Concept exercises

Elvira had frequently used a basement sink in her house, but she had shut the water off because the pipes began leaking. She sometimes found herself turning the taps at the sink, but to no avail because the water was shut off. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is not an example of DRO, DRI, or extinction, because there is no mention of a decline in the level of the target behavior. The correct answer is: None of the above

Fenwick receives a large allowance from his mother at the beginning of every month. He sometimes tries to collect his allowance early but without any success. The allowance is a reinforcer for Fenwick's behavior. The target behavior is trying to collect the allowance. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This illustration is an example of a fixed-interval schedule of reinforcement. It is an interval schedule of reinforcement, because the target behavior is reinforced only after an interval of time elapses. It is a fixed-interval of reinforcement, because the amount of time that has to pass before a response is reinforced is fixed at 1 month. You could also say, correctly, that this example is a variable-interval schedule because the number of days in a month varies.

Sharon was learning a list of 100 words. Each word was presented to her in order on a slide screen after she had attempted to name that word. This procedure continued until she named 100 successive words correctly. Select one: a. Serial anticipation learning b. Paired-associates learning c. Free recall d. Verbal discrimination e. Verbal recognition

Analysis: This illustration is an example of serial anticipation learning, because Sharon learned a list of verbal items by saying the name of the next item on the list after being presented with the previous item.

Preschool children enrolled in a Head-Start program participated in an experiment. During their instruction, the teacher showed the children three objects of different sizes. The children's task was to indicate whether or not the item presented was medium-sized. The teacher used several different sets of objects positioned in different places. When the teacher showed novel sets of objects to the students, the children were able to identify the medium-sized objects. Select one: a. Conceptual discrimination b. Overgeneralization c. Undergeneralization d. Not conceptual discrimination

Analysis: This item is an example of conceptual discrimination because on the post-test the students could discriminate the critical features of medium-sized. The critical feature of medium-sized is that an object be intermediate in size relative to two comparison objects. Variable features of medium-sized include the shapes, colours, weights, and type of the objects.

Samantha initially learned to say the word "horse" when presented with a picture of a horse, and was reinforced for doing so. This reinforcement increased the likelihood that she would say "horse" in the presence of the horse picture, but it also increased the frequency with which she said "hor" when shown a picture, even though she was not reinforced for this response. Select one: a. Response generalization b. Not response generalization

Analysis: This item is an example of response generalization. The effect of reinforcement for the response "horse" spread to "hor" despite its noninclusion in the reinforced response class.

Sally was a 28-year-old woman who had Prader-Willi syndrome, a condition in which the person is cognitively disabled, short, and very obese. She was 4 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 253 pounds. Like many people with this syndrome, Sally often stole food. Sally was secretly observed in rooms where food was in view. Although she was told not to steal any of this food, she did so, sometimes as often as twice a minute. A procedure was then implemented: Sally would receive praise and tokens for every 30 seconds that elapsed without stealing food. Tokens could be traded in for low-calorie drinks and food as well as for magazines and cosmetics. This procedure caused a rapid decline in food stealing. Later, this method, combined with other techniques, helped Sally to lose 81 pounds. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRO, because a stimulus change depended on the absence of stealing food, and this change caused food stealing to decline. Source: Page, Stanley, Richman, Deal, & Iwata (1983) The correct answer is: DRO

Three 7-year-old boys often disrupted their classroom through off-task verbal and physical responses, failure to pay attention, and out-of-seat behavior. A procedure was implemented in which, for every 5 minutes that passed that a student didn't engage in any disruptive behaviors, that student would receive a small treat. As a result, the frequency of disruptive behaviors declined for all three students. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRO, because a stimulus change depended on the nonoccurrence of the target behaviors, and this change caused the target behaviors to diminish. Source: Repp, Barton, & Brulle (1983) The correct answer is: DRO

