Question

You have threatened to eliminate positions and even to close down the company if your employees don't change their attitudes. You are using ________.

A) Positive reinforcement
B) Negative reinforcement
C) Punishment
D) Extinction

Answer 1

Threatening to eliminate positions or shut down the company to change employee attitudes is an example of punishment, aiming to decrease undesired behavior.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the scenario provided, when you threaten to eliminate positions or close down the company if employees do not change their attitudes, you are using punishment as a technique to influence behavior. Punishment, in the context of operant conditioning, refers to the practice of presenting an undesirable outcome or removing a desirable one to decrease a particular behavior. In this case, the undesirable outcome is the potential job loss or the shutdown of the company. This is designed to decrease the undesired attitude or behavior of the employees.

Positive reinforcement is adding something favorable to increase a behavior, while negative reinforcement involves removing something unfavorable to increase a behavior. Extinction occurs when a behavior decreases because it is no longer reinforced.