Question 1

The "positive" and "negative" terms applied to reinforcement and punishment refer to

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Question 2

When the frequency or probability of a behaviour is increased as a result of the addition or presentation of something following the performance of the behaviour, it is called

Accepted Answer

Positive reinforcement involves adding or presenting something after a behaviour to increase the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated in the future. This is different from positive punishment, which involves adding or presenting something after a behaviour to decrease the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated. Negative reinforcement involves removing or taking away something after a behaviour to increase the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated, while negative punishment involves removing or taking away something after a behaviour to decrease the likelihood of that behaviour being repeated.

Question 3

When the frequency or probability of a behaviour is increased as a result of the removal of something following the performance of the behaviour, it is called

Accepted Answer

Negative reinforcement involves the removal of something unpleasant or aversive following a behavior, which increases the likelihood of that behavior being repeated in the future. It is important to note that negative reinforcement is different from punishment, which aims to decrease the likelihood of a behavior. Positive reinforcement also increases behavior, but it involves the addition of something desirable, rather than the removal of something aversive. Negative punishment involves the removal of something desirable, which decreases the likelihood of a behavior.

Question 4

In an attempt to get his class to quiet down more quickly, Dr. Johnson continuously sounds a very loud bullhorn until the class stops talking. This is an example o

Accepted Answer

Negative reinforcement involves removing an unpleasant stimulus (the loud bullhorn) when the desired behavior (the class quieting down) occurs.

Question 5

According to this principle of operant conditioning, strong reinforcers can be used to reinforce weak reinforcers.

Accepted Answer

This principle is known as the Premack principle, which states that a high-probability behavior can be used to reinforce a low-probability behavior. In other words, the opportunity to engage in a preferred activity can be used as a reward for engaging in a less preferred activity. For example, a child may be rewarded with playing a video game (a high-probability behavior) after completing their homework (a low-probability behavior).

Question 6

In order for something to be a secondary reinforcer it must be

Accepted Answer

A secondary reinforcer is something that initially has no value as a reinforcer, but gains its value through its association with a primary reinforcer. Therefore, it must be reliably associated with access to primary reinforcers. Choice A is incorrect as secondary reinforcers do not have to be related to survival or reproductive success. Choice B is incorrect as secondary reinforcers can have intrinsic value as reinforcing stimuli but not initially with the behavior being reinforced. Choice C is incorrect as secondary reinforcers are not necessarily as powerful as primary reinforcers.

Question 7

If a behaviour, like playing a slot machine, is continuously reinforced, the behaviour is initially strong but

Accepted Answer

If a behavior is continuously reinforced and then suddenly stops receiving reinforcement, the behavior is likely to become extinct quickly. This is because the behavior was only being maintained by the reinforcement, and without it, there is no reason for the behavior to continue.

Question 8

All of the following statements about partial reinforcement are true, EXCEPT:

Accepted Answer

Partial reinforcement is a common occurrence in the natural world, as many behaviours are not rewarded every time they occur. Choices A, C, and D are all true statements about partial reinforcement.

Question 9

Jason generally works hard at the law firm and is on a salary there. The firm pays Jason every 2 weeks to ensure that Jason's work is relatively equally distributed across days in the office. This is an example of which reinforcement schedule?

Accepted Answer

The fact that Jason gets paid every 2 weeks regardless of how much or how little he works during those 2 weeks suggests that this is a fixed-interval reinforcement schedule. His pay is based on the amount of time that has passed (2 weeks), rather than the amount of work he has accomplished.

Question 10

This schedule of reinforcement, sometimes reinforcing hunting strategies in animals, and shopping strategies in humans, generally produces the lowest rate of responding because reinforcement is delivered at unpredictable time intervals.

Accepted Answer

The schedule described is a variable-interval schedule, which means that reinforcement is delivered at unpredictable time intervals. This often results in a lower rate of responding because the individual does not know when the next reinforcement will come, so they are not consistently responding in anticipation of it. This is often seen in animals when reinforcing hunting behaviors and in humans when reinforcing shopping behaviors.

Question 11

This reinforcement schedule is the logic behind factory piecework, where workers are paid by the number of items produced rather than the number of hours worked

Accepted Answer

The fixed-ratio reinforcement schedule rewards a behavior after a set number of responses. In this case, the behavior being rewarded is the production of items, and the reward is payment. Factory piecework operates on a fixed-ratio schedule by paying workers based on the number of items produced, rather than the number of hours worked.

Question 12

Slot-machine players do not typically pause for rest following reinforcement, but rather, they continue to respond at high rates to reach the next pay-off. The schedule of reinforcement in effect here is

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Question 13

Which of the following was NOT a condition in the Tolman and Honzik (1930) study of latent learning in rats?

Accepted Answer

In the Tolman and Honzik (1930) study, one group of rats was given food as a reinforcer at the end of the maze, one group of rats was given no reinforcement at any point in the maze, and one group of rats received reinforcement after 10 days of no reinforcement. However, there was no group of rats given a small electric shock to start the maze.

Question 14

The discussion of a cognitive map would not be appealing to radical behaviourists like Skinner because

Accepted Answer

Radical behaviourism rejects the existence of mental representations, including cognitive maps. Therefore, the discussion of a cognitive map would not be appealing to radical behaviourists like Skinner.

Question 15

Unlike radical behaviourism, this brand of behaviourism acknowledges the possibility of mental representations in learning.

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Question 16

There are behaviours that individuals of a given species cannot learn, or have great difficulty learning, because of a conflict with innate patterns of behaviour, a concept known as

Accepted Answer

Instinctive drift refers to the tendency of animals to revert to their innate behaviors even when they are trained to perform different behaviors. This means that there are behaviors that individuals cannot learn, or have great difficulty learning, because of a conflict with their innate patterns of behavior. The other choices (A, C, and D) do not accurately describe this concept.

Question 17

This type of learning refers to the ways in which an organism might learn by observing the experiences of others, rather than through his or her own experience.

Accepted Answer

Observational learning is the type of learning in which an organism learns by observing the experiences of others. It is also known as social learning or vicarious learning. This type of learning relies on the concept of modeling, where individuals imitate the behavior of others.

Question 18

Albert Bandura and his associates carried out the best-known series of studies based on the work of Dollard and Miller on this phenomenon.

Accepted Answer

Albert Bandura and his associates carried out the best-known series of studies on modelling, also known as observational learning, which involves learning through observing and imitating others' behavior.

Question 19

In the original version of Bandura's experiment, preschoolers were left in the company of an adult model who would either punch and kick an inflatable clown doll ("Bobo")-the kind with a rounded, weighted base that springs back up when knocked down-or, in the control conditions, the adult would

Accepted Answer

In the original version of Bandura's experiment, the control condition involved the adult model not interacting aggressively with the Bobo doll, meaning they did nothing to the doll. This was to provide a comparison to the aggressive model conditions.

Question 20

All of the following were results of the original aggression-modelling experiments performed by Bandura and his colleagues, EXCEPT:

Accepted Answer

The original aggression-modelling experiments performed by Bandura and his colleagues did not find that children were more likely to imitate other children than the adult models. In fact, they found that the children reliably imitated the aggressive gestures of the adult models. However, they did not report any gender differences in the likelihood of children behaving aggressively, and did not specifically compare the effectiveness of male versus female adult models in eliciting imitative responses.

Quiz 7: Learning