Question 1

Response cost punishment involves which of the following?

Accepted Answer

Response cost punishment involves taking away something positive in order to weaken a behavior, which is a method used to decrease the likelihood of a negative behavior occurring again.

Question 2

Which of the following illustrates aversive (positive)punishment?

Accepted Answer

Aversive (positive) punishment involves adding an undesirable stimulus to decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring again in the future. In this scenario, the owner scolds his dog (an undesirable stimulus) in order to decrease the likelihood of the dog chewing up more socks in the future.

Question 3

Operant extinction,aversive punishment,and response cost punishment are similar in that they all:

Accepted Answer

Operant extinction, aversive punishment, and response cost punishment are all forms of punishment, which means they are designed to weaken or decrease a behaviour. Operant extinction involves withholding the reinforcer that was previously maintaining the behaviour, aversive punishment involves introducing an aversive stimulus after the behaviour occurs, and response cost involves removing a reinforcer after the behaviour occurs. None of these manipulations involve strengthening the behaviour or the manipulation of positive or negative reinforcers.

Question 4

One similarity between punishment and operant extinction is that both:

Accepted Answer

Both punishment and operant extinction are used to decrease or reduce the occurrence of a behavior. Punishment involves the presentation of an aversive consequence, while operant extinction involves the withdrawal of a reinforcing consequence. However, both are used to discourage the behavior from being repeated in the future.

Question 5

When you tell your dog,"Sit," and she does,you almost always give her a small treat.In this example,which of the following would be considered a discriminative stimulus? The:

Accepted Answer

The command "sit" is the discriminative stimulus because it is the signal that the dog has learned to respond to in order to receive the reward. The behavior of sitting and the small treat are both consequences of the dog's response to the discriminative stimulus. The association between sitting and the small treat is a learned behavior, not a stimulus.

Question 6

One of the disadvantages of ______________ is that it often arouses negative emotions such as fear and anger and can inspire the dislike or avoidance of the person administering it.

Accepted Answer

Aversive punishment is a type of punishment that involves the presentation of an unpleasant stimulus, such as an electric shock, in order to decrease the frequency of a behavior. It is often associated with negative emotions such as fear and anger, and can result in the person administering it being disliked or avoided. Negative reinforcement, higher-order conditioning, and secondary reinforcement do not necessarily involve unpleasant stimuli and are not inherently associated with negative emotions.

Question 7

One way that operant extinction and response cost punishment are similar is that they both involve:

Accepted Answer

Operant extinction and response cost punishment both involve the cessation or removal of something as a consequence for a behavior. In operant extinction, behavior that was previously reinforced is no longer reinforced, resulting in a decrease in that behavior. In response cost punishment, something valued by the individual (e.g. money, privileges) is taken away as a consequence for a behavior, resulting in a decrease in that behavior.

Question 8

When a response increases in frequency by the subsequent removal (or avoidance)of a stimulus,it is called:

Accepted Answer

This is an example of negative reinforcement because the removal of a stimulus (or avoidance of it) is increasing the frequency of a response.

Question 9

Generally,reinforcement that immediately follows a behaviour has _____________________________________ when reinforcement is delayed following a behaviour.

Accepted Answer

Reinforcement that immediately follows a behavior typically has a stronger effect on encouraging the desired behavior than reinforcement that is delayed. Immediate reinforcement is more closely associated with the behavior, making it easier for the individual to connect the behavior with the reward.

Question 10

In negative reinforcement,when an aversive stimulus is ___________,it makes the behaviour that it follows ________ likely to occur.

Accepted Answer

Negative reinforcement involves the removal of an aversive stimulus following a behavior, which increases the likelihood of that behavior occurring again in the future.

Question 11

Mark just broke up with Deborah.He used to see Deborah every day at 11:30 between classes but he decides to take an alternative route so that he won't have to feel bad when he sees her.Having successfully avoided the negative feelings from seeing Deborah,he now takes the alternate route everyday.This is an example of:

Accepted Answer

Mark's behavior of taking the alternative route is being reinforced by the removal of the negative feeling he would experience by seeing Deborah. This is an example of negative reinforcement, which strengthens a behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus. Response cost punishment involves the removal of a previously earned reward as a consequence of a behavior. Positive reinforcement involves adding a pleasant stimulus to strengthen a behavior. Positive punishment involves adding an unpleasant stimulus to weaken a behavior.

