At an inpatient psychiatric hospital, patients are encouraged to engage in certain behaviors through reinforcement. Each time a patient engages in a desired behavior, they are given a secondary reinforcer, which can be exchanged for more attractive rewards. This scenario illustrates which of the following?

Question

At an inpatient psychiatric hospital, patients are encouraged to engage in certain behaviors through reinforcement.  Each time a patient engages in a desired behavior, they are given a secondary reinforcer, which can be exchanged for more attractive rewards.  This scenario illustrates which of the following?

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

11ecba2d_0d85_09ed_a3bf_a976969ec32e_MD0008_00 Operant conditioning occurs when the likelihood of an individual repeating a behavior is influenced by the outcome of that behavior (ie, reinforcement or punishment). Positive reinforcement increases/maintains behavior through the application of a desirable stimulus (ie, reinforcer). Primary reinforcers are naturally rewarding (eg, candy), whereas secondary reinforcers are conditioned to be desirable (eg, money). A token economy positively reinforces certain behaviors through the use of tokens, which are secondary reinforcers that can be exchanged for a desirable reward. For example, a teacher gives each child a gold star (ie, token) for completing homework, and 5 gold stars can be exchanged for candy. The encouragement of certain behaviors through the use of secondary reinforcers (that can be exchanged for rewards) illustrates a token economy. (Choice A) Modeling describes when an individual learns how to perform a behavior by watching someone else (eg, toddler combs hair after watching father comb hair). The scenario does not describe observation/modeling of certain behaviors. (Choice B) Classical conditioning occurs when a stimulus that did not previously elicit a meaningful response (ie, neutral stimulus) takes on the properties of a biologically arousing stimulus (ie, unconditioned stimulus) after being paired (eg, infant fears a white rat after it is paired with a loud noise). The scenario does not describe a neutral stimulus taking on the properties of an unconditioned stimulus. (Choice D) In classical conditioning, stimulus generalization occurs when a conditioned response is elicited by stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimulus (eg, infant who is conditioned to fear white rats also fears white cats). The scenario does not describe the generalization of a learned response. Educational objective: Primary reinforcers are naturally rewarding (eg, food), whereas secondary reinforcers are conditioned to be desirable (eg, money). A token economy uses tokens (eg, gold stars) as secondary reinforcers to encourage certain desired behaviors. Tokens can be exchanged for something the individual wants (eg, candy).

At an Inpatient Psychiatric Hospital, Patients Are Encouraged to Engage