There is an old story about a young boy who was left to guard the village sheep.He was instructed to cry "wolf" if he thought the sheep were in danger.Even though there was no danger, the boy enjoyed crying "wolf" over and over, just to see the villagers come running.Then, when a wolf did appear, the disbelieving villagers ignored the boy's cry.The failure of the villagers to come illustrates the operant conditioning concept called
A)acquisition.
B)stimulus generalization.
C)partial reinforcement.
D)extinction.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The concept illustrated in the story is extinction, which occurs when a previously reinforced behavior (the villagers coming when the boy cried wolf) stops being reinforced and therefore stops occurring. The villagers had learned that the boy's cries of "wolf" did not actually indicate danger, so they no longer reinforced that behavior by responding, resulting in the behavior (crying wolf) eventually extinguishing.

There Is an Old Story About a Young Boy Who