Ch 9 - Escape, Avoidance, and Punishment

Question 1

avoidance theory of punishment

Answer 1

Punishment involving a type of avoidance conditioning in which the avoidance response consists of any behavior other than the behavior being punished.

Question 2

conditioned suppression theory of punishment

Answer 2

The assumption that punishment does not weaken a behavior, but instead produces an emotional response that interferes with the occurrence of the behavior.

Question 3

exposure and response prevention (ERP)

Answer 3

A method of treating obsessive-compulsive behavior that involves prolonged exposure to anxiety-arousing events while not engaging in the compulsive behavior pattern that reduces the anxiety.

Question 4

extrinsic punishment

Answer 4

Punishment that is not an inherent aspect of the behavior being punished but that simply follows the behavior.

Question 5

generalized (or generalized secondary) punisher

Answer 5

An event that has become punishing because it has in the past been associated with many other punishers.

Question 6

intrinsic punishment

Answer 6

Punishment that is an inherent aspect of the behavior being punished.

Question 7

learned helplessness

Answer 7

A decrement in learning ability that results from repeated exposure to uncontrollable aversive events.

Question 8

Premack principle of punishment

Answer 8

A low-probability behavior (LPB) can be used to punish a high-probability behavior (HPB).

Question 9

primary (or unconditioned) punisher

Answer 9

Any event that is innately punishing.

Question 10

response cost

Answer 10

A form of negative punishment involving the removal of a specific reinforcer following the occurrence of a behavior.

Question 11

secondary (or conditioned) punisher

Answer 11

An event that has become punishing because it has in the past been associated with some other punisher.

Question 12

time-out

Answer 12

A form of negative punishment involving the loss of access to positive reinforcers for a brief period of time following the occurrence of a problem behavior.

Question 13

two-process theory of avoidance

Answer 13

The theory that avoidance behavior is the result of two distinct processes: (1) classical conditioning, in which a fear response comes to be elicited by a CS, and (2) operant conditioning, in which moving away from the CS is negatively reinforced by a reduction in fear.

Question 14

shuttle avoidance procedure

Answer 14

a testing procedure, in which an animal has to shuttle back and forth in a box to avoid an aversive stimulus; demonstrates that escape is learned first, then avoidance

Question 15

anxiety conservation hypothesis

Answer 15

attempts to explain why avoidance responses are difficult to extinguish; claims that avoidance responses occur so quickly that there is not enough time to associate the CS with the absence of the aversive stimulus

Question 16

one-process theory

Answer 16

the act of avoidance is negatively reinforced not by a reduction of fear, but by the reduction in aversive stimuli themselves

Question 17

species-specific defense reaction theory

Answer 17

some avoidance behaviors are actually elicited behaviors rather than operant behaviors