A mother instructs her daughter to give her an item, then turns away so the daughter cries and eventually stops crying; the mother resumes interaction after crying stops. This procedure most closely exemplifies which concept?

• A. planned ignoring
• B. nonexclusion time-out
• C. exclusion time-out
• D. response cost

Answer: (A)

Planned ignoring is the idea here. The caregiver withholds attention when the daughter cries, turning away so crying stops being reinforced. Once the crying ceases, interaction resumes. This uses extinction for attention-maintained behavior: crying no longer yields the desired outcome, so the behavior is likely to decrease over time. It’s not a time-out from the environment or a cost imposed for crying, but a deliberate withholding of reinforcement (attention) while the child remains present, with reinforcement returned only after the undesired behavior stops.