Question 1

When 3-year-old Ariel threw a tantrum over the candy she wanted,her mother gave it to her so that Ariel would calm down.Unfortunately,Ariel's temper tantrums probably have been:

Accepted Answer

Ariel's tantrum was positively reinforced because she received what she wanted (candy) after throwing a tantrum. This increases the likelihood of her throwing a tantrum again in the future to get what she wants.

Question 2

When something desirable has been removed upon the occurrence of a behaviour,and as a result that behaviour is weakened,_____ has happened.

Accepted Answer

Negative punishment occurs when a desirable stimulus is removed following a behavior, leading to a decrease in that behavior.

Question 3

A baby will not stop crying,and he is driving his parents crazy.As a last resort,the father puts the baby in a laundry basket and sets the basket on top of the running dryer.The vibrations of the dryer soothe the baby and he falls asleep.The father congratulates himself on discovering this solution,which he most definitely will employ the next time the baby cannot be consoled.The father's behaviour of implementing the "dryer trick" has thus been:

Accepted Answer

The father's behavior has been negatively reinforced because the aversive stimulus of the baby's crying was removed by the baby falling asleep, which strengthened the likelihood of the father repeating this behavior in the future when faced with a similar situation. Positive reinforcement would involve adding a pleasurable stimulus to increase the likelihood of repeating the behavior. Positive punishment would involve adding an aversive stimulus to decrease the likelihood of repeating the behavior. Negative punishment would involve removing a pleasurable stimulus to decrease the likelihood of repeating the behavior.

Question 4

Which item is a primary reinforcer?

Accepted Answer

Primary reinforcers are innate, biologically determined reinforcers that are naturally rewarding. Escaping the frigid cold is a basic need and a survival instinct, therefore it is a primary reinforcer. The other options are not primary reinforcers, as they are learned or conditioned reinforcers.

Question 5

After implementing a policy where students can earn extra recess time with their good behaviour,Miss Hobbes observes that her first-grade students have been better behaved.This illustrates which behavioural process?

Accepted Answer

Miss Hobbes has implemented positive reinforcement by rewarding the students' good behaviour with extra recess time. This has resulted in an increase in the desired behaviour (better behaviour from the students).

Question 6

Which statement about primary reinforcers is TRUE?

Accepted Answer

Primary reinforcers are inherently valuable and satisfy biological needs, such as food, water, and warmth, which are crucial for survival and thus are directly related to daily reinforcers and punishers. Statements A, C, and D describe secondary reinforcers, which acquire their value through association with primary reinforcers via classical conditioning, and do not directly satisfy biological needs.

Question 7

When 3-year-old Ariel threw a tantrum over the candy she wanted,her mother gave it to her so that Ariel would calm down.Although counterproductive in the long run,in that moment,the mother's behaviour was being _____ by _____.

Accepted Answer

The mother's behavior of giving candy to Ariel was negatively reinforced by the end of the tantrum, as the removal of the tantrum (an unpleasant stimulus) increased the likelihood of the mother giving in to tantrums in the future.

Question 8

A celebrity makes an insensitive tweet and,as a consequence,loses thousands of followers.As a result,he is less likely to make insensitive tweets in the future.This illustrates which behavioural process?

Accepted Answer

Negative punishment involves removing a desired stimulus in response to a behavior. In this case, the desired stimulus is the celebrity's followers and they are being removed as a consequence of the insensitive tweet. This is likely to decrease the likelihood of the celebrity making insensitive tweets in the future.

Question 9

The grid floor in an operant chamber is electrified.Each time a rat presses a lever,however,the shock is turned off for 1 minute.The rat quickly learns to press the lever the second that the grid becomes electrified.Lever pressing has been:

Accepted Answer

Negative reinforcement is when a behavior is strengthened by the removal or avoidance of an aversive stimulus. In this case, the rat's behavior of pressing the lever is reinforced by the removal of the electric shock for one minute.

Question 10

A university instructor implements the following attendance policy.All students are given 20 bonus points at the start of the semester.Each absence will result in the loss of 5 bonus points.The instructor hopes this policy will _____ absences.

Accepted Answer

The policy is an example of negative punishment because it involves removing something desirable (bonus points) to decrease the likelihood of a behavior (absences).

Question 11

Which item is a primary reinforcer?

Accepted Answer

Good food when you are hungry is a primary reinforcer because it fulfills a basic physiological need. The other options are secondary reinforcers as they are associated with other rewards or outcomes.

Question 12

A teenager swears at the dinner table,and as a result,her parents take away her cell phone for one week.The teenager is now much less likely to swear at the dinner table,illustrating:

Accepted Answer

Negative punishment involves the removal of a desirable stimulus to decrease a behavior. In this scenario, the teenager's cell phone (a desirable stimulus) was taken away after swearing at the dinner table, which decreased the likelihood of her swearing in the future.

Question 13

Every time a rat presses a lever,it receives a small injection of cocaine.That rat begins pressing the lever more and more,indicating that cocaine is a:

Accepted Answer

A positive reinforcer is anything that increases the likelihood of a behavior occurring again. In this scenario, the rat pressing the lever more and more indicates that the cocaine injection is reinforcing the behavior of pressing the lever. Therefore, cocaine is a positive reinforcer.

