Deck 7: Schedules of Reinforcement

Question 1

Bill spends his summer in the city panhandling. Every day he takes a position on a busy corner and accosts passersby saying, "Can you spare some changeMost people ignore him, but every now and
Then someone gives him money. Bill's reinforcement schedule is best described as a _________.

A) fixed ratio schedule
B) variable ratio schedule
C) fixed interval schedule
D) variable interval schedule

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Resurgence may help account for _______.

A) PMS
B) rationalization
C) regression
D) reaction formation

Answer 2

C

Question 3

When reinforcement is contingent on continuous performance of an activity, a __________. reinforcement schedule is in force.

A) duration
B) interval
C) time
D) ratio

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The schedule to use if you want to produce the most rapid learning of new behavior is _______.

A) CRF
B) FR 2
C) FI 3"
D) VI 3"

Question 5

Williams found that the greater the number of reinforcements before extinction, the _______.

A) greater the number of responses during extinction
B) faster the rate of extinction
C) stronger the response during extinction
D) greater the frustration during extinction

Question 6

In a _____ schedule, reinforcement is contingent on the continuous performance of a behavior for some period of time.

A) fixed duration
B) continuous reinforcement
C) fixed time
D) DRH

Question 7

The rate at which a response occurs, once the subject begins performing it, is called the _________.

A) clock rate
B) walk rate
C) run rate
D) performance rate

Question 8

A reduction in response rate following reinforcement is called a _________.

A) post-reinforcement pause
B) scallop
C) latency
D) rest stop

Question 9

The reappearance of previously effective behavior during extinction is called ____________.

A) spontaneous recovery
B) recovery
C) resurgence
D) fulfillment

Question 10

Post-reinforcement pauses are now often referred to as _________.

A) rest periods
B) pre-ratio pauses
C) anticipatory pauses
D) break points

Question 11

The schedule that is not an intermittent schedule is _________.

A) FR 1
B) FR 5
C) VR 1
D) VI 1"

Question 12

Of the following, the schedule that most closely resembles noncontingent reinforcement is _________.

A) FD
B) FT
C) FI
D) DRL

Question 13

Often the initial effect of an extinction procedure is an increase in the behavior called a(n) extinction ________.

A) rebound
B) resurgence
C) burst
D) flyer

Question 14

CRF is synonymous with _________.

A) EXT
B) FR 1
C) CRT
D) FI 1

Question 15

Your text reports the case of a man who apparently made hundreds of harassing phone calls. The man's behavior was most likley on a(n) _________.

A) FR schedule
B) VR schedule
C) FI schedule
D) VI schedule

Question 16

A pigeon is confronted with two disks, one green, the other red. The bird receives food on a VI 20" schedule when it pecks the green disk, and on a VI 10" schedule when it pecks the red one. You
Predict that the bird will peck _________.

A) one disk about as often as at the other
B) the green disk almost exclusively
C) the green disk about twice as often as the red disk
D) the red disk about twice as often as the green disk

Question 17

John spent his summer picking cantaloupes for a farmer. The farmer paid John a certain amount for every basket of cantaloupes picked. John worked on a _________.

A) fixed ratio schedule
B) variable ratio schedule
C) fixed interval schedule
D) variable interval schedule

Question 18

The schedule that is likely to produce a cumulative record with scallops is the _________.

A) FR schedule
B) VR schedule
C) FI schedule
D) VI schedule

Question 19

A given reinforcement schedule tends to produce a distinctive pattern and rate of performance. These are called schedule _______.

A) patterns
B) profiles
C) effects
D) matrixes

Question 20

In schedules research, VD stands for ________.

A) video displayed
B) verbal dependent
C) variable dependency
D) variable duration

Question 21

A chain schedule is most like a _________ schedule.

A) multiple
B) mixed
C) cooperative
D) tandem

Question 22

___________ schedules differ from other schedules in that the rules describing the contingencies change systematically.

A) Adaptive
B) Evolutionary
C) Progressive
D) Idiosyncratic

Question 23

_____________ led the way in the study of choice.

A) Richard Herrnstein
B) Clark Hull
C) B. F. Skinner
D) E. L. Thorndike

Question 24

Harry spent his summer in the city panhandling. Every day he would sit on the sidewalk, put a cardboard sign in front of him that said, "Please help," and place his hat on the sidewalk upside down.
Then he would wait. Every now and then someone would put money into his hat. Harry's
Reinforcement schedule is best described as a _________.

A) fixed ratio schedule
B) variable ratio schedule
C) fixed interval schedule
D) variable time schedule

Question 25

One explanation for the PRE implies that the effect is really an illusion. This is the _________.

A) discrimination hypothesis
B) frustration hypothesis
C) sequential hypothesis
D) response unit hypothesis

Question 26

Shirley trains a rat to press a lever and then reinforces lever presses on an FR 10 schedule when a red light is on, and an FI 10" schedule when a green light is on. In this case, lever pressing is on a _________.

A) multiple schedule
B) chain schedule
C) concurrent schedule
D) redundant schedule

Question 27

Studies of choice involve _________.

A) multiple schedules
B) chain schedules
C) concurrent schedules
D) redundant schedules

Question 28

FT and VT are both kinds of ______ reinforcement.

A) noncontingent
B) intermittent
C) duration-based
D) continuous

Question 29

In one form of the matching law, BA stands for the behavior under consideration and B? represents _______.

A) reinforcement for BA
B) the baseline rate of BA
C) all behaviors other than BA
D) all behavior that is over expectation

Question 30

A schedule that does not require the performance of a particular behavior is the _________.

