Question

Two-year-old sarah's parents are trying to get her to go to bed each night at 7:00. on the first 3 nights of this new regimen, sarah cried for 3 hours before crying herself to sleep. on the fourth night, sarah's parents relented and let her stay up until she fell asleep on her own, around 10:00 p.m. according to the partial reinforcement effect, what will happen to sarah's crying behavior at bedtime now?

Answer 1

The crying will be more difficult to control if they do not stick to a consistent reinforcement plan.

The partial reinforcement effect says resistance to learning is greater when the good/bad behavior is only reinforced part of the time.