Question

Maria first rewards herself if she smokes no more than 10 cigarettes a day. The reward is then made contingent upon no more than 8, then on 5, then, then 2 etc. The procedure Maria used on her behavior is called:

Answer 1

The answer is differential reinforcement of other behaviours (DRO).

Step-by-step explanation:

The DRO procedure consists in rewarding a person (or yourself) when an action is NOT performed. There is no punishment involved for performing the action.

This technique is more effective when the action's tolerance is decreased gradually. In the example, Maria rewards herself when she is not smoking, and eventually lowers the amount of cigarettes allowed.