A) FT schedule
B) FD schedule
C) FI schedule
D) FR schedule

Question 31

Stanley wants to determine which of two reinforcement schedules is more attractive to rats. He trains a rat to press a lever for food, and then puts the rat into an experimental chamber containing two levers. Pressing one lever produces reinforcement on an FR 10 schedule; pressing the other lever produces reinforcement on an FI 10" schedule. Lever pressing is on a _________.

A) multiple schedule
B) chain schedule
C) concurrent schedule
D) redundant schedule

Question 32

The explanation of the PRE that puts greatest emphasis on internal cues is the ________ hypothesis.

A) discrimination
B) frustration
C) sequential
D) response unit

Question 33

George trains a pigeon to peck a disk by reinforcing each disk peck. Once the response is learned, George begins to cut back on the reinforcers. At first he reinforces every other response, then every
Third response, every fifth response, every tenth response, and so on. George is using a procedure
Called _________.

A) ratio tuning
B) reinforcement decimation
C) intermittent reinforcement
D) stretching the ratio

Question 34

__________ refers to the point at which a behavior stops or its rate falls off sharply.

A) Block
B) Border time
C) Break point
D) Camel's back

Question 35

Gradually reducing the frequency of reinforcement is called _________.

A) extinction
B) stretching the ratio
C) intermittent reinforcement
D) progressional reinforcement

Question 36

Things are going pretty well for George (see item 26) until he jumps from reinforcing every tenth response to reinforcing every 50th response. At this point, the pigeon responds erratically and nearly
Stops responding entirely. George's pigeon is suffering from _________.

A) ratio strain
B) ratiocination
C) satiation
D) reinforcer deprivation

Question 37

Although important, the matching law is restricted to a narrow range of species, responses,
reinforcers, and reinforcement schedules.

Question 38

The study of reinforcement schedules suggests that the behavior we call stick-to-itiveness is largely the product of _________.

A) genetics
B) prenatal influences
C) choice
D) reinforcement history

Question 39

A classic work on reinforcement schedules is by _________ .

A) Darwin
B) Herrnstein
C) Ferster and Skinner
D) Abercrombie and Fitch

Question 40

A schedule in which reinforcement is contingent on the behavior of more than one subject is a _________.

A) multiple schedule
B) mixed schedule
C) tandem schedule
D) cooperative schedule

Question 41

The more effort a behavior requires, the fewer times the behavior will be performed during extinction.

Question 42

When behavior is on a FR schedule, animals often discontinue working briefly following reinforcement. These periods are called ________.

Question 43

Harlan Lane and Paul Shinkman put a college student's behavior on extinction following VI reinforcement . The student performed the behavior 8,000 times without reinforcement.

Question 44

One effect of the extinction procedure is an increase in the variability of behavior.

Question 45

When food is the reinforcer, it is possible to stretch the ratio to the point at which an animal expends more energy than it receives.

Question 46

CRF stands for ________.

Question 47

One difference between FT and FI schedules is that in FT schedules, reinforcement is not contingent on a behavior.

Question 48

Extinction often increases the variability of behavior.
Completion

Question 49

When a response is placed on extinction, there is often an increase in emotional behavior.

Question 50

Extinction often increases the frequency of emotional behavior.

Question 51

Choice involves ________ schedules.

Question 52

In CRF, the ratio of reinforcers to responses is 1 to 1; in FR 1, the ratio is _______.

Question 53

One everyday example of a VR schedule is the lottery.

Question 54

The explanation of the PRE that puts greatest emphasis on internal cues is the ________ hypothesis.

Question 55

The response unit hypothesis suggests that there really is no such thing as the partial reinforcement effect.

Question 56

The thinner of two schedules, VR 5 and VR 10, is VR 10.

Question 57

In VI schedules, the reinforcer occurs periodically regardless of what the organism does.

Question 58

The term ________ refers to the pattern and rate of performance produced by a particular reinforcement schedule.

Question 59

In a multiple schedule, the organism is forced to choose between two or more reinforcement schedules.

Question 60

The rule describing the delivery of reinforcement is called a ________of reinforcement.

Question 61

A rat's lever pressing is on a concurrent VI 5" VI 15" schedule. Describe the rat's behavior.

Question 62

The immediate effect of extinction is often an abrupt increase in the rate of the behavior being
extinguished. This is called an extinction ______.

Question 63

Explain why fatigue is not a good explanation for postreinforcement pauses.

Question 64

How might you use what you know about reinforcement schedules to study the effects of air temperature on behaviorinferred, but see 225; figure 7-12)
Answers should indicate an understanding of the value of schedule-induced steady rates to study the effects of independent variables, such as air temperature.

Question 65

In a tandem schedule, behavior is performed during a series of schedules, but food reinforcement comes only at the end of the last schedule. What reinforces behavior during the earlier schedules when food is not provided?

Question 66

A teacher has a student who gives up at the first sign of difficulty. How can the teacher increase the child's persistence?

Question 67

Why is the study of reinforcement schedules important225)
This is review question 16, rephrased. Students might discuss the use of schedules in defining and studying personality characteristics such as laziness, the effects of drugs and other variables on behavior, and their use in studying extinction effects and other basic phenomena.

Question 68

If you increase the requirements for reinforcement too quickly you are likely to see evidence of ratio _______.

Question 69

According to the ________ hypothesis, the PRE occurs because it is difficult to distinguish between intermittent reinforcment and extinction.