Question 1

Two-year-old Dennis is outside with his mother when he begins pulling the dog's ears.When he refuses to stop, his mother picks Dennis up and carries him back into the house and away from their dog.Dennis is experiencing

Accepted Answer

Dennis is being removed from the reinforcing stimulus (pulling the dog's ears) and placed in a non-reinforcing environment (inside the house), which is consistent with the use of time out as a behavior management technique.

Question 2

A staff psychologist who recommends the use of a "time-out" procedure for treating disruptive behavior is referring to time out from

Accepted Answer

The "time-out" procedure involves removing a person from a situation where they are receiving attention and other rewards for disruptive behavior. This is done in an effort to decrease that behavior by eliminating the reinforcing consequences associated with it. Option B may also be a factor, but it is not the main focus of the time-out procedure. Options C and D are not relevant to the time-out procedure.

Question 3

It is Halloween night.The trick-or-treaters know that if the porch light is on at a house, they will get candy if they knock on the door and say "Trick-or-Treat." If the light is off, they know that there will be no reward waiting for them.The trick-or-treaters' behavior is determined by the date (Halloween night)and if a light is on or off.This illustrates the operant principle of

Accepted Answer

The operant principle being illustrated in this scenario is stimulus control. The trick-or-treaters' behavior (knocking on the door and saying "Trick-or-Treat") is determined by the presence or absence of the stimulus of a porch light being on. They have learned through experience that the presence of the light is associated with receiving candy, and the absence of the light is associated with receiving no reward. This is an example of stimulus control, where behavior is influenced by the presence or absence of specific environmental stimuli.

Question 4

When two autistic boys were ignored after instances of self-destructive behavior, their tendency to injure themselves disappeared.The operant principle employed was

Accepted Answer

Nonreinforcement was employed, as ignoring the self-destructive behavior removed the potential reinforcement (attention or reaction) that the behavior might have been seeking, leading to a decrease in the behavior.

Question 5

The most frequently occurring human behaviors lead to some form of

Accepted Answer

The most frequently occurring human behaviors are likely to be those that are rewarded in some way. People are more likely to continue to engage in a behavior if they receive some sort of positive reinforcement for it, leading to an increase in the frequency of that behavior over time. Extinction and punishment are less likely to occur with the most frequently occurring behaviors, as they are reinforced by their positive outcomes. Aversion is unrelated, as it refers to a person's avoidance or dislike of something, and is not necessarily tied to behavior.

Question 6

When Thomas, an autistic boy, was ignored after instances of self-destructive behavior, his tendency to injure himself disappeared.The operant principle employed was nonreinforcement and will lead to which of the following occurring?

Accepted Answer

The operant principle employed was nonreinforcement, which means that the behavior was allowed to happen without any consequences. This will lead to operant extinction, where the behavior eventually decreases and disappears because it is no longer being reinforced or rewarded in any way.

Question 7

Toby likes to play with his sister's cat, but he often plays "too rough" with the cat.So, every time Toby begins to terrorize his sister's cat, his mother takes the cat and puts it in another room away from Toby.Toby's rough treatment of his sister's cat will

Accepted Answer

The use of time out is a form of negative punishment, which involves removing a reinforcing stimulus (in this case, the cat) immediately following the behavior to decrease the likelihood of that behavior occurring again in the future. This form of punishment is commonly used for reducing behaviors that are deemed inappropriate or problematic, such as Toby's rough treatment of the cat.

Question 8

Patti throws a temper tantrum in order to gain her mother's attention.However, her mother does not pay any attention and leaves the room.Patti stops her tantrum and follows her mother into the next room.To eliminate Patti's tantrums, her mother has used

Accepted Answer

The technique of ignoring a child's attention-seeking behavior is known as time-out. In this case, Patti's mother did not give any attention to her tantrum, which led Patti to stop her tantrum and follow her mother into the next room. This technique teaches the child that misbehavior will not result in attention from the parent, thereby reducing the frequency of the behavior.

Question 9

Scolding misbehaving children in a classroom may actually increase misbehavior because of the

Accepted Answer

Scolding misbehaving children provides attention, which can reinforce the misbehavior and lead to more of it in the future. Therefore, the best option is D - the reinforcing effects of attention.

Question 10

Which of the following procedures prevents a reward from following an undesirable response by removing the individual from a situation in which he or she could be reinforced?

Accepted Answer

Time out is a procedure that involves removing the individual from the situation where they could be reinforced in response to undesirable behavior. It is a form of punishment that involves the removal of positive reinforcement. Shaping refers to the gradual reinforcement of behavior that more closely approximates a desired behavior. Stimulus control is a process by which a behavior is more likely to occur in the presence of specific discriminative stimuli. Reciprocal inhibition is a therapeutic technique that involves pairing relaxation with anxiety-inducing stimuli to reduce anxiety.

Question 11

Three-year-old Timmon misbehaves, and his mother places him in a chair facing the corner of the room for five minutes until he clams down and behaves more appropriately.This is an example of the use of

Accepted Answer

This is an example of time out, which involves removing the individual from a reinforcing environment in response to misbehavior, in order to decrease the likelihood of future occurrences. The individual is not able to engage in any positive reinforcement for a period of time, in this case, five minutes.