Question 14

One day,in the midst of his babbling,baby Chad uttered the sound "mama" in the presence of his mother.Chad's mother screamed in delight.This noise startled baby Chad;he stopped uttering that sound for quite some time,illustrating the effects of:

Accepted Answer

Chad's mother's scream, which startled him and led to him stopping the behavior of saying "mama," serves as an example of positive punishment. Positive punishment involves adding an unpleasant stimulus following a behavior, which decreases the likelihood of the behavior happening again.

Question 15

Frank flings a paper airplane through the air in history class.All of the students laugh.Their teacher,Mr.Curtis,becomes irate;his face turns beet red,and large veins bulge from his neck."Frank!" Mr.Curtis screams,"You are in big trouble now!" Frank really doesn't care about the trouble.The combination of the attention from the students and the emotional reaction from Mr.Curtis was plenty to ensure that Frank will keep misbehaving in class.Throwing the paper airplane,then,was:

Accepted Answer

Frank's behavior of throwing the paper airplane was positively reinforced because it was followed by a positive consequence, which was attention and amusement from the other students. This positive consequence caused Frank to repeat the behavior in the future. The negative reaction from Mr. Curtis, while it may have been intended as punishment, did not decrease Frank's behavior and may have even added to the reinforcing factor of the attention from the other students.

Question 16

A shy and timid child works up the courage to raise his hand to answer a question.The teacher calls on him and the child delivers an excellent answer.The teacher exclaims,"That is the best answer I have heard all week! Great job! Come up to the front of the room to get a sticker!" Unfortunately,the child found all of this attention unpleasant and no longer answers questions in class.His behaviour of answering questions was:

Accepted Answer

The child's behavior of answering questions was positively punished because the attention, which was unpleasant for him, decreased the likelihood of him answering questions in the future.

Question 17

What is one major flaw of punishment?

Accepted Answer

Punishment often fails to teach or reinforce the desired behaviour, focusing only on discouraging the undesired behaviour without providing guidance on what is expected.

Question 18

_____ reinforcers help satisfy biological needs.

Accepted Answer

Primary reinforcers directly satisfy biological needs such as food, water, and warmth. Secondary reinforcers, conditioned reinforcers, and immediate reinforcers do not directly fulfill basic biological needs.

Question 19

A parent spanked a child for misbehaving,and the misbehaviour stopped.By definition,the spanking served as a _____ for the misbehaviour.

Accepted Answer

A positive punisher is an event, like spanking, that decreases the probability of a behavior happening again. The misbehavior stopped because the child associated the spanking with the negative consequence of misbehavior, causing them to avoid the behavior to prevent further punishment. Therefore, the spanking served as a positive punisher.

Question 20

Booker has a really bad headache,so he takes a new painkiller.The drug works wonderfully to relieve his headache.The next time Booker has a headache,he definitely will take that drug.Booker's behaviour of taking the new drug has been:

Accepted Answer

The answer of Booker has a really bad headache,so he...

Quiz 7: Learning

When 3-year-old Ariel threw a tantrum over the candy she wanted,her mother gave it to her so that Ariel would calm down.Unfortunately,Ariel's temper tantrums probably have been:

When something desirable has been removed upon the occurrence of a behaviour,and as a result that behaviour is weakened,_____ has happened.

Which item is a primary reinforcer?

After implementing a policy where students can earn extra recess time with their good behaviour,Miss Hobbes observes that her first-grade students have been better behaved.This illustrates which behavioural process?

Which statement about primary reinforcers is TRUE?

When 3-year-old Ariel threw a tantrum over the candy she wanted,her mother gave it to her so that Ariel would calm down.Although counterproductive in the long run,in that moment,the mother's behaviour was being _ by _.

A celebrity makes an insensitive tweet and,as a consequence,loses thousands of followers.As a result,he is less likely to make insensitive tweets in the future.This illustrates which behavioural process?

The grid floor in an operant chamber is electrified.Each time a rat presses a lever,however,the shock is turned off for 1 minute.The rat quickly learns to press the lever the second that the grid becomes electrified.Lever pressing has been:

A university instructor implements the following attendance policy.All students are given 20 bonus points at the start of the semester.Each absence will result in the loss of 5 bonus points.The instructor hopes this policy will _____ absences.

Which item is a primary reinforcer?

A teenager swears at the dinner table,and as a result,her parents take away her cell phone for one week.The teenager is now much less likely to swear at the dinner table,illustrating:

Every time a rat presses a lever,it receives a small injection of cocaine.That rat begins pressing the lever more and more,indicating that cocaine is a:

One day,in the midst of his babbling,baby Chad uttered the sound "mama" in the presence of his mother.Chad's mother screamed in delight.This noise startled baby Chad;he stopped uttering that sound for quite some time,illustrating the effects of:

What is one major flaw of punishment?

_____ reinforcers help satisfy biological needs.

A parent spanked a child for misbehaving,and the misbehaviour stopped.By definition,the spanking served as a _____ for the misbehaviour.

Booker has a really bad headache,so he takes a new painkiller.The drug works wonderfully to relieve his headache.The next time Booker has a headache,he definitely will take that drug.Booker's behaviour of taking the new drug has been: