforcement has the RBT most directly compromised?
- AThe immediacy of reinforcement, which weakens the relation between each response and its consequence.Correct
- BThe contingency of reinforcement, which now operates as a noncontingent delivery of the tokens.
- CThe magnitude of reinforcement, which is now far too large for the effort this task requires.
- DThe schedule of reinforcement, which has been thinned from a continuous density to an intermittent one.
Why: (a) is correct: reinforcement works best when it follows the target response immediately, and a ten-trial delay leaves Maya unable to discriminate which of her responses produced the tokens. (b) is the closest miss: the tokens still depended on Maya's correct responses, so delivery remained contingent, whereas noncontingent delivery would occur no matter what she did. (c) is wrong because ten tokens for ten correct responses keeps the magnitude per response exactly what the program specifies; the problem is when they arrived, not how many. (d) is wrong because the density did not change — every correct response still earned a token, so the schedule is still continuous, just delayed.
