Concepts and PrinciplesDifficulty 3/5
A learner has had unrestricted access to a tablet all morning and no longer works to earn tablet time. What has occurred?
- AThe tablet has become an S-delta signalling that responding will not be reinforced
- BExtinction has weakened the mand because the reinforcer no longer follows it
- CAn abolishing operation has reduced the reinforcing value of the tablet
- DSatiation has turned the tablet into a punisher that now suppresses responding
Show answer and rationale
Correct: C. Free access is an abolishing operation: it decreases the momentary value of the tablet as a reinforcer and abates behavior previously reinforced by it. The tablet has not become aversive, and no discriminative or extinction contingency has been described.
- D — Reduced value is not the same as becoming a punisher.
- A — An S-delta signals that reinforcement is unavailable for a response; nothing about availability changed.
- B — Extinction means the reinforcer no longer follows the response, which is not what happened.