Learning/memory (Operant conditioning)

Question 1

The matching law is useful for understanding the effects of rate of reinforcement on:

Answer 1

rate of responding.

Question 2

A behavior therapist tells a parent that, to get her son to do his homework, she should reward him with 20 minutes of video game time each time he completes his homework. Then, after the boy is regularly completing his homework, the therapist advises the parent to reward him with 20 minutes of video game time only after he completes his homework three times. The therapist has instructed the parent to begin with a continuous schedule of reinforcement and to then switch to an intermittent schedule, which is referred to as:

Answer 2

thinning.

Question 3

Which of the following is an example of negative reinforcement?
A. A child continues to “act out” in class because of the attention he gets from the other children when he does so.
B. A teenager stops biting his nails at school because, whenever he does, his peers make fun of him.
C. A woman who knows sweets aren’t good for her continues to eat chocolate because chocolate reduces her anxiety.
D. A man stopped smoking after his therapist required him to donate $5.00 to a disliked political candidate every time he lit up a cigarette.

Answer 3

C. A woman who knows sweets aren’t good for her continues to eat chocolate because chocolate reduces her anxiety.

Question 4

When using positive reinforcement to establish or increase a behavior, use of which of the following intermittent schedules of reinforcement will maximize the behavior’s resistance to extinction?

Answer 4

variable ratio

Question 5

Thorndike’s research with ____________ led to his development of the law of effect

Answer 5

cats in a puzzle box

Question 6

A parent who is using positive reinforcement to establish a desirable behavior in her child will switch from a continuous schedule of reinforcement to an intermittent schedule in order to reduce the risk for:
A. habituation.
B. satiation.
C. experimental neurosis.
D. fading.

Answer 6

B. satiation.

Question 7

When using __________ to increase a behavior, the presence of a discriminative stimulus indicates that the behavior will be reinforced.

Answer 7

stimulus control

Question 8

When Mrs. Smith reprimands her young son, Sam, for hitting the family dog, the boy stops hitting the dog for a brief period of time. Over time, Mrs. Smith finds that she has to reprimand Sam with increasing frequency to stop his undesirable behavior. Mrs. Smith’s reprimands are being controlled by:

Answer 8

negative reinforcement.

Question 9

Which of the following is least susceptible to satiation?
A. primary reinforcers
B. secondary reinforcers
C. generalized reinforcers
D. positive reinforcers

Answer 9

C. generalized reinforcers

Question 10

Avoidance conditioning is an example of two-factor learning and combines:
A. classical conditioning and negative reinforcement.
B. classical conditioning and positive reinforcement.
C. negative reinforcement and classical extinction.
D. positive reinforcement and classical extinction.

Answer 10

A. classical conditioning and negative reinforcement.