This is the first one.Captain Kevin Mueller has been flying private and commercial aircraft for almost 30 years. His flight from Boston to Dallas on the night of November 4 was as routine as any other; Mueller and his copilot had run through their preflight routine in the darkness of the cockpit and, after a 20-minute delay, were cleared for takeoff. Halfway through the flight, Captain Mueller noticed something unusual out of the corner of his eye: a point of light that was initially very faint but growing brighter. It stood out against the backdrop of terrestrial light sources because it appeared to be much closer, and possibly moving. Knowing that no other aircraft were operating in the area, Mueller focused his attention on the mysterious light source, concerned only with whether it might pose a threat to the safety of his passengers and crew. When at last Mueller still couldn’t make out what the mysterious object was after observing it for several minutes, he decided to take no chances. He rapidly increased altitude to put more distance between his aircraft and the object, which eventually faded from view and did not return. A later investigation could make no determination of what Mueller saw, but concluded that he acted appropriately to protect his passengers.

1. Why would Captain Mueller and his copilot sit in darkness before taking off on a night flight?2. Why would the mysterious object have first appeared to Mueller in his peripheral vision?3. What cues might Captain Mueller have used to determine that the mysterious object was much closer to his aircraft than any light source on the ground? Why might it have been difficult to determine whether the object was actually moving?4. Even though many of the passengers were awake and looking out their windows, only Captain Mueller and his copilot noticed anything amiss. Why might the passengers have failed to notice the object when it was so obvious to the pilots?5. Several of the passengers did, however, notice when Captain Mueller changed altitude despite having no visual cues as a reference. Describe the sense that allowed these passengers to detect the aircraft’s motion.

Here is the second one. When Cliff Richards took over as the new department manager, he discovered that the existing staff was unusually inefficient and unproductive. Cliff learned that the previous manager often criticized and chided staff members for every little mistake until many of the best people had left, and the rest felt demoralized. Cliff resolved not to criticize or punish staff members unless it was absolutely necessary. Instead, he frequently complimented them whenever they did a good job. He set daily production goals for them, and every Friday afternoon he bought lunch for all staff members who met their goals every day that week. Moreover, Cliff randomly conducted spot checks on what staff members were doing, and if he found them hard at work, he gave them small rewards such as extra break time. Within just three months, productivity in Cliff’s department nearly doubled. It became the most efficient department in the company.
1. How did Cliff take advantage of principles of operant conditioning to modify his staff’s behavior?2. Why did Cliff’s predecessor’s strategy of punishing undesirable behavior not work very well? Even if punishment and reinforcement strategies were equally effective at controlling behavior, why would reinforcement remain preferable?3. How did Cliff make use of partial reinforcement schedules? What kinds of schedules did he use?4. How could Cliff use his technique to train his staff to complete a complex new task that they had never done before?5. How might Cliff make use of principles of cognitive learning theory to improve his staff’s productivity even further?