Question 12

Todd yells at his brother and takes his toy away.Todd's mom sees his behaviour and gives Todd a scolding.This is an example of:

Accepted Answer

Aversive punishment involves adding an unpleasant stimulus to decrease a behavior, which in this case is the scolding Todd receives for taking his brother's toy.

Question 13

When a response is strengthened by the subsequent presentation of a stimulus,this is called _________.

Accepted Answer

Positive reinforcement is when a behavior is strengthened by the presentation of a stimulus or reward after the response. This is in contrast to negative reinforcement, which involves the removal of an aversive stimulus to strengthen a behavior. Positive punishment involves the presentation of an aversive stimulus to decrease a behavior, and aversive punishment involves the removal of a positive stimulus to decrease a behavior.

Question 14

To assist Janice to stop smoking,she has made a contract with her closest friends.If anyone catches Janice smoking,she must pay that person $5.00 on the spot.This is an example of:

Accepted Answer

Response cost punishment is a type of operant conditioning in which the individual is required to pay a specific cost (usually money) for engaging in a specific behavior (i.e. smoking). In this case, Janice has made a contract with her friends which requires her to pay $5.00 each time she smokes. This type of punishment can be effective in reducing the frequency of the behavior because it requires an immediate and tangible consequence.

Question 15

While walking through the mall,a young boy sees a new pair of shoes and immediately tells his grandmother that he would like to have them.The grandma initially refuses,prompting the boy to get upset and he starts to cry.The grandma hates to see her grandson get upset,so she changes her mind and buys him the shoes.In this example,we could say that the grandma's initial refusal was _____________ and the boy's mini-tantrum was ____________.

Accepted Answer

The grandma's initial refusal can be considered aversively punishing because it was a negative consequence intended to decrease the likelihood of the boy asking for things in the future. The boy's mini-tantrum can be considered positively reinforced because it led to the desired outcome of getting the shoes. The grandma's decision to buy him the shoes after the tantrum positively reinforced the behavior of crying in order to get what he wants.

Question 16

A teenager refrains from using profanity when she is around her parents,who ground her when she swears,but when her parents aren't around,she often uses "bad language." This example demonstrates a limitation of ___________ because the suppression of the undesired behaviour ____________ to other relevant situations.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A teenager refrains from using profanity when...

Question 17

The process in which a response decreases the frequency of a behaviour by the subsequent removal of a stimulus is called:

Accepted Answer

This is because response cost punishment involves the removal of a stimulus (usually a token or points) that is already in possession of the individual, in order to decrease the frequency of a behavior. Negative reinforcement involves the removal of an aversive stimulus to increase a behavior, while aversive punishment involves the presentation of an aversive stimulus to decrease a behavior. Contingency punishment involves the removal of a previously available rewarding stimulus following the occurrence of a undesired behavior.

Question 18

Tran volunteered to help her grandmother clean her house and do some yard work.Because of her assistance,Tran was given $20.She then volunteered to come again the following week.This is an example of:

Accepted Answer

Positive reinforcement is the addition of a desirable consequence or reward after a behavior that increases the likelihood of that behavior being repeated in the future. In this scenario, Tran received $20 for volunteering to help her grandmother, which is a desirable consequence or reward that likely increased the likelihood of Tran volunteering again in the future.

Question 19

Aversive punishment refers to the process in which a behaviour is ___________ by the subsequent ___________ of a consequence.

Accepted Answer

Aversive punishment is meant to weaken a behavior through the presentation of an unpleasant consequence. This consequence is delivered as a consequence of the behavior, and is intended to discourage that behavior from being repeated. Choice C is the correct answer because it correctly matches this definition. None of the other options accurately describe the process of aversive punishment.

Question 20

Last week,Jessica threw a temper tantrum in the middle of the grocery store because her mother had said she could not have a candy bar.After 5 minutes of screaming and crying,Jessica got a candy bar.Now Jessica is throwing another temper tantrum in the grocery store because she was told that she could not have an ice cream cone.The frequency of Jessica's behaviour has been influenced by:

Accepted Answer

Jessica's behavior of throwing temper tantrums has been reinforced by her getting what she wants (candy) as a result of the behavior. This type of reinforcement is known as positive reinforcement, where a behavior is strengthened by the addition of a desired stimulus.

Quiz 7: Learning and Adaptation: the Role of Experience