Deck 9: The Motivation of Instrumental Action

Question 1

Learning theorists assume that behavior is inherently goal-oriented because behavior is

A) variable and persistent.
B) overt and repetitive.
C) organized and complex.
D) inherited and learned.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

A motivational perspective assumes that behavior will be variable when the

A) contingency is not well learned.
B) subject has forgotten the contingency.
C) outcome's value changes over time.
D) muscles exhibit varying degrees of fatigue over time.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which research design tests for the effect of motivation on behavior?

A) Pigeons' performance accuracy on a three-sample DMTS is compared with another group's performance on a ten-sample DMTS task.
B) A dog receives a three-second shock every time a buzzer sounds, but no shock when a flashing light is turned on.
C) Running speeds and performance accuracy in a maze study using rats are compared at the beginning, midpoint, and end of training.
D) A rat is given fifteen pellets for pressing the left-hand lever eight times, and given three pellets for pressing the right-hand lever two times.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which statement about behavior is true?

A) Motivation is necessary for instrumental but not classical conditioning to occur.
B) Motivation is necessary for learning to take place but not for performance to occur.
C) Reinforcement contingencies and occasion setters cannot account for all the variability in behavior.
D) Motivation has drive reduction at its base.

Question 5

The concept of homeostasis refers to

A) an unchanging level of motivation despite changes in deprivation level.
B) a variable level of motivation despite stability of deprivation level.
C) an abnormal and excessive level of arousal despite typical levels of deprivation.
D) a stable internal state maintained by engaging in different behaviors over time.

Question 6

Hull's concept of Drive refers to

A) a specific motivational state produced by a particular deficit (e.g., hunger, thirst).
B) a general motivational state produced by one or more biological needs.
C) the strength of a behavior at the start of instrumental conditioning.
D) the strength of a behavior at the end of instrumental conditioning.

Question 7

According to Hull's formulation of factors affecting performance,

A) if Drive or Habit were zero, then no behavior would occur.
B) as long as there is some amount of Drive, learning occurs.
C) Drive interferes with learning because it commands attention.
D) Habit is the cognitive expectation and value of the instrumental consequence.

Question 8

According to Hull, so long as there are habits in place, doubling the animal's drive should

A) double its rate of learning.
B) double its rate of behavior.
C) halve its rate of behavior.
D) double both the rate of learning and behavior.

Question 9

Hull's equation D × H × K is best characterized as a

A) learning rule.
B) rule that describes how motivation changes.
C) rule to determine performance.
D) rule to determine incentive.

Question 10

According to Hull, _______ is influenced by _______.

A) Drive; the number of responses
B) Habit; the number of reinforcers
C) Habit; the level of deprivation
D) Habit; the level of deprivation and the number of reinforcers

Question 11

According to Hull, _______ is influenced by _______.

A) Drive; the number of responses
B) Habit; the level of deprivation
C) Drive; the level of deprivation
D) Habit; the number of reinforcers and the level of deprivation

Question 12

Which statement represents a challenge to, or weakness of, the Drive construct in Hullian theory?

A) High drive increases behaviors that are unrelated to the need.
B) Drive tends to activate functional sets of behavior that are organized to deal with a particular need state.
C) Ultimately, with behavior motivated by Drive only homeostasis cannot be obtained.
D) Drive was just as important as Habit in determining behavior.

Question 13

In which scenario should incentive learning occur?

A) A rat receives pairings of a tone with a light which has previously signaled a tasty meal.
B) A lab pigeon that has always been fed grain is given meal worms for the first time as the reinforcer for pecking a key.
C) Prior to training in an operant chamber, a hungry rat is given sweetened condensed milk for the first time in its home cage.
D) A pigeon must peck a green key to get grain, because the red key is associated with no grain.

Question 14

A rat is made hungrier and it runs faster to the goal box to obtain yummy food. For another rat, a CS that predicts yummy food is turned on, and the rat runs faster to the goal box. Regarding the increase in running speed, the first rat was motivated by _______ and the second by _______.

