The scenario describes an adult who, instead of punishing the child in a purely behavioristic way, talks with the child about how their behavior affects others and helps the child recognize their own feelings and others’ feelings. This is characteristic of an inductive discipline approach, which emphasizes:

Helping the child understand the consequences of their actions on other people.

Developing empathy, moral reasoning, and internalized values.

Encouraging the child to take responsibility and regulate behavior from within.

Option B, the inductive approach, matches this style. It is often contrasted with more power-assertive or purely consequence-based methods.

Why the other options are incorrect:

A. Operant conditioning focuses on behavior change through reinforcement and punishment, typically without explicit emphasis on the child’s understanding of others’ feelings.

C. Deductive approach generally refers to reasoning from general principles to specific cases and is not the standard term used to describe this kind of discipline strategy.

D. Intermittent reinforcement refers to a schedule in which behaviors are reinforced only some of the time, a concept from learning theory that does not describe the empathic, discussion-based process in the scenario.

This fits with NBCC Counselor Work Behavior Areas under clinical focus with children and families, where counselors are expected to understand and, when appropriate, teach or model developmentally sensitive discipline practices that foster empathy, prosocial behavior, and internalized self-control.