Deck 9: Choice and Preference

Question 1

The equality between the relative rate of reinforcement and the relative rate of response is known as _______.

A) The changeover response
B) Matching relation
C) Equality principle
D) Schedule of reinforcement

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Herrnstein's (1961) experiment using a two-key concurrent VI VI schedule is described by _______.

A) The nonmatching function for multiple alternatives
B) The matching law for a single alternative
C) The proportional matching equation
D) The quantitative law of effect

Answer 2

C

Question 3

According to behavior analysts, preference is:

A) A subjective experience
B) Reliably choosing one option over another
C) An emotional state
D) A motivation to behave in a certain way

Answer 3

B

Question 4

When considering concurrent schedules of reinforcement, organisms often switch rapidly between alternatives. This can be explained by:

A) Discrimination because each alternative yields different results
B) Punishment because one alternative provides a higher rate of reinforcement
C) Behavioral activation because the switching behavior becomes reinforcing
D) The changeover response where organisms are reinforced for switching

Question 5

When the response is continuous rather than discrete, use a matching equation for ______.

A) Rate of response on each alternative
B) Time spent on each alternative
C) The single operant
D) Several concurrent schedules of reinforcement

Question 6

Which of the following is used to investigate choice in the laboratory?

A) A Skinner box with a single manipulandum
B) Both a Skinner box with a single manipulandum and two cumulative recorders that are running successively
C) Two cumulative recorders that are running successively
D) Concurrent schedules of reinforcement

Question 7

Behavioral economics involves the use of _____.

A) Economic principles to describe and analyze behavioral choice
B) Economic factors to predict animal behavior
C) Economic indicators when pigeons are trading goods and services
D) Economic satisfaction due to reinforcement

Question 8

Conger and Killeen's (1974) study used confederates as well as participants to study human communication and found that:

A) Time spent talking to the listener matched the relative rate of agreement from the listener, evidence for the matching relation
B) Time spent talking to the listener was independent of the rate of agreement, evidence against the matching relation
C) Time spent listening to the speaker matched the relative rate of the individual's personal agreement with the speaker, evidence of the matching relation
D) Time spent listening to the speaker did not match the rate of the individual's personal agreement, evidence against the matching relation

Question 9

The generalized matching law has described the choice behavior of:

A) Wagtails
B) Rats
C) Pigeons
D) All of these

Question 10

To prevent switching on concurrent schedules:

A) Program a DRO contingency
B) Program a multiple schedule
C) Program a changeover delay
D) Program an intermittent schedule of reinforcement

Question 11

Catania (1975; 1980) created a study where pigeons were able to choose between a choice and a no-choice condition and found that:

A) Pigeons were unable to comprehend the choice component of their task and selected randomly
B) Pigeons rotated between the choice and no-choice conditions
C) Pigeons chose the no-choice condition
D) Pigeons chose the choice condition more often than the no-choice condition

Question 12

In contrast to optimal foraging, Herrnstein (1982) proposed a process of ______.

A) Maximization
B) Monotonic matching
C) Melioration
D) Multiple-schedule inference

Question 13

To investigate choice and preference, it is important that the organism be presented with ______ schedules of reinforcement.

A) Interval
B) Simultaneous
C) Concurrent
D) Ordinal

Question 14

The equation for matching of ratios of rates of response to rates of reinforcement:

A) Is stated in terms of a power law
B) Includes a value for bias
C) Includes a value for sensitivity
D) All of these

Question 15

The difference between the two-key and the Findley procedure is:

A) The Findley procedure allows for measurement and control of the changeover response whereas the two-key procedure does not
B) The two key procedure illustrates the changeover response whereas the Findley procedure does not
C) The two-key procedure allows for measure and control of the changeover response whereas the Findley procedure does not
D) The Findley procedure illustrates the changeover response whereas the two-key procedure does not

Question 16

In terms of behavior, choice is concerned with _______.

A) The decision-making capabilities of the organism
B) The information processing during decision-making
C) The differential reinforcement of alternative behavior
D) The distribution of behavior among alternative sources of reinforcement

Question 17

From a behavioral analysis standpoint, drug addiction is the product of ______.

A) Respondent choice
B) Operant choice
C) An interaction between operant and respondent learning
D) Biological predisposition to disease

Question 18

As relative rate of reinforcement ______ , the relative rate of response ______.

A) Decreases; increases
B) Decreases; decreases
C) Increases; increases
D) Increases; decreases

Question 19

To investigate switching on concurrent schedules:

A) Use a Findley procedure
B) Use a changeover key
C) Use a single response key that changes color with the schedule
D) All of these

Question 20

If a shift in the price of mayonnaise results in a rise in the consumption of Miracle Whip, then:

A) The two are substitutes
B) The two are discriminates
C) The two have become operants
D) The schedule of reinforcement has changed

Question 21

On single-operant schedules, extraneous sources of reinforcement ________________ the rise of rate of response with higher rates of reinforcement.