A) hunger; hunger
B) drive; incentive
C) drive; frustration
D) acquired drive; incentive

Question 15

Researchers have found that when they increase or decrease the incentive, the effect on an animal's instrumental behavior depends on

A) the animal's knowledge and experience with that incentive.
B) the difficulty of the response or the amount of effort required to produce the response.
C) the type of occasion setters used to signal the incentive changes.
D) whether the reinforcer is primary or secondary.

Question 16

Which term does not belong with the others in this list?

A) Hedonic shift
B) Cathexes
C) Incentive learning
D) Instinctive behavior

Question 17

Hullian theory has been characterized as a _______ theory.

A) cathexes
B) depletion-repletion
C) occasion-setting
D) cognitive-incentive

Question 18

You are told that you can get bitcoins by reviewing websites. That will motivate you to review websites only if

A) bitcoins are not available anywhere else.
B) you know that bitcoins can be used to purchase other things.
C) you have never had bitcoins before.
D) you enjoy reviewing websites.

Question 19

Research indicates that motivated behavior is

A) learned and organized to anticipate need, rather than only respond to it.
B) an innate response to deprivation, and is very difficult to modify by learning procedures.
C) instinctive, and cannot be modified by classical or instrumental learning procedures.
D) instinctively regulated in infants and young animals, and regulated by learning in adult animals.

Question 20

Researchers studying animals and children have found that

A) children and animals behave reactively rather than proactively to feeding schedules.
B) children and animals tend to consume a meal whose size is directly proportional to the amount of time that has passed since the last meal.
C) Pavlovian cues associated with particular incentives can motivate animals and children to engage in a behavior even when they are not currently experiencing the need that would be satisfied by that behavior.
D) teaching animals and children to avoid particular incentives is much easier than teaching them to prefer particular incentives.

Question 21

Based on what we know about motivation, which rat will be most likely to overeat?

A) A hungry rat that can press a lever for food
B) A hungry rat that receives food when signaled by a tone
C) A hungry rat that can press a lever for food in an environment where a tone sometimes occurs that also signals imminent availability of food
D) A hungry rat on a partial-reinforcement schedule

Question 22

Which statement is not one of the findings of research on incentives?

A) As the cost of a meal increases, animals work for fewer meals but larger meals.
B) Newborns begin life as depletion-repletion feeders, but they quickly learn to anticipate meal schedules and nurse more when they anticipate a longer interval between meals.
C) When food is freely available and visibly present in their environment, children tend to reduce the amount they eat and snack less as they become less depleted.
D) Children are more likely to eat responsibly when they are taught to pay attention to internal rather than external cues associated with food.

Question 23

Acquired motivation refers to

A) learning to expect reinforcement.
B) learning to distinguish nutritious items from those that are not.
C) learning to switch from a state of merely reacting to needs to a state of anticipating them.
D) learning to replace a specific motive with a more general set of motives.

Question 24

Which behavior is based on an acquired motivation?

A) Jessica likes to order popcorn with hot butter topping whenever she goes to the movies.
B) Ruben goes to the gym because it has a treadmill that helps him control his weight.
C) Randy arranges his class schedule so he can take a brief nap after lunch.
D) Amanda takes the bus rather than walking to school on rainy days.

Question 25

A negative contrast effect is said to occur when

A) one stimulus is associated with a positive outcome and a second stimulus is associated with a negative outcome.
B) an occasion setter is progressively changed so that it becomes difficult to detect or differentiate.
C) the outcome is more than what the subject expected.
D) the outcome is less than what the subject expected.

Question 26

Which individual would likely experience a negative contrast effect?

A) An airline pilot who must accept a 15 percent pay cut to help the airline avoid bankruptcy
B) A truck driver who is fired when his drug test comes back positive for narcotics
C) A bank teller who increases the number of times per week he is absent from work following a robbery
D) A college professor who must grade exams from four classes during exam week and submit all grades to the registrar 48 hours after the last exam

Question 27

A positive contrast effect is said to occur when

A) one stimulus is associated with a positive outcome and a second stimulus is associated with a negative outcome.
B) several different occasion setters all signal the same desirable outcome.
C) the outcome is more than what the subject expected or desired.
D) the outcome is less than what the subject expected or desired.

Question 28

Which individual would likely experience a positive contrast effect?

