Question

sarah finds that her son james enjoys lemon candy. sarah reinforces james when he displays courteous behaviour at home. she then starts to reinforce this behaviour at school, relatives' homes, and church. what type of study design did sarah employ?

Answer 1

Sarah used a generalization strategy in operant conditioning by reinforcing her son's courteous behavior in multiple settings, demonstrating positive reinforcement.

Step-by-step explanation:

Sarah employed a generalization strategy in her study design by reinforcing courteous behavior not just at home but also in various other environments like school, relatives' homes, and church. This is a concept from operant conditioning, a method of learning that employs rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an individual makes an association between a particular behavior and a consequence. In Sarah's case, the reward of lemon candy for her son James upon displaying polite behavior is likely to reinforce and increase that behavior, under the principle of positive reinforcement. Sarah's approach is akin to the strategies discussed by behavioral psychologists like B.F. Skinner, who identified the effectiveness of using positive reinforcement to modify behavior across different settings.