Question 1

Which statement is TRUE?

Accepted Answer

Dopamine is primarily involved in the "wanting" or motivational aspect of reward, rather than the "liking" or pleasure aspect. When dopamine transmission is blocked, animals (including humans) show a reduced motivation to work for rewards, leading to a decrease in response rates for conditioned behaviors. This is because dopamine plays a crucial role in reinforcement learning and motivation, signaling the reward prediction error or the difference between expected and received rewards, which is essential for adjusting future behaviors.

Question 2

If one buys lottery tickets, one may win on average every 15 times one plays. This is an example of a _____ schedule of reinforcement.

Accepted Answer

This is an example of a variable-ratio schedule of reinforcement because the reinforcement (winning) is based on an unpredictable number of responses (buying lottery tickets). The number of times one must play to win varies, making it variable rather than fixed, and it is based on the ratio of responses to reinforcements, not the passage of time.

Question 3

In what way does operant conditioning differ from classical conditioning?

Accepted Answer

In classical conditioning, the association is between two stimuli, and the learner’s behavior does not affect the outcome. In operant conditioning, the learner’s behavior determines the outcome, as rewards or punishments are contingent on the behavior exhibited.

Question 4

Using an umbrella when it rains allows one to escape from getting wet. In this case, the stimulus is _____, the response is _____, and the outcome is _____.

Accepted Answer

The stimulus is the rain, which triggers the action or response of using an umbrella, leading to the outcome of staying dry.

Question 5

Darren is trying to get his young son to eat his peas. At first, Darren praises him whenever he moves his fork near the peas; after the child does this reliably, Darren praises him only if he actually puts a pea on his fork; then Darren's praise is only given when the child puts a pea on his fork and moves the fork toward his mouth. Darren carries on this way until the child eats his peas. Darren is using _____ to get his son to eat his peas.

Accepted Answer

Darren is using shaping, a technique in behavior modification where successive approximations of a desired behavior are reinforced. In this case, Darren starts by reinforcing behaviors that are close to the desired behavior (eating peas) and gradually requires more specific actions that more closely resemble the final goal.

Question 6

Malcolm's 2-year-old daughter throws a tantrum when she doesn't get what she wants. Malcolm has decided to ignore his daughter whenever she has a tantrum. This is an example of:

Accepted Answer

Ignoring a behavior to reduce its occurrence is an example of extinction. By not giving attention to the tantrums, Malcolm is using extinction to decrease the likelihood that the tantrums will continue.

Question 7

The process by which an organism learns to produce a specific response in order to avoid or obtain an outcome is:

Accepted Answer

Operant conditioning is the learning process by which behaviors are influenced by the consequences that follow them, leading to an increase or decrease in those behaviors. It involves learning to produce a specific response to obtain a desirable outcome or avoid an undesirable one.

Question 8

In which example would one MOST likely see a steady rate of responding without any noticeable pauses?

Accepted Answer

In option A, the charitable organization receives a donation for every 10 phone calls it makes on average, which is an example of a variable ratio schedule of reinforcement. This schedule tends to produce a high and steady rate of responding without the noticeable pauses that might occur with other schedules, such as fixed interval (B and C) or fixed ratio (D).

Question 9

The dorsal striatum seems to be especially important for learning:

Accepted Answer

The dorsal striatum is particularly important for learning stimulus-response (S-R) associations, which are critical for habits and procedural learning.

Question 10

If a little boy can hear his mother moving around in the kitchen downstairs in the morning, he can be fairly certain that it is time to get up and have his breakfast. The discriminative stimulus in this example is the:

Accepted Answer

The discriminative stimulus is the sounds of his mother moving around, as it signals to the little boy that it is time to get up and have breakfast.

Question 11

According to the Premack principle, if a teenager would rather go shopping than clean her room:

Accepted Answer

The Premack Principle suggests that more probable behaviors (those an individual is more likely to do) can be used as rewards for less probable behaviors (those an individual is less likely to do). In this case, since the teenager prefers going shopping over cleaning her room, allowing her to go shopping after she cleans her room uses the more preferred activity as a reward for completing the less preferred activity.

Question 12

What is the main difference between classical and operant conditioning?

Accepted Answer

In operant conditioning, the individual's behavior is modified by its consequences (rewards or punishments), meaning the outcome (such as receiving a reward) depends on the individual's response (such as pressing a lever). In classical conditioning, an automatic response is triggered by a stimulus without the need for the individual to perform any specific behavior, so the outcome (such as salivation in response to food) occurs regardless of any specific response by the individual.

Question 13

According to the law of effect, Thorndike's cats learned to escape the puzzle box because they:

Accepted Answer

Thorndike's law of effect states that behaviors followed by satisfying consequences tend to be repeated, while those that produce unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated. In his experiments with cats in puzzle boxes, the cats learned to escape by trial and error, eventually discovering the correct sequence of responses that led to the desirable outcome of escaping and receiving food. This learning process is based on the consequences of their actions rather than instinct, understanding, or observation of others.

Question 14

Which is an example of a primary reinforcer?

Accepted Answer

Food is considered a primary reinforcer because it satisfies a basic biological need. Primary reinforcers are inherently valuable and do not require learning to be seen as valuable, unlike secondary reinforcers such as money, praises, and grades, which acquire their value through learning and association with primary reinforcers.

Question 15

According to the law of effect, which circumstance would lead to a weakening of the association between stimulus and response?

Accepted Answer

The law of effect, proposed by Edward Thorndike, suggests that behaviors followed by pleasant consequences are likely to be repeated, while those followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated. Grounding a teenager for staying out too late (B) is an example of an unpleasant consequence following a behavior, which according to the law of effect, would lead to a weakening of the association between the stimulus (staying out late) and the response (the behavior of going out). Choices A, C, and D involve providing a reward after a behavior, which would strengthen the association between the stimulus and response, not weaken it.

Question 16

Six-year-old Timmy was misbehaving in class one morning. Which punishment is likely to be the MOST effective in preventing Timmy from misbehaving again?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Six-year-old Timmy was misbehaving in class one...

Question 17

The major difference between an individual who uses cocaine weekly and tried to stop and can't and an individual that skydives weekly and can't stop is that:

Accepted Answer

The major difference lies in the nature of their addictions: the individual using cocaine is experiencing a pathological addiction, which involves a physical dependency on a substance, while the individual who skydives is experiencing a behavioral addiction, which is characterized by the compulsive repetition of an action without a chemical dependency.

Question 18

Swatting a dog with a newspaper would be _____ of the behavior of chewing up one's favorite socks.

Accepted Answer

Swatting a dog with a newspaper for chewing up socks is an example of positive punishment. This is because it involves adding an unpleasant stimulus (the swat) in response to an undesirable behavior (chewing socks) to decrease the likelihood of the behavior occurring again.

Question 19

In the case of Thorndike's cats learning to escape from a puzzle box, the stimulus (S) was _____ and the response (R) was _____.

Accepted Answer

The stimulus (S) was the box itself, which presented a situation that the cats needed to respond to, and the response (R) was their movements that opened the door, allowing them to escape.

Question 20

If it rains, opening the umbrella keeps one from getting wet. Escaping from getting wet would be _____ of the behavior of opening the umbrella.

Accepted Answer

Negative reinforcement involves the removal of an unpleasant stimulus (in this case, getting wet) to increase the likelihood of a behavior (opening the umbrella).

Quiz 5: Operant Conditioning: Learning the Outcome of Behaviors