A) A child who receives toys, treats, and attention from her grandmother regardless of what she does
B) A waitress who receives a 40 percent tip for serving a party of six at a business luncheon instead of the usual 15 percent that she receives from the usual customer
C) Sales staff in a car dealership who are told by the manager that they will earn a bonus of $1,000 for each car they sell over the monthly quota of 15 cars.
D) An employee who learns that in response to a company survey, her employer has decided to switch from a monthly payroll plan to a weekly payroll plan

Question 29

Incentive contrast effects tell us that the value of an outcome is

A) relative.
B) absolute.
C) resistant to change.
D) dependent on the species tested.

Question 30

Which statement about incentive contrast effects is false?

A) The value of an outcome is relative to and dependent on the subject's expectations.
B) Incentive contrast effects can occur with primary and secondary reinforcers.
C) Incentive contrast effects require that the subject be exposed to different outcomes.
D) Children and animals, but not adults, show incentive contrast effects.

Question 31

According to Hull's construct of incentive motivation, this factor

A) is just as important as Habit and Drive in regulating behavior.
B) mainly affects Drive; thus the product of Drive and incentive are added to Habit.
C) is a cognitive factor that can produce motivation when Drive is absent.
D) is fixed and not modifiable.

Question 32

From a Hullian perspective, when a pigeon pecks at a key to get grain, r_G, or fractional

A) recollections or memories, are stored about the amount and quality of the grain.
B) responses, are instrumentally conditioned to the key light.
C) responses, can be elicited through classical conditioning of the operant chamber.
D) resistance or competing responses, can become conditioned to the key light.

Question 33

In Hullian theory, the function of s_g is to provide

A) a persistent stimulus that links a series of responses together.
B) the incentive motivation necessary to energize responding.
C) a stimulus that the subject can use to form a cognitive expectation of reward value.
D) the instrumentally conditioned motivation to produce performance.

Question 34

The two most important consequences of conditioning, r_G, include

A) the elimination of competing classically conditioned responses and the stimuli associated with negative contrast effects.
B) the initiation of incentive motivation and the production of a stimulus that links the responses together.
C) increasing the size of positive contrast effects and increasing resistance to extinction.
D) reducing the amount of forgetting and increasing the rate of response acquisition.

Question 35

Frustration can explain

A) positive contrast.
B) incentive learning.
C) negative contrast.
D) why drive reduction sometimes does not reinforce.

Question 36

According to Amsel's schema, the greatest amount of frustration would be experienced by a subject that receives _______ and then _______.

A) 25 nonrewarded trials; 25 rewarded trials
B) 5 rewarded trials; 25 nonrewarded trials
C) 25 rewarded trials; 25 nonrewarded trials
D) 25 rewarded trials; 25 rewarded trials with a smaller reinforcer

Question 37

Paradoxical reward effects refer to the finding that

A) instrumental, but not classical, conditioning is influenced by reward features.
B) reward produces motivational, emotional, and behavioral side effects.
C) reward sometimes weakens instrumental responding, whereas nonreward sometimes strengthens it.
D) the value of a reward varies from one individual to the next and also varies within a given individual over time.

Question 38

Every time Travis asks his mother for a cookie, he gets it. When she stops giving him cookies she can expect

A) temper tantrums and rapid extinction.
B) temper tantrums and slow extinction.
C) slow extinction without tantrums.
D) slow extinction due to negative contrast.

Question 39

Eric is thirsty and goes to a vending machine on the third floor of the building he is in. After putting in his money and pressing the button, gets no soda. He then goes to the machine on the fourth floor. Given what we know about frustration, what is he likely to do to the machine when he inserts the money?

A) Slowly press the button
B) Press the coin-return lever without pressing a button for a soda
C) Press the button very quickly and forcefully
D) Look for a candy bar instead of soda

Question 40

A new vending machine is installed in the library. Ben visits it 5 times and gets a soda every time. Sally visits the same machine 12 times and gets a soda every time. By Friday afternoon the machine is empty. According to the overtraining extinction effect, who will stop going to the machine first when it is empty?

A) They've both been continually reinforced, so they will stop after the same number of trips.
B) Sally will most likely stop first.
C) Ben will most likely stop first because he is frustrated.
D) Ben will stop first because overtraining slows extinction.

