Tricia knows Dan, and occasionally talks to him on the phone or invites him to her house with other friends. While working on her senior thesis, she encounters a very hard statistical problem, and Adele tells her that Dan is an expert statistician. Tricia immediately invites him over for dinner. Tricia's change in behavior is most like the changes associated with
A) reinforcer devaluation.
B) incentive learning.
C) S-(R-O) learning.
D) instinctive drift.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Tricia's change in behavior is due to learning about Dan's expertise in statistics, which makes him more valuable or attractive as a resource for her thesis. This is an example of incentive learning, where the value or attractiveness of a stimulus (in this case, Dan's company) increases because it is associated with a specific reward (help with her thesis).

Tricia Knows Dan, and Occasionally Talks to Him on the Phone