Set 1

Question 1

Avoidance behavior

Answer 1

Behavior maintained by contingent delay in, or reduction in frequency of, scheduled aversive events.

Question 2

Behavior

Answer 2

Anything the organism does; any action of the muscles or glands.

Question 3

Conditioned aversive stimulus

Answer 3

A stimulus that acquired its aversive properties as a function of its association with another aversive stimulus.

Question 4

Conditioned reinforcer

Answer 4

A stimulus that acts as a reinforcer as a function of its association with another reinforcer.

Question 5

Consequence

Answer 5

An event that follows a response.

Question 6

Conditioned Response

Answer 6

A response that is elicited by a conditioned stimulus.

Question 7

Determinism

Answer 7

The assumption that natural events are caused by other natural events (i.e., functional relations exist).

Question 8

Differential reinforcement

Answer 8

Reinforcement of some responses and not others.

Question 9

Discriminated operant

Answer 9

An operant defined in terms of the stimuli occasioning it as well as the reinforcer maintaining it. Example: the teacher says “tie your shoes,” the student ties his shoes, and the teacher praises the student (and praise is a reinforcer).

Question 10

Discrimination

Answer 10

Differential responding in the presence of different stimuli.

Question 11

Discriminative stimulus (SD)

Answer 11

A stimulus that differentially signals the availability of reinforcement for responding. This stimulus sets the occasion for (i.e., increases the likelihood of) behavior as a result of a history of reinforcement for responding in the presence of the stimulus.

Question 12

Empiricism

Answer 12

The philosophical position that knowledge is gained through observation.

Question 13

Escape behavior

Answer 13

Behavior maintained by contingent termination of an aversive event.

Question 14

Free operant

Answer 14

A response that may occur at any time. The completion of one response leaves the organism in a position to emit the next.

Question 15

Habituation

Answer 15

A reduction, over repeated presentations, in the respondent behavior elicited by a stimulus.

Question 16

Negative Punisher

Answer 16

Any stimulus that, when removed following a response, decreases the rate or probability of that response.

Question 17

Negative Reinforcer

Answer 17

Any stimulus that, when removed following a response, increases the rate or probability of that response.

Question 18

Neutral stimulus

Answer 18

An environmental event which brings about no change in behavior.

Question 19

Neutral stimulus

Answer 19

An environmental event which brings about no change in behavior.

Question 20

Ontogeny

Answer 20

The life history of an individual organism.

Question 21

Operant Behavior

Answer 21

Any behavior sensitive to manipulations of consequences.

Question 22

Operant Conditioning

Answer 22

The process by which the likelihood of behavior is modified through manipulation of consequences.

Question 23

Operant Extinction (EXT)

Answer 23

The withholding of a reinforcer previously contingent on a response that results in a decrease in the probability of that response.

Question 24

Parsimony

Answer 24

The notion that, all things being equal, the simplest explanation is the best.

Question 25

Philosophic Doubt (skepticism)

Answer 25

An attitude that the validity of all scientific theory and knowledge should be questioned.

Question 26

Phylogeny

Answer 26

The evolutionary history of a species.

Question 27

Positive Punisher

Answer 27

Any stimulus that, when delivered following a response, decreases the probability of that response.

Question 28

Positive Reinforcer

Answer 28

Any stimulus that, when delivered following a response, increases the probability of that response.

Question 29

Respondent Behavior

Answer 29

Behavior elicited by stimuli and insensitive to consequent manipulations.

Question 30

Respondent Conditioning

Answer 30

The process by which a stimulus that previously had no effect on a respondent (neutral stimulus) acquires the capacity to elicit that respondent.

Question 31

Respondent extinction

Answer 31

Breaking the pairing between conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus, such that the conditioned stimulus no longer elicits the conditioned response.

Question 32

Response

Answer 32

An instance of behavior.

Question 33

S-delta

Answer 33

A stimulus that differentially signals extinction.

Question 34

Sp

Answer 34

A stimulus that differentially signals punishment.

Question 35

Stimulus

Answer 35

Any event that affects behavior.

Question 36

Unconditioned reinforcement (primary)

Answer 36

A reinforcing stimulus which does not depend on a history of conditioning for its reinforcing properties.

Question 37

Unconditioned response (UR; reflex)

Answer 37

A response that is elicited by an unconditioned stimulus. No learning or conditioning is necessary; instead, it is a product of phylogenic history.

Question 38

Unconditioned stimulus (US)

Answer 38

A stimulus that elicits an unconditioned response, requiring no conditioning history.

Question 39

Conditioned Stimulus

Answer 39

A stimulus that elicits a response as a function of its association with another eliciting stimulus.