Question 41

Rewards are most likely to have a negative effect on performance if subjects receive

A) intangible extrinsic rewards (e.g., praise) for intrinsic performance.
B) tangible intrinsic rewards (e.g., self-esteem) for extrinsic performance.
C) tangible rewards that are expected but unrelated to performance.
D) unexpected tangible rewards that are related to performance.

Question 42

The partial reinforcement extinction effect refers to the finding that subjects that receive partial reinforcement during acquisition are likely to _______, relative to subjects that were always rewarded.

A) show some extinction or diminished responding during acquisition
B) respond less and extinguish their responding more rapidly
C) respond more in acquisition and extinction
D) show greater responding or more resistance to extinction.

Question 43

Which individual is most likely to experience a general persistence or learned industriousness effect?

A) Matt, a player on a junior varsity soccer team, who learns that his excellent performance has earned him a place on the varsity team for the following season
B) Nick, who was required to repeat two grades in elementary school and who is now starting junior high school
C) Marcy, a straight-A student in high school who is taking a difficult Chinese language class for the first time in college
D) Kristen, who wins a college scholarship through a random drawing by her father's labor union

Question 44

According to a sequential theory account, which sequence would be likely to show the strongest PREE?

A) NNNNNRRRRRNNNNRRRRNNNRRR
B) RNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRNRN
C) RRNRRNNNRRNNRNRNNNRNNRRR
D) RRRRNNNNRRRRNNNNRRRRNNNN

Question 45

Which statement about the assumptions of sequential theory regarding extinction is true?

A) Stimulus generalization of memories of N-length and number of NR transitions formed in acquisition produce these effects.
B) Classical conditioning of reactions to N-length and number of NR transitions formed in acquisition produce these effects.
C) Instrumental conditioning of response persistence must precede the classical conditioning of emotional reactions to frustration in order to produce these effects.
D) Classical conditioning of emotional reactions to frustration must precede the instrumental conditioning of response persistence in order to produce these effects.

Question 46

According to sequential theory,

A) initial counterconditioning of competing emotional responses in acquisition produces the PREE and paradoxical reinforcement effects.
B) the signals for responding fail to generalize as a function of a change in the schedules of reinforcement used in training and testing.
C) classical conditioning of the value of the outcome must precede instrumental conditioning with that outcome.
D) classically conditioned occasion setters are attached to different responses at specific points in a set of behaviors organized around a biological function or goal.

Question 47

In explaining extinction, sequential theory emphasizes _______ and _______ while frustration theory emphasizes _______ and _________.

A) memory; generalization; emotion; motivation
B) memory; motivation; emotion; generalization
C) memory; generalization; trial signaling; counterconditioning
D) memory; counterconditioning; emotion; generalization

Question 48

Which learning theorists did not assume that classically conditioned peripheral responses regulate instrumental behavior?

A) Abram Amsel
B) E. John Capaldi
C) O. H. Mowrer
D) Kenneth Spence

Question 49

A "revolution" occurred in animal learning in the late 1960s as researchers began to emphasize _______ factors in the regulation of animal learning phenomena.

A) emotional
B) motivational
C) cognitive
D) classically conditioned

Question 50

Concurrent measurement studies involve measuring whether

A) the strength of a classically conditioned peripheral response predicts the strength of an instrumental behavior.
B) the same event (e.g., nonreward) can be used to accurately predict two different outcomes (e.g., NR versus NN).
C) discrimination and generalization are sequential or simultaneously occurring phenomena.
D) aversive outcomes produce stronger and more rapid acquisition and retrieval effects than appetitive outcomes do.

Question 51

Concurrent measurement studies have tended to find that classically conditioned responses

A) predict changes in instrumental response strength.
B) come to be associated with reward and nonreward, motivating behavior.
C) poorly predict the strength of instrumental behavior.
D) predict changes in instrumental response strength when the two responses are very different.

Question 52

Pavlovian-instrumental transfer studies involve training subjects on a(n)

A) classical contingency and then seeing if instrumental responding is maintained.
B) instrumental contingency and then seeing if reflexive responding is maintained.
C) classical and instrumental contingency in separate training phases, and then using the equivalent of summation test to assess responding.
D) classical or an instrumental contingency and then reversing that contingency in a second phase of training.

