Question 1

Skinner assumed that stimulus control

Accepted Answer

Skinner's concept of stimulus control is centered around the idea that a signal (stimulus) sets the occasion for a response to be reinforced, rather than eliciting the response directly. This is fundamental to operant conditioning, where behaviors are influenced by the consequences that follow them.

Question 2

In an operant conditioning procedure, which variable below has the least control over the nature of the operant that is produced?

Accepted Answer

The answer of In an operant conditioning procedure, which variable...

Question 3

A subject learns that when the ceiling light is flashing, lever pressing is rewarded, but when the chamber is dimly but continuously illuminated, lever pressing is not rewarded. Here, the flashing light is the

Accepted Answer

The flashing light is the S^D (discriminative stimulus) because it signals that lever pressing will be rewarded.

Question 4

A subject learns that when the ceiling light is flashing, lever pressing is rewarded, but when the chamber is dimly but continuously illuminated, lever pressing is not rewarded. Here, the dim, continuously illuminated ceiling light is the

Accepted Answer

The answer of A subject learns that when the ceiling...

Question 5

In learning terms, rewards like gold stars and trophies are characterized as

Accepted Answer

Conditioned reinforcers, also known as secondary reinforcers, are stimuli that have become reinforcing by being associated with another reinforcer. Gold stars and trophies are examples of conditioned reinforcers because they are valued due to their association with praise, achievement, or a sense of accomplishment, rather than fulfilling a basic biological need.

Question 6

In learning terms, events like food, oxygen, water, and sex are characterized as

Accepted Answer

Primary reinforcers are innately satisfying or desirable and do not require any learning process to make them rewarding. Food, oxygen, water, and sex are examples of primary reinforcers because they satisfy basic survival needs.

Question 7

Reinforcers that have intrinsic value are called _______, whereas reinforcers that have to acquire value are called _______.

Accepted Answer

Primary reinforcers have intrinsic value, such as food or water, which do not need to be learned. Secondary reinforcers acquire their value through learning, such as money or tokens.

Question 8

Which statement about reinforcers is false?

Accepted Answer

Most human behavior is not directly reinforced by primary reinforcers (such as food, water, or physical comfort), but rather by conditioned or secondary reinforcers (such as money, grades, or social approval). Primary reinforcers are more directly linked to survival, while conditioned reinforcers gain their value through association with primary reinforcers or other conditioned reinforcers.

Question 9

In order to get a reward, a rat must first walk across a seesaw to get a rope, pull on a rope to ring a bell which accompanies the opening of a tunnel, walk through the tunnel, and finally climb over a wall to obtain food on the other side. In this scenario, walking through the tunnel serves as the _______ for ringing the bell, and it serves as the _______ for climbing over the wall.

Accepted Answer

Walking through the tunnel is a conditioned reinforcer for ringing the bell because it is a learned behavior that leads to a reward. It is also a conditioned reinforcer for climbing over the wall, as it is part of the chain of behaviors leading to the ultimate reward (food), but not the primary reward itself.

Question 10

Which scenario illustrates a schedule of reinforcement?

Accepted Answer

A schedule of reinforcement refers to the rule or plan for determining which responses will be reinforced. In option D, the reinforcement is contingent upon the subject's behavior, with a specific outcome being delivered 75% of the time the behavior occurs, illustrating a variable ratio schedule of reinforcement.

Question 11

Researchers use a cumulative recorder to

Accepted Answer

A cumulative recorder is a device used in behavioral research to graphically record the rate at which a subject performs a behavior over time, making it particularly useful for measuring the effects of different schedules of reinforcement on the rate of responding.

Question 12

A pigeon pecks a red key and is reinforced after pecking either 5 times, 10 times, 15 times, 25 times, 30 times, or 40 times, with these behavior requirements arranged in random order. This is an a(n) _______ schedule.

Accepted Answer

This is a Variable Ratio (VR) schedule because the number of responses required for reinforcement varies around an average, with the specific number of responses (5, 10, 15, etc.) being unpredictable.

Question 13

Getting an A on a test is an outcome of a _____ schedule.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Getting an A on a test is...

Question 14

A local health food store has a 30% off sale on the first Monday of each month. Customers who do not purchase their vitamins and nutritional supplements at the monthly sale must wait to make their purchases until the following month. Buying supplements at a discount is on a _______ schedule.

Accepted Answer

The sale occurs at a predictable, set interval (the first Monday of each month), which is characteristic of a fixed interval schedule.

Question 15

A gourmet cook likes wild mushrooms and has identified six places on his property where they grow during mushroom season. Once the mushrooms have been picked, new mushrooms will eventually appear, depending on the weather. Thus, he checks his patches daily. His patch-checking behavior is on a _______ schedule.

Accepted Answer

The gourmet cook checks his mushroom patches on a variable interval schedule because the appearance of new mushrooms depends on the unpredictable factor of weather, making the intervals at which the mushrooms appear variable and not fixed.

Question 16

In a study of various medical labs in a certain city, researchers find that some labs have higher error rates than others for reading slides from a variety of medical tests. The researchers find that labs with the highest error rates pay slide readers a flat fee per slide, rather than by the hour. To reduce the high error rates, the labs should be advised to pay slide readers according to a _______ schedule rather than a _______ schedule.

Accepted Answer

The labs should be advised to pay slide readers according to a Fixed Interval (FI) schedule rather than a Fixed Ratio (FR) schedule. In a Fixed Interval schedule, payments are made after a set amount of time, potentially encouraging thoroughness over speed. In contrast, a Fixed Ratio schedule, like paying per slide, incentivizes quantity over quality, possibly leading to higher error rates.

Question 17

Hawks are not successful every time they hunt; in fact, many do not survive beyond their first year of life because they do not develop sufficient hunting skills. Because hawks are never certain when they will catch something to eat, they hunt continuously to increase the chance that they will capture prey. The high rate of hunting in hawks is the product of a _______ schedule.

Accepted Answer

The high rate of hunting in hawks is best described by a variable ratio schedule, where reinforcements (in this case, catching prey) are given after an unpredictable number of responses (hunting attempts). This leads to a high and steady response rate, as the hawks continue to hunt frequently without knowing when they will successfully catch their next meal.

Question 18

A postreinforcement pause is most likely seen in a subject trained according to a _______ schedule.

Accepted Answer

A postreinforcement pause is typically observed in fixed ratio schedules, where the subject pauses after receiving reinforcement before starting the next set of responses.

Question 19

A scalloping pattern of responding is most likely seen in a subject trained according to a _______ schedule.

Accepted Answer

A scalloping pattern of responding typically occurs with a fixed interval schedule. This pattern is characterized by a period of no responses immediately following reinforcement, followed by a gradual increase in the rate of response as the time for the next reinforcement approaches.

Question 20

Scalloping is said to occur in situations in which

Accepted Answer

Scalloping occurs in fixed interval schedules where the passage of time becomes a discriminative stimulus (S^D) for responding, leading to a pattern of slow responding after reinforcement and increasing response rate as the interval progresses.

Quiz 7: Behavior and Its Consequences