Bob, 14, was a developmentally delayed boy who lived at a state institution. Since the age of 5, he had often behaved aggressively, hitting, scratching, kicking, and biting. He often bruised and drew blood from his victims. In the past, Bob had been aggressive in situations in which he was required to follow instructions. When he behaved aggressively, he was put in a situation in which no one required anything of him. To try to solve Bob's problem with aggression, the experimenter belted him into a chair and required him to stay there for an hour, no matter how much aggression he displayed when demands were made of him. As a result, within four, 1-hour sessions, his aggression dropped to low levels. His new aggression level was eventually maintained even when his seat-belt was removed. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of extinction, because the stimulus change (a change from a high-demand to a low-demand situation) that had depended on the target behavior in the past was withheld, and the procedure caused the level of the target behavior to diminish. Note that being placed in the seat-belt did not depend on Bob's aggression. Source: Carr, Newsom, & Binkoff (1980) The correct answer is: Extinction

Elaine lived in a neighbourhood that had a lot of crime, and because the side door of her house could not be viewed from the street, it was inviting to thieves. Elaine had frequently used the side door before she had it nailed shut to prevent burglary. Without thinking, she sometimes found herself trying to use the door, but her twists and tugs at the knob were to no avail. Eventually she stopped trying to open the door. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of extinction, because the stimulus change (i.e., door available to door unavailable) that had previously depended on the target behavior was withheld resulting in a decline in the level of the target behavior. As illustrated in this example, the physical environment can often program extinction to behavior. We sometimes try to operate machines that are broken, drink liquids from empty glasses, and reach for objects that have been moved. All of these examples illustrate behavior that is undergoing extinction. The correct answer is: Extinction

Wayne was an 8-year-old in a special preschool for developmentally delayed and disturbed children. During an initial, 4-day period, Wayne's teacher paid attention and responded when he initiated speech towards her. Then, for about 2 weeks, the teacher ignored all of the talk Wayne directed at her. The teacher alternated such periods of attending and ignoring, and Wayne spoke to the teacher less when she ignored him than when she paid attention to him. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of extinction, because when the teacher withheld attention for the target behavior, it occurred less often. Source: Sajwaj, Twardosz, & Burke (1972) The correct answer is: Extinction

Shortly after her admission to a school for the developmentally delayed, Leslie began vomiting in class every day. This behavior soiled her dress, and she was sent to her dormitory residence hall after each vomiting incident. As a result of her vomiting, Leslie missed 2 months of school. However, after that time a new teacher volunteered to work with her and tried a new technique. Whenever Leslie vomited she was required to completely clean up her mess. This procedure remained in force even though Laura vomited as many as 21 times per day. As a result, Leslie's vomiting declined in frequency over time and by the end of 30 class days she no longer vomited. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is not an example of DRO, DRI, or extinction. It is not DRO or DRI, because there was no reinforcement of the absence of the target behavior or of incompatible behavior. This case is not extinction, because the vomiting response produced a stimulus change from no required cleaning to required cleaning. In extinction, the target behavior produces no stimulus change. This account is an example of punishment. The correct answer is: None of the above

Anna was a patient in a mental hospital who engaged in much delusional talk about her trip to another planet in an alien spaceship and the unfriendly aliens who were trying to kidnap her. Staff established a program whereby those responsible for Anna ignored her psychotic talk. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is not an example of DRO, DRI, or extinction. It is not DRO or DRI, because there was no reinforcement of the absence of the target behavior or reinforcement of behavior incompatible with the target behavior. It is not extinction, because there is no indication of a decline in the level of the target behavior. The correct answer is: None of the above

Lindsey was a 2-year-old child who would whine and howl at bedtime if his parents left him alone in bed before he fell asleep. As a result, his parents spent much of their evenings sitting up with Lindsey, waiting for him to fall asleep. The parents used a procedure in which they turned off Lindsey's night light if he whined and howled in his bed. If the whining and howling continued, the parents would then take away his teddy bear. As a result, Lindsey's whining and howling ceased after the first night. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is not an example of DRO, DRI, or extinction. It is not DRO, because the absence of the target behavior was not reinforced; it is not DRI, because there was no reinforcement of behavior incompatible with the target behavior. It is not extinction, because stimulus changes from light to no light and teddy bear to no teddy bear depended on the target behavior. In extinction, stimulus changes do not depend on the target behavior. The correct answer is: None of the above