Question 12

Time out, which involves removing a person from a situation in which reinforcement could occur is a variation of

Accepted Answer

Time out is a form of response cost, which involves removing a person from a situation where they could receive a reward or reinforcement for their behavior. This is done in order to decrease the likelihood of that behavior occurring again in the future. Classical conditioning involves pairing a neutral stimulus with a reflex response, shaping involves gradually teaching a complex behavior through reinforcement of successive approximations, and reciprocal inhibition is a therapeutic technique involving the pairing of incompatible responses in order to reduce anxiety or other unwanted behaviors.

Question 13

An athletic team almost always wins the game when they play at "home" but they seldom win a game played "on the road." Their winning appears to be influenced by where the game is played.This illustrates the operant principle of

Accepted Answer

The principle of stimulus control is demonstrated in this scenario. The team's winning behavior is more likely to occur when in their home environment (the stimulus), as opposed to playing on the road. The location of the game is acting as a discriminative stimulus, influencing the occurrence of the behavior (winning). Shaping, punishment, and extinction are not applicable principles in this situation.

Question 14

Attention, approval, and concern

Accepted Answer

Attention, approval, and concern are all common reinforcers for humans, meaning they can increase the likelihood of a behavior occurring again in the future. However, if these reinforcers follow a misbehavior, they can inadvertently reinforce the misbehavior and increase its frequency. During extinction training, the removal of attention, approval, or concern can be used to decrease the occurrence of a behavior. Therefore, all three statements are true and the best answer is D.

Question 15

Mattie, an extremely overweight patient at the mental hospital, had a persistent and disturbing habit of stealing food from other patients.The behavior therapist assigned Mattie to a special table in the dining room.If Mattie approached any other table, she was immediately removed from the dining room.To produce extinction of Mattie's food stealing, the therapist in this example used which of the following?

Accepted Answer

The therapist used nonreinforcement by removing Mattie from the dining room if she approached any other table, which means no reinforcement was given for the food-stealing behavior. This promotes extinction of the behavior by removing the opportunity for reinforcement. A is incorrect because aversive conditioning would involve punishing the behavior, which was not done in this scenario. C is incorrect because covert desensitization involves gradual exposure to fear-inducing stimuli, which is not relevant here. D is incorrect because respondent conditioning refers to the process of pairing a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus to create a conditioned response, which is not relevant to this situation.

Question 16

Which of the following is a variation of response cost?

Accepted Answer

Time out is a variation of response cost where the individual is removed from a reinforcing environment as a consequence for an undesirable behavior. Shaping involves gradually reinforcing closer and closer approximations of a desired behavior. Stimulus control involves modifying antecedent stimuli to increase or decrease the likelihood of a behavior. Reciprocal inhibition involves pairing an incompatible response with an undesired behavior to decrease its likelihood.

Question 17

Jeffery and Logan are brothers who are fighting over a new toy.Their mother sends them to separate rooms until they can calm down and agree to share the toy and play "nicely." Mother is using the operant conditioning technique known as

Accepted Answer

The mother is using the technique of time out, which involves removing the children from the situation and giving them a break to calm down and reflect on their behavior. This is a form of negative punishment, where an undesired behavior (fighting over the toy) is being punished by removing the opportunity to play with the toy.

Question 18

You are setting up a behavior modification plan for a classroom.In dealing with the undesirable behaviors in this classroom, you will identify and remove the rewards for these behaviors and in doing so bring about

Accepted Answer

Operant extinction involves removing the reinforcement for a behavior, which leads to a decrease in the frequency of that behavior. In this case, identifying and removing rewards for undesirable behaviors in the classroom would be an example of operant extinction. The other options are not relevant to this situation - operant shaping involves reinforcing desired behaviors to increase their frequency, respondent aversion involves associating a negative stimulus with a behavior to decrease its frequency, and token inhibition is not a recognized term in behavior modification.

Question 19

Nonreward and time out are typically used to bring about the

Accepted Answer

Nonreward and time out are used to decrease or eliminate maladaptive behaviors through extinction, which involves removing the reinforcement that previously maintained the behavior. This can be an effective method for reducing unwanted behaviors, such as aggression or attention-seeking, as it teaches the individual that the behavior will not lead to the desired outcome. Option B involves punishment, not extinction. Option C involves reinforcement, not extinction. Option D involves using negative reinforcement, which involves removing something aversive to increase a behavior, but this is not the same as extinction.

Question 20

When the rewards that maintain undesirable behaviors are identified and removed, these undesirable behaviors will undergo

Accepted Answer

Operant extinction occurs when a behavior is no longer reinforced, resulting in a decrease or eventual elimination of the behavior. By identifying and removing the rewards that maintain undesirable behaviors, those behaviors will eventually stop being reinforced and undergo operant extinction. Operant shaping refers to reinforcing successive approximations to a desired behavior. Respondent aversion involves pairing an unpleasant stimulus with an undesirable behavior to decrease its occurrence. Token inhibition refers to using a token economy system to reduce undesirable behaviors by rewarding desirable ones.

Quiz 15: Therapies.