Operant Conditioning Flashcards
Which of the following reinforcement schedules is likely to produce the fastest rate of acquisition of a behavior and the greatest resistance to extinction?
A. fixed ratio
B. variable ratio
C. fixed interval
D. variable interval
Answer B is correct. Of the four intermittent schedules, the variable ratio (VR) schedule produces the highest rate of responding and greatest resistance to extinction. The effectiveness of this schedule is evidenced by gambling – e.g., when playing a slot machine, a person continues playing because he/she is being reinforced on a variable ratio schedule.
Whenever Charlie, a chronic user of an opioid drug, stops taking the drug, he quickly develops withdrawal symptoms and starts taking the drug again. In this situation, Charlie’s drug use is being maintained by which of the following?
A. positive punishment
B. negative punishment
C. positive reinforcement
D. negative reinforcement
Answer D is correct. Negative reinforcement occurs when a behavior increases or continues because a stimulus is removed following the behavior. In the situation described in this question, Charlie continues taking the drug because it stops his withdrawal symptoms.
A behavior that’s acquired as the result of avoidance conditioning is not likely to extinguish because it’s being:
A. maintained by positive reinforcement.
B. maintained by negative reinforcement.
C. reinforced on a variable ratio schedule.
D. reinforced on a variable interval schedule.
Answer B is correct. Avoidance conditioning occurs when a stimulus signals that an unpleasant stimulus is about to be applied and a behavior increases because it allows the individual to avoid the unpleasant stimulus. In this situation, the individual’s behavior is being negatively reinforced.
With regard to stimulus control, a negative discriminative stimulus:
A. is a secondary reinforcer.
B. is a backup reinforcer.
C. signals that a behavior will not be reinforced.
D. signals that a behavior will be followed by negative (but not positive) punishment.
Answer C is correct. A negative discriminative stimulus signals that reinforcement will not be provided following performance of a particular behavior, while a positive discriminative stimulus signals that reinforcement will be provided.
The matching law is useful for understanding the effects of rate of reinforcement on:
A. rate of responding.
B. susceptibility to extinction.
C. stimulus discrimination.
D. stimulus generalization.
Answer A is correct. According to the matching law, when two or more behaviors are concurrently reinforced on different schedules, the rate of performing each behavior is proportional to the frequency of the reinforcement.
