Last year, Jacqueline had a psychology course and a physics course. She had more quizzes in the psychology courses and was earning better grades compared to the physics course. She devoted more than half of her study time to psychology last year. This year, she has another psychology course and another physics course. This time she has more quizzes in physics, and her grade is also better in physics. She still spends more than half of her time studying for psychology. According to the matching law, this distribution of effort can be accounted for by _____.
A) self-control
B) COD
C) bias
D) optimization

Question

Last year, Jacqueline had a psychology course and a physics course. She had more quizzes in the psychology courses and was earning better grades compared to the physics course. She devoted more than half of her study time to psychology last year. This year, she has another psychology course and another physics course.  This time she has more quizzes in physics, and her grade is also better in physics. She still spends more than half of her time studying for psychology. According to the matching law, this distribution of effort can be accounted for by _____.
A) self-control
B) COD
C) bias
D) optimization

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The matching law suggests that the distribution of behavior (in this case, study effort) across alternatives is proportional to the distribution of reinforcements (grades and quiz frequency) obtained from those alternatives. Jacqueline's disproportionate allocation of study time to psychology despite better grades and more quizzes in physics this year indicates a bias in her behavior, not necessarily aligned with the principles of optimization, self-control, or the cost of delay (COD).

Last Year, Jacqueline Had a Psychology Course and a Physics