A manager notices that a highly productive employee has started arriving late to work. To correct this, the manager decides to stop the employee’s Flexible Friday privilege, that allows them to leave early, until their punctuality improves. According to Skinner’s Reinforcement Theory, which specific tool is the manager using?

Solution

The manager is using Punishment to improve punctuality of the high performers. Punishment (Negative) involves removing a desirable stimulus (here, the Flexible Friday privilege) to decrease an undesirable behavior (arriving late to office).   This is not Negative Reinforcement which is often confused with punishment. Negative reinforcement actually involves removing something unpleasant to increase a desired behavior (e.g., stopping a loud alarm once you put on your seatbelt).   Kindly note: ·        Positive Reinforcement: Adding a reward to increase a behavior (e.g., a bonus for being on time). ·        Extinction: Withholding any reinforcement at all so the behavior eventually dies out (e.g., ignoring a coworker who tells inappropriate jokes so they stop). ·        Law of Effect: This is the underlying principle by Thorndike that states behaviors followed by pleasant consequences are likely to be repeated, while those followed by unpleasant consequences are not.