The presence of minor lapses in treatment fidelity are likely to result in the response cost procedure still being effective.

• A. Not enough information
• B. It depends on reinforcer type
• C. False
• D. True

Answer: (D)

Minor lapses in treatment fidelity don’t automatically derail a response cost procedure, because its effectiveness comes from the contingency itself rather than perfect, hand‑held implementation. As long as the majority of targeted occurrences result in the planned loss of reinforcement, the overall rate of the undesired behavior tends to decrease. In other words, behavior change is driven by the pattern of consequences across many opportunities, not every single instance of implementation.

That said, the impact of lapses depends on how often they occur and how large the cost is. If lapses become frequent or the deduction is too small to be meaningful, the procedure’s effectiveness can diminish. But for minor, occasional lapses, the response cost can still be effective because the reinforcing consequences are consistently shaped by the majority of applied contingencies.