Deck 6: Reinforcement: Beyond Habit

Question 1

The figure below from your text illustrates _______.

A) shaping
B) chaining
C) random behavior
D) secondary reinforcement

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Insightful problem solving is best viewed as an example of _______.

A) unconscious processes
B) trial-and-error learning
C) Pavlovian conditioning
D) operant learning

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Skinner trained Plyny to perform a behavior chain. Plyny was a ______.

A) rat
B) pigeon
C) dog
D) philosophy student

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Superstitous behavior is behavior that occurs repeatedly despite the fact that it __________.

A) is strange
B) is not supported by facts
C) does not produce the reinforcers that maintain it
D) ultimately works to the disadvantage of the individual

Question 5

Robert Eisenberger and his colleagues demonstrated that reinforcement can establish learned ______.

A) laziness
B) helplessness
C) incompetence
D) industriousness

Question 6

Meerkats train their young using procedures that resemble shaping.

Question 7

The first step in building a behavior chain is to do a ______.

A) response analysis
B) task analysis
C) elemental analysis
D) factor analysis

Question 8

The author of your text probably believes that most childhood tantrums are due to unintentional
shaping by adults.

Question 9

Studies of learned helplessness use the ______ procedure.

A) reward training
B) escape training
C) positive punishment
D) negative punishment

Question 10

Probably the best way of increasing the creativity of stories in an English class is to _______.

A) praise particularly original stories
B) read all the stories to the class
C) ask a professional writer to talk to the class
D) create stress, since creative people are generally unhappy

Question 11

Some studies show that offering rewards reduces creativity. Research by Robert Eisenberger and others suggests that this is because in these studies _______.

A) creativity was measured differently
B) the rewards were too weak
C) the rewards were not contingent on creative behavior
D) the participants were too young to do creative work

Question 12

Koichi Ono got superstitious behavior in university students by providing points noncontingently at regular intervals. One student ended up repeatedly ______.

A) jumping to touch the ceiling
B) pounding on the table with a shoe
C) moving his head from side to side like a pendulum clock
D) shifting her weight from one foot to the other

Question 13

One idea for preventing learned helplessness is _______ training.

A) self-esteem
B) inoculation
C) immunization
D) reality

Question 14

In her work with porpoises, Karen Pryor gradually realized that what she had to do to get novel behavior from the animals was to _______.

A) reinforce novel behavior
B) punish repetitive behavior
C) shape the novel behavior she wanted
D) provide noncontingent reinforcement

Question 15

The classic experiments on insightful problem solving were done with chimpanzees by _________.

A) Harry Harlow
B) B. F. Skinner
C) Wolfgang Kohler
D) Richard Herrnstein

Question 16

Stuart Vyse's book on superstition is called _______.

A) Quest for Truth
B) The Science of Mystery
C) Believing in Magic: The Psychology of Superstition
D) Self-Deception

Question 17

All of the following are useful tips for shaping behavior except ________.

A) reinforce small steps
B) reinforce immediately
C) provide small reinforcers
D) never back up

Question 18

Shaping is the reinforcement of successive _______.

A) responses
B) elements of a chain
C) approximations of a desired behavior
D) increases in the intensity or topography of a behavior

Question 19

Skinner and two students discovered shaping in the course of teaching a pigeon to ________.

A) dance
B) bowl
C) jump rope
D) peck at a sign that said, "Peck."

Question 20

The banana experiment by Robert Epstein and colleagues, which paralleled Kohler's experiments with chimps, demonstrated that insight ______.

A) is a mysterious process that defies explanation
B) occurs in people but not in animals
C) accounts for the solution to problems
D) depends on an organism's learning history

Question 21

Why is insight not an adequate explanation of problem solving?

Question 22

The solution to a problem is behavior that produces_______.

Question 23

Reinforcement reduces creativity because creativity requires new forms of behavior.
Completion

Question 24

Creative behavior is a function of its consequences.

Question 25

Karen Pryor demonstrated that she could reinforce novel behavior. Her subjects were ________.

Question 26

Backward chaining begins with the reinforcement of the last behavior in the chain.

Question 27

Your text describes various tips for shaping effectively. Describe as many of these tips as you can.

Question 28

One tip for successful shaping of behavior is to provide large reinforcers.

Question 29

Learned helplessness may be avoided through _______ training.

Question 30

Shaping is the reinforcement of _______ of a desired behavior.

Question 31

Kohler thought that insight was achieved suddenly, but other work suggests that it is achieved
gradually.

Question 32

In shaping, it is sometimes a good idea to back up-- i.e., to reinforce earlier approximations of the
desired behavior.

Question 33

Describe how you would use shaping to train a pigeon to hop on one foot.

Question 34

Normally, the first step in chaining is task _______ .

Question 35

Describe the basic laboratory procedure for establishing superstitious behavior. Explain why it is
usually difficult to specify in advance what superstitious behavior will result.