Question 53

The seeming conflict between concurrent measurement studies and the Pavlovian-instrumental transfer studies was resolved by assuming that classical conditioning

A) co-occurs with instrumental conditioning, rather than preceding or motivating it.
B) motivates instrumental responding by the conditioning of a central state, not a peripheral response.
C) is more likely to motivate instrumental responding when the temporal training parameters of the two procedures match.
D) motivates instrumental responding when conditioned reinforcers, but not primary reinforcers, are used as the outcome.

Question 54

Pavlovian-instrumental transfer experiments show us that appetitive and aversive motivations are

A) like excitation and inhibition, in that they exist along opposite ends of a continuum.
B) complementary motivational states.
C) formed by excitatory and inhibitory associations, respectively.
D) impossible to separate from the responses evoked by the CS itself.

Question 55

Pavlovian CSs elicit CRs, which can interfere with, or complement, instrumental responding. Which statement about this observation is true?

A) These are peripheral responses that are not related to Pavlovian-instrumental transfer.
B) These peripheral responses can make Pavlovian-instrumental transfer experiments difficult to interpret.
C) These responses can only obfuscate interpretation of the effects of excitors on Pavlovian-instrumental transfer.
D) These responses interfere with instrumental conditioning only when goal or sign tracking interferes with the instrumental response.

Question 56

Which result demonstrates outcome-specific PIT?

A) A signal for food enhances lever pressing for food, but not chain pulling to avoid shock.
B) A signal for food enhances lever pressing for food, but not chain pulling for sucrose.
C) A signal for food produces responding to the signal, but fails to enhance lever pressing for food.
D) A signal for food enhances lever pressing for food and chain pulling for sucrose.

Question 57

Outcome specific PIT might work because, as Konorski proposed, a Pavlovian CS activates

A) a sensory representation of the reinforcer, which in turn activates the associated response.
B) an emotional state that serves as a discriminative stimulus.
C) the sensory node and then the emotional node, which motivates the associated behavior.
D) the emotive node, and then an instrumental response is evoked.

Question 58

When a person participates in an activity like bungee jumping for the first time, fear is most likely experienced right before the jump. According to the opponent-process theory of motivation, this fear would be classified as

A) the a-process.
B) the b-process.
C) the peak of the after-reaction.
D) the adaptation process.

Question 59

According to the opponent-process theory of motivation, after a certain number of bungee jumps a person might experience _______ both before and after a jump due to the workings of the _______.

A) fear; a-process
B) euphoria; a-process
C) fear; b-process
D) euphoria; b-process

Question 60

According to the opponent-process theory of motivation, there is a peak in the initial emotional reaction followed by an adaptation phase. The peak in the standard pattern of affective dynamics occurs because

A) the initial emotional reaction begins to fade.
B) the after-reaction begins to fade.
C) the after-reaction begins later and interferes with initial emotional reaction.
D) the after-reaction persists after the initial emotional reaction has faded.

Question 61

According to the opponent-process theory of motivation,

A) the a-process is the innate trigger for eliciting the b-process.
B) the b-process does not occur until the initial emotional stimulus is withdrawn.
C) the a-process changes over time and becomes weaker as exposure to the emotional stimulus increases.
D) the b-process weakens over time but persists for an increasingly longer duration as exposure to the emotional stimulus increases.

Question 62

Which statement about the b-process is false?

A) It can be described as a "slave process."
B) It is characterized by a sluggish onset and slow decay rate.
C) It is a homeostatic adjustment response.
D) It is stable and synchronizes over time with the emotional stimulus.

Question 63

"Imprinting" refers to the process

A) that occurs during repeated stimulus exposure in which the subject eventually displays an emotional response opposite to the initial emotional response.
B) by which a very young animal becomes attached to its mother and other members of its species due to stimulus exposure.
C) by which human infants learn to recognize, differentiate, and respond to displays of facial emotion of the people around them.
D) that occurs when an organism is exposed to an intense emotional stimulus, which then becomes a permanent aversive or traumatic discriminative stimulus.