Marvin was a 15-year-old boy. For many years he had engaged in self-destructive head banging. This problem was so severe that he was kept physically bound most of the time. Large areas of Marvin's head were scarred from repeated wounds. In an attempt to solve this problem, Marvin was given a brief, but intense electric shock whenever he banged his head. After receiving four shocks, Marvin never banged his head again. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is not an example of DRO, DRI, or extinction. It is not an example of DRO, because no stimulus change depended on the absence of the target behavior. It is not an example of DRI, because there was no reinforcement of behavior incompatible with the target behavior. It is not extinction, because there was no withholding of reinforcement for a previously reinforced response. This account is an example of punishment. The correct answer is: None of the above

William was a 69-year-old man who lived in the psychotic ward of a psychiatric institution. He engaged in both physical and verbal aggression behaviors toward other patients and staff. Physical aggression included hitting, kicking, pushing, and throwing objects. Verbal aggression included cursing and screaming. To solve these problems, William was immediately placed in an empty room for 10 minutes after he engaged in an aggressive act. This procedure resulted in substantial decline in both physical and verbal aggression, although neither set of behaviors was eliminated completely. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This case is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change, removal to an empty room, depended on the target behaviors and caused the target behaviors to be reduced. This case is an example of exclusionary timeout, because William was removed from the situation in which the target behaviors had occurred. Source: Vaccaro (1988) The correct answer is: Exclusionary timeout

Dr. Cott ran a study in which he used experimental and control groups. For 20 minutes, the experimental group learned a prose passage about how to grow orchids, after which they read a passage about the propagation of the white pine tree. The control group read only the passage concerning the white pine tree. On a test covering the material in the white pine passage, the control group recalled substantially more material than the experimental group. Select one: a. Proactive inhibition b. Retroactive inhibition c. Neither

Analysis: This example illustrates proactive inhibition, because the experimental group's learning of the orchid material (the first task) impaired their performance on a subsequent task (learning of the white pine material).

Every month, Astin took a bus ride to visit his family who lived in a neighbouring city. The trip would take about 1 hour, but sometimes road construction, bad weather, mechanical failures, or intermediate stops would slow the bus, extending the trip to almost 2 hours. Other times, good weather and few stops cut down traveling time to 40 minutes. Arriving in the neighbouring city is a reinforcer for Astin's behavior. The target behavior here is riding the bus. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This example is a variable-duration schedule. It is a duration schedule because reinforcement of the target behavior is contingent on engaging in the behavior for the length of time it takes the bus to make the trip. It is a variable-duration schedule, because the length of time Astin must engage in the target behavior varies from trip to trip.

Third-grade students participated in an experiment. Group 1 students watched an adult dart-thrower aim and throw at a distant target (hard to hit). Group 2 students watched the dart-thrower aim and throw at a close target (easy to hit). Group 3 students didn't watch the dart-thrower at all. Several weeks after watching the dart-thrower, the children participated in a game in which they could choose to do math problems at four different levels of difficulty. Group 1 students chose more difficult math problems to try to solve than did Group 2 or Group 3 students. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This exemplifies modeling because the children imitated a feature of the dart-thrower's behavior, selecting an easy or a difficult target.

Earl and Ray were two boys who had been identified as developmentally delayed. As part of a research project, their teacher gave Earl approval when he paid attention in class, a procedure that increased Earl's attentiveness. This method also elevated Ray's attention-paying behavior, even though Ray's efforts were never reinforced. Ray could see that the teacher approved of Earl's attention-paying behaviors, however. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This illustrates modeling and vicarious reinforcement. It is vicarious reinforcement because the approval of the model's (i.e., Earl's) attention-paying behavior increased Ray's attention paying behavior.

Gwendolyn made a point, each year, of observing whether the local groundhog would see his shadow on groundhog day. Assume that observing the groundhog pop out of the ground on February 2 was a reinforcer for Gwendolyn's behavior. The target behavior was Gwen's observing the groundhog. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This illustration is an example of a fixed-interval schedule of reinforcement. It is an interval schedule of reinforcement, because the target response of observing the groundhog was reinforced only after the passage of 1 year between groundhog days. It is a fixed-interval schedule, because the time between groundhog days was fixed at 1 year. Note that the reinforcer was only available to the target behavior when it occurred on groundhog day. When reinforcement in a schedule is available only for a limited period of time once the reinforcer becomes available, it is called a limited-hold contingency. So this is a fixed-interval schedule with a limited hold.

