Chapter 4

Three of the following are examples of operant conditioning. Which one is not?

Carol's room has been a disaster area for more than a month, with toys and clothes lying about everywhere. Carol's mother has told Carol that, once the room has been cleaned, they will spend a day at the zoo. There is no noticeable improvement in Carol's housekeeping habits.

Which of the following is the best example of intrinsic reinforcement ?

feeling good about your own generosity toward a less fortunate classmate

Alex loses his best friend Tyler when he tattles on Tyler at recess. Alex learns that tattling on friends is not a good idea. The loss of Tyler's friendship is an example of:

punishment II

DeeDee is upset that she has been taken off the basketball team because of a failing grade in her history class. The consequence of DeeDee's failure in history is an example of:

punishment II

Which one of the following is an negative reinforcement?

when Lucus complains about a classmate who is picking on him, his teacher allows him to come in form recess bitterly cold days

You are working with Jerome, a student in your classroom for whom the only effective reinforcer is something to eat, such as candy or raisins. You would like Jerome to find your praise reinforcing as well. From an operant conditioning perspective, your best strategy would be which one of the following?

whenever you give Jerome something to eat, give him praise as well

Mr. Loosigian is worried about Jerri, a girl who is struggling in his seventh grade class. He thinks about several different reasons why she might be having so much difficulty with her schoolwork. Which one of the possible reasons that he considers is consistent with a behaviorist perspective of learning?

"Maybe I don't praise her enough when she does something well."

Which one of the following alternatives best describes instrumental conditioning?

Learning to behave in ways that either bring pleasure or reduce the likelihood of aversive events

Bill's behaviors in Ms. Kennedy's class are really distracting to other students. For example, he whispers to the boy beside him when Ms. Kennedy is giving directions on how to do any assignment. He flings paper clips at a girl across the room. He makes strange grunting noises that a few classmates find amusing. Ms. Kennedy glares at him or admonishes him whenever he behaves in a distracting way, yet his inappropriate behaviors are increasing rather than decreasing. Which one of the following interpretations of this situation best explains why Bill's behaviors are increasing?

Ms. Kennedy is positively reinforcing him for the distracting behaviors

Which one of the following statements best describes research findings regarding the effectiveness of verbally reprimanding (e.g., scolding) children?

Reprimands are more effective when they're brief and unemotional.

Six-year-old Jack has recently learned to appreciate the value of money, so his father assigns him some simple housekeeping chores to be performed throughout the week. He tells Jack that completion of these chores will earn him an allowance of one dollar every Saturday. Jack rarely completes his chores. From an operant conditioning perspective, which one of the following is most likely to be the reason why Jack is not doing his chores?

There is a delay in reinforcement

A child who was once spanked for running into a busy street no longer runs into the street. This can best be explained by which one of the following?

Thorndike's original law of effect

Which one of the following is a primary reinforcer?

a cookie

Thorndike's observations of a cat trying to escape from a puzzle box led him to conclude that learning is:

a gradual process that occurs through trial and error

Which one of the following is the best example of punishment as behaviorists define it?

after Nora spends a few minutes in the time-out room for hurting a classmate's feelings, she is more careful no to hurt her peers' feelings in the future

One effective educational practice is to chart students' progress over time so that students can see their improvement. These progress charts often lead to higher student achievement in the absence of other observable forms of reinforcement. The effectiveness of such charts in changing behavior illustrates the importance of reinforcement:

as a feedback mechanism

In the middle of a difficult exam, Robert tells his teacher that his stomach hurts, and the teacher immediately sends him to the school nurse. On several later occasions when he has a difficult test or assignment, Robert again tells his teacher that he doesn't feel well. Robert's frequent trips to the nurse have:

been negatively reinforced

Which one of the following is the best example of the premack principle in action?

being allowed to play basketball at a friend's house after you finish your homework

Which one of the following is the best example of a social reinforcer?

being told that you did a good job

Classical conditioning and operant conditioning are two learning paradigms within the behaviorist tradition. A major difference between these two paradigms is that:

classically conditioned responses are elicited by specific stimuli, whereas responses learned through operant conditioning are voluntarily

In comparison with his original law of effect, Thorndike's revised law of effect.

de-emphasized the role of punishment

Punishment received little attention in the psychological research literature prior to the 1960s, primarily due to the fact that:

early behaviorists believed that punishment is ineffective in reducing behavior

Good grades are reinforcing to some children but not to others. Someone explaining this fact from an early operant conditioning perspective would say that good grades are most likely to be reinforcers to children who:

have previously associated those grades with primary

Thorndike's original law of effect described the ways in which the learning of a response:

is affected by the consequences of that response

David's mother insists that he he vacuum the living room carpet. But when she sees how haphazardly he vacuums (he misses two-thirds of the carpet), she tells him, "Never mind, I'll do it!" David's escape of household chores is:

negative reinforcement

Peter does his homework immediately after he gets home from school so he won't have to worry about it any more. The consequence of Peter's doing his homework can best be categorized as:

negative reinforcement

Which one of the following accurately describes the difference between negative reinforcement and punishment?

negative reinforcement always decreases the frequency of behavior, whereas punishment often increases it.

When Mr. Thompson yells at his students, they all pay attention to him. Mr. Thompson is receiving ________ for his yelling behavior.

positive reinforcement

Feedback about one's performance is most likely to be effective when it:

provides information about how to improve

Linda wears bell-bottom pants to school, and her classmates tease her about them. As soon as she gets home, Linda throws the pants in the trash. Linda's being teased is an example of:

punishment I

Stanley pokes his pencil point in Sharon's arm. The teacher gives him a stern look, and Stanley quickly puts his pencil back in his desk. The teacher's stern look is an example of:

punishment I

Tammy is scolded for submitting a messy math homework paper, so she tries to do her math problems more neatly after that. The scolding Tammy received is an example of:

punishment I

In Mr. Marshall's classroom, students who acquire 10 points in one day can have 20 minutes of free time at the end of the day. Mr. Marshall awards points to his students for good behavior and deducts points if they misbehave. The deduction of points for misbehavior is known as:

response cost

Mr. Smart tells his students that they can do whatever they want for the first ten minutes of class but must then turn their attention to the day's assignment. The students are delighted with their ten minutes of free time but they don't attend to the assignment when it's time to do so. From an operant conditioning perspective, what mistake has Mr. Smart made?

the "reinforcer" is presented before the response

Many operant conditioning theorists use the term reinforcement rather than "reward" because:

the term "reward" implies a consequence that most people would judge to be desirable.

When Judy becomes verbally aggressive toward her peers, she is placed in a quiet and boring room for five minutes. The procedure being used here is most commonly known as:

time-out