Question 64

Ducklings that were calm before and during imprinting become distressed when the stimulus is removed. The distress is likely due to

A) elicitation of the a-process.
B) a lingering b-process.
C) a disturbance following imprinting, either from the imprinting stimulus or some other stimulus.
D) elicitation of hunger by removal of the stimulus.

Question 65

Withdrawal symptoms in a drug addict are most consistent with

A) the a-process.
B) a fading a-process
C) the expression of the b-process.
D) a conditioned a-process.

Question 66

Effects such as conditioned compensatory responses

A) are entirely consistent with the opponent process model.
B) fit the opponent process model if we assume the b-process can be elicited by Pavlovian cues.
C) are inconsistent with the opponent process model.
D) cannot serve as motivating forces.

Question 67

Which effect best supports the idea that the b-process can be conditioned to a CS?

A) Strengthening of both the a- and b-process over time
B) Strengthening of the b-process over time
C) Compensatory responses such as sign tracking
D) Compensatory responses such as after-images.

Question 68

Why do psychologists assert that behavior is fundamentally goal-oriented?

Question 69

Describe Hull's theory of motivation and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the theory in terms of its ability to explain the effects of drive on behavior.

Question 70

Compare and contrast drive with acquired motivation in terms of the source of the motivation.

Question 71

Travis is teaching a course of average difficulty. On the first day he informs his class that the course is very hard and that very few students earn grades higher than C. He knows that this is an exaggeration. He expects that the grades will be distributed just as they are in any other course, but he thinks that this introduction will improve his teacher evaluations at the end of the course. Given what you know about acquired motivation, what do you think Travis is up to? What would Crespi think the students will experience at the end of the course?

Question 72

Your cat has free access to his dull, dry, cat food in the utility room of your house. When you are in the kitchen, you often give your cat pieces of sliced deli turkey from the refrigerator. One day your hungry cat is walking to the utility room as you go into the kitchen and open the refrigerator. The cat meows and comes running into the kitchen. Analyze these behaviors in terms of theories of motivation constructs.

Question 73

In the experiment whose results are shown below, animals received rewards for running in a runway. In three-trial sequences they received a small reward, no reward, and a big reward (rNR), or they received the same trials with the two rewards switched (RNr). As shown in the figure, the rNR condition showed a greater PREE effect (was more resistant to extinction). This result supports sequential theory because in the rNR condition a big reward is associated with a preceding N trial, whereas a small reward is associated with the preceding N trial in the RNr condition. Evaluate whether this result can be explained by the frustration hypothesis.

Question 74

Mack is considered a normal teacher, bordering on the dull side. He seldom provides praise in class and never does anything other than lecture on the material. His colleagues accuse him of caring very little about motivation. Jordan teaches a different section of the same course. He is enthusiastic and likes to surprise students with treats in class and bonus points for attendance. Whose students do you expect to learn the material better? Justify your answer.

Question 75

Hull assumed that r_G, a response similar to one evoked in the presence of reward, is conditioned to the stimuli surrounding the reward. It can be elicited by similar stimuli and serve as a motivating force. What must be observed to support that mechanism, and does the evidence support it?

Question 76

The figure below describes the ability of a CS to activate a central motivational state. Is this figure consistent with what we know about selective and general Pavlovian-instrumental transfer? Justify your answer.

Question 77

Explain the basic assumptions of Amsel's frustration theory and how the theory accounts for paradoxical reward effects.

Question 78

Describe how you could reinforce your roommate for washing the dishes to make the behavior persistent. Justify the efficacy of your procedure based on theories of motivation.

Question 79

Bill is a moderately well-to-do man who has an obsessive compulsive disorder that leads him to check and double-check that his electric appliances are off. He has trouble with his weight and keeps it in check by working out regularly with a personal trainer. Each time the trainer arrives for a session with Bill, he confiscates any food Bill has brought with him. How do you expect this will affect Bill's OCD behavior when he is in the presence of his trainer? Justify your answer.

Question 80

Refer to the scenario below to answer the questions that follow.
Eric initiates a sexual encounter with his partner, who is very receptive to his overture. In the middle of foreplay, the phone rings and Eric interrupts the encounter to deal with the call. His abandoned partner experiences a quick decline of pleasure, and becomes tense and irritable.
-Explain his partner's feelings from the perspective of opponent-process theory.