Put that way, it sounds like common sense, but it goes against the habits of mainstream Euro-American culture. Quiet success, everyday competence, gets ignored. But, in the view of operant conditioning, behavioral extinction results from the repeated performance of any behavior in the absence of reinforcers. Or, in plain English, ignore it, and it will go away. So, back to poor old B.F. Skinner, falling off the platform.
Behavioral techniques are fairly easy to use.
All they really require is some consistency. They are also very effective. Whether or not they actually were used to play a stupid, cruel joke on Skinner, they certainly could have been. They can also be used coercively, as they are in some workplaces, to make somebody do what you want for your own selfish reasons. Well, so can our magic, and bread knives can murder.