A) Slow
B) Increase
C) Stop
D) Do not effect

Question 22

The quantitative law of effect states that:

A) The value of a reinforcer will decrease hyperbolically as the delay to its occurrence increases
B) The absolute rate of response on a schedule of reinforcement is a hyperbolic function of rate of reinforcement on the schedule relative to the total rate of reinforcement
C) The relative rate of responding between options will be equal to the relative distribution of reinforcers between the options
D) When presented with two concurrent ratio schedules, all responses will be allocated to the option requiring the fewest responses

Question 23

Exposing rats to a D1 agonist produced estimates in the matching law of less than 1 in rats trained to lever press for food because it:

A) Elicited nonspecific food-related behavior
B) Increased behavior directed at lever pressing
C) Increased the value of the food reinforcer
D) Decreased the value of the food reinforcer

Question 24

The preference pulse is:

A) An increase in preference for delayed outcomes
B) An increase in preference for immediate outcomes
C) A brief momentary increase in relative responding
D) A brief momentary increase in the response rate

Question 25

Using the matching relation, predict the distribution of responses between a key with a fixed-ratio 40 requirement and one with a fixed-ratio 60:

A) 100% of responses to the fixed-ratio 40 schedule
B) 40% of responses to the fixed-ratio 40 schedule
C) 60% of responses to the fixed-ratio 49 schedule
D) 50% of responses to the fixed-ratio 40 schedule

Question 26

McDowell's (1981) analysis of previous work with a boy who engaged in self-injurious scratching due to social reinforcement by reprimands demonstrated that:

A) Herrnstein's hyperbolic matching equation correctly modeled the relation between scratching and demands
B) Scratching decreased when the reprimands were withheld
C) Self-injurious scratching is an operant behavior
D) Behavior analysis can treat self-injurious behavior

Question 27

In studies of discounting in humans using adjusting amount procedures, the indifference point is defined as:

A) The average amount of the immediate reward at which the participant switched from either the short to the long delay, or vice versa
B) The average amount of the delayed reward at which the participant switched from either the short to the long delay, or vice versa
C) The average delay to the sooner reward at which the participant switched from either the short to the long delay, or vice versa
D) The average delay to the sooner reward at which the participant switched from either the short to the long delay, or vice versa

Question 28

The partial substitutability of sucrose and wheel running in experiments by Belke and colleagues (2006) reflects:

A) The initiation and maintenance of travel or locomotion induced by loss of body weight and energy stores
B) The termination of travel or locomotion as food supply increases
C) The increased value of wheel running as food availability increases
D) Both a and b

Question 29

Hyperbolic discounting has led to the theory that people that abuse drugs:

A) Are more impulsive and discount the future more heavily
B) Focus on the past causing them to discount the future more heavily
C) Are reinforced through operant processes associated with drug use
D) Value larger, delayed rewards

Question 30

If you use the power law of matching to estimate the quality of fit for a data set and find the estimate of coefficient a of less than 1 and the estimate of k greater than 1, the organism is showing:

A) Undermatching and too weak a preference for the target response
B) Undermatching and too strong a preference for the target response
C) Overmatching and too weak a preference for the target response
D) Undermatching and too weak a preference for the target response

Question 31

In general, adding a common delay to the time before the availability of a smaller, sooner outcome and a larger, later outcome:

A) Has no effect on preference for either outcome
B) Increases preference for the smaller, sooner outcome
C) Increases preference for the larger, later outcome
D) Results in indifference between the two outcomes

Question 32

In which of these situations has Herrnstein's equation for the single operant been shown to apply?

A) Magnitude of food reinforcement
B) Brain stimulation
C) Delay of reinforcement
D) All of the above

Question 33

Delay discounting involves decisions between ____ and ____ rewards.

A) Small, delayed; large, immediate
B) Small, immediate; large, delayed
C) large, delayed; large, immediate
D) small, delayed; small, immediate

Question 34

In the log-linear matching equation, the term "log k" corresponds to which element of the algebraic equation for a line:

A) The value at the origin
B) The slope
C) The x-intercept
D) The y-intercept

Question 35

The variable k in the power law form of the generalized matching equation (Baum, 1974) represents:

A) The rate at which reinforcers lose their value over time (discounting)
B) How sensitive the organism is to the distribution of reinforcers (sensitivity)
C) Extraneous forms of reinforcement (other)
D) Preferences caused by some factor that has not been identified (bias)

Question 36

The quantitative law of effect suggests that response rates on a single option will be highest when:

A) Extraneous reinforcement is lower than the reinforcers for the target behavior
B) Extraneous reinforcement is higher than the reinforcers for the target
C) Extraneous reinforcement is equal to the reinforcers for the target behavior
D) Extraneous reinforcement is only available after the occurrence of the target behavior

Question 37

In the power law form of the generalized matching equation, an a value of less than 1 indicates:

A) Overmatching
B) Undermatching
C) Sensitivity
D) Self-control

Question 38

According to research with progressive-delay schedules, a rat with a lesion to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) would most likely ________________ compared to rats without these lesions.

A) Prefer larger reward amounts
B) Prefer smaller award amounts
C) Prefer shorter indifference points
D) Prefer longer indifference points

Question 39

A rat placed in a chamber with two response levers, each operating on a variable-interval schedule and with one that pays off approximately 5 reinforcers per minute and a second that pays off approximately 10 reinforcers per minute, will most likely distribute its behavior as:

A) 100% of responses to the lever that gives 10 reinforcers per minute
B) 75% of responses to the lever that gives 10 reinforcers per minute
C) 67% of responses to the lever that gives 10 reinforcers
D) 50% of responses to the lever that gives 10 reinforcers per minute

Question 40

McDowell and Caron's (2010) research using the generalized matching law to analyze the verbal behavior of children at risk for delinquency found that:

A) The bias toward "rule-breaking" talk decreased as delinquency decreased
B) The bias toward "rule-breaking" talk increased as delinquency decreased
C) The bias toward "rule-breaking" talk increased as delinquency increased
D) The bias toward "rule-breaking" talk was unrelated to delinquency