Deck 8: Operant Applications and Interpretations

Question 1

William Verplanck's work on the reinforcement of verbal behavior showed that .

A)what people say depends in part on the reactions of other people to what is said
B)it is hard to get people to express opinions
C)people will stick to a topic if not interrupted
D)the history of reinforcement affects the frequency of verbal behavior, but not its content

Answer 1

A

Question 2

The purpose of Gordon Gallup's mirror study was to determine whether chimps .

A)showed evidence of self-awareness
B)experienced the same illusions as people
C)had the ability to imagine
D)could be induced to hallucinate

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Brad Alford's study of the man who thought he was followed by a witch is an example of .

A)anecdotal evidence
B)the case study method
C)a group design experiment
D)an ABA design experiment

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Martin Seligman has argued that learned helplessness can provide a model for .

A)mania
B)schizophrenia
C)depression
D)anorexia nervosa

Question 5

Gordon Gallup provided evidence of self awareness in .

A)humans
B)chimps
C)pigeons
D)rats

Question 6

In Mary Boyle's work with coma victims, the reinforcer was .

A)food
B)massage
C)soothing words
D)music

Question 7

The story of Ulysses and the Sirens illustrates the self-control technique known as .

A)distancing
B)distraction
C)physical restraint
D)deprivation

Question 8

John gets into fights on a regular basis, always with formidable opponents.He has often been injured in these fights and knows that he runs the risk of sustaining serious brain damage or other permanent injuries, yet he continues to fight.John is a very successful professional boxer.This example illustrates that bizarre behavior .

A)can be a good way of making a living for those willing to take the risks
B)is incomprehensible
C)is less puzzling when the reinforcers maintaining it are known
D)is sometimes a good solution to the problems people face

Question 9

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 10

Willpower is not a good explanation of behavior because .

A)you cannot see willpower
B)you cannot measure willpower
C)not everyone has willpower
D)the evidence for willpower is usually the behavior it is supposed to explain

Question 11

Insightful problem solving is best viewed as an example of .

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

Question 12

Robert Epstein's banana experiment 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 13

Lovaas and Simmons used punishment to reduce self-injurious behavior in a boy.Before treatment, this boy would hit himself at a rate of up to .

A)5 times a minute
B)10 times a minute
C)20 times a minute
D)30 times a minute

Question 14

Hal pioneered the use of operant procedures to improve the quality of life of captive wild animals.

A)Burton
B)Hobbes
C)Rosenblatt
D)Markowitz

Question 15

Herrnstein proposed that once a superstitious behavior occurs, it may be maintained by .

A)habit
B)adventitious reinforcement
C)cultural beliefs
D)the Premack Principle

Question 16

Self awareness means .

A)our attitudes about ourselves
B)observation of our behavior
C)self esteem
D)awareness of the self

Question 17

In the treatment of long-standing self-injurious behavior, punishment is often .

A)ineffective
B)effective
C)effective, but the results are short-lived
D)effective, but a new form of undesirable behavior typically appears

Question 18

Lying is probably often the result of .

A)punishment
B)a lack of insight
C)negative reinforcement
D)positive reinforcement

Question 19

The opposite of learned helplessness is learned .

A)industriousness
B)helpfulness
C)constancy
D)drive

Question 20

Jack is a homeless man who lives on the streets of New York City.One cold January night he takes up a position outside a fancy restaurant and starts shouting, "God has ordered an equestrian invasion of Long Island." The restaurant owner calls the police and they take Jack to a hospital, where he spends a quiet night.The next morning a doctor examines Jack and tells him he is well enough to be discharged.Jack immediately begins shouting about the equestrian invasion of Long Island.You tentatively conclude that .

A)Jack's hallucinations are products of reinforcement
B)Jack will stop hallucinating when he is placed on medication
C)Jack is smart
D)attention from the hospital staff is reinforcing bizarre behavior

Question 21

Verbal behavior is governed by the .

A)mind
B)PMLA
C)law of effect
D)principle of reciprocal reinforcement

Question 22

Stuart Vyse's book on superstition is called .

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

Question 23

Carr and McDowell found that Jim's scratching was reinforced mainly by .

A)teacher attention
B)being laughed at by other students
C)strange sensations he experienced from scratching
D)parental attention

Question 24

Each of the following is a self-control technique except .

A)deprivation
B)distancing
C)distraction
D)distortion

Question 25

Herbert Quay found evidence that the topics discussed by may be influenced by reinforcement.

A)psychotherapy clients
B)clergy
C)politicians
D)talk show guests

Question 26

Verplanck's opinion experiment used a/an design.

A)group
B)ABA
C)between subjects
D)crossover

Question 27

Robert Lanza and colleagues demonstrated that will lie when lying produces reinforcers.

A)mice
B)rats
C)pigeons
D)cats

Question 28

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 29

A highly effective web-based instructional program designed to teach reading that makes use of reinforcement and shaping is called .

A)Head of the Class
B)RedHeadReading
C)HeadOverHeals Reading
D)Headsprout

Question 30

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 31

Reinforcement reduces creativity because creativity requires new forms of behavior.

Question 32

Studies of learned helplessness use the procedure.

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

Question 33

Your text describes the use of to get a bull elephant to cooperate with having his feet trimmed.

A)physical restraint
B)shaping
C)chaining
D)episodic training

Question 34

Alan Christopher studied the effects of reinforcement schedule on .

A)compulsive gambling
B)experimental neurosis
C)malingering
D)drug effects

Question 35

The self-control technique of counting the number of times a behavior occurs is called .

A)monitoring
B)recording
C)tabulating
D)data-cording

Question 36

Charles Madsen and his colleagues asked a teacher to , This change in teacher behavior produced a marked reduction in misconduct

A)write a list of rules of conduct on the board
B)reprimand students immediately when they misbehaved
C)ignore misbehavior and praise students when they behaved well
D)stop the class and discuss disruptions when they occurred

Question 37

In his experiments on verbal behavior, William Verplanck reinforced expressions of opinion using as reinforcers.

A)M&Ms
B)effusive praise
C)music
D)paraphrases and expressions of agreement

Question 38

One idea for preventing learned helplessness is training.

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

Question 39

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 40

Hopkins and Conard found that when teachers made a few simple changes in how they taught, changes that included a shift from punishment to positive reinforcement, students advanced at the normal rate in reading.

A)half
B)one and a half times
C)more than twice
D)three times

Question 41

According to Skinner, we use language because it .

Question 42

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

Question 43

Many people believe that excessive gambling is due to moral weakness, bad genes, or other flaws in the individual, but there is evidence that gambling may have more to do with the gambler's history of reinforcement.

Question 44

In Skinner's teaching machines, the only reinforcer was the opportunity to move on to the next item.

Question 45

Creative behavior is a function of its consequences.

Question 46

The first true teaching machines were built by B.F.Skinner.

Question 47

The solution to a problem is behavior that produces .

Question 48

Alan Christopher demonstrated that he could turn pigeons into problem gamblers by manipulating the consequences of gambling.

Question 49

How could you use operant procedures to improve the adoption rate of orphans aged five to twelve?

Question 50

Eddie McNamara's study showed that praising students when they are "on task" does not increase the frequency of on task behavior in adolescents.

Question 51

At Morningside Academy, students achievement test scores in reading and math typically rise two years in one school year.

Question 52

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

Question 53

Only humans and the great apes show evidence of self-awareness.

Question 54

Why is insight not an adequate explanation of problem solving?

Question 55

What are the implications for psychotherapy of Quay's work on family recollections?