Guadalupe's mother set up a system in which Guadalupe received $0.50 every evening for washing the dinner dishes. As a result of this contingency, Guadalupe washed the dinner dishes more often than she had before and also began drying the dishes and sweeping the floor every day. Select one: a. Excitatory stimulus generalization b. Inhibitory stimulus generalization c. Nonexample of stimulus generalization

Analysis: This illustration is not an example of stimulus generalization. With stimulus generalization, reinforcement of the response in one stimulus situation makes that response more likely to occur in another stimulus situation. In this illustration, reinforcement of the response of washing the dishes resulted in different responses (i.e., sweeping and drying) becoming more apt to occur. This is an example of response generalization rather than stimulus generalization.

Laura was a 9-year-old girl who had several handicaps. Six months after admission to a school for developmentally delayed children, she began vomiting in class every day. This behavior soiled her dress, and she was sent to her dormitory residence hall after each vomiting incident. As a result of her vomiting, Laura missed school for 2 months. However, after that time a new teacher volunteered to work with Laura and tried a new technique. Whenever Laura vomited, class continued normally and she was not sent back to the dorm. Even though Laura vomited as many as 21 times per day, the teacher persisted with the plan. As a result, Laura's vomiting declined in frequency over time and by the end of 30 class days, Laura no longer vomited in class. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This is an example of extinction, because a response-dependent consequence of vomiting, being sent to the dorm, was withheld for the response, causing the response to decline in frequency to zero. In the real-life example, this extinction procedure was combined with positive reinforcement. Whether Laura received praise and candies depended on her not vomiting. Source: Wolf, Birnbrauer, Williams, & Lawler (1965) The correct answer is: Extinction

Gail was a 22-year-old, cognitively disabled woman. She had been sent to an institution owing to aggressive and destructive behavior towards herself, her parents, and household furniture. In 5 years at the institution, Gail had been aggressive toward staff and residents and had destroyed much furniture. She was considered a hopeless case. A procedure was used in which a female staff member at the institution posed as an unresponsive victim of Gail's attacks. When Gail attacked the "victim," the woman would absorb Gail's blows and ignore the attack as much as possible. As a result, Gail's aggressive attacks towards the victim, other people, herself, and objects decreased to near-zero levels. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This is an example of extinction, because the victim's ignoring of Gail's attacks withheld reinforcement for the kinds of attacks that had previously been reinforced. Source: Martin & Foxx (1973) The correct answer is: Extinction

At a home for senior citizens, the staff had difficulty getting the residents to bathe—the residents physically and verbally resisted it. To address this difficulty, the staff broke down bathing into a series of discrete stages, such as entering the bathing area, taking one article of clothing off, etc. These individual responses were demonstrated to the elderly residents, who were asked to imitate each of them. Each instance of imitation was rewarded. When a stage was achieved, the resident moved on to the next stage. This procedure got the residents to bathe with much less resistance than before. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is both modeling and participant modeling. The activity was separated into discrete steps (stages), a model performed each step, the patients were required to imitate each step, and after completion of each step they went to the next step.

Timid, female university students had enrolled in an assertiveness training course. The students read a series of fictional incidents in which people behaved assertively. For example, in one incident an individual criticized the artistic work of a friend; in another, an individual asked a loud gum-chewer to chew more quietly; and, in a third incident, a woman initiated a chat with an attractive man at a social event. Study results showed that the women behaved more assertively after reading these accounts. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling and covert modeling. Instead of observing the modeled response directly, the students imagined someone else engaging in the response through reading the fictional incidents.

Researchers did an experiment with female university students who had never done a breast self-exam. Group 1 watched a video showing the researcher doing a self-exam. Group 2 watched a video showing the researcher doing a breast exam using breasts on a mannequin. Group 3 saw a video on the topic of self-exams, that didn't demonstrate an exam. A month later, collected data showed that the women in Groups 1 and 2 were doing the self-exams more frequently than the women in Group 3, but that this pattern had dropped off by the 3-month follow-up. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling because the model's display of the breast exam encouraged imitation among the observers.

In Plainstown, tractor prices dropped sharply in the past year because several dealers had set up new tractor dealerships in the area, inundating the local market with tractors. This drop in prices caused a substantial increase in tractor sales. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is not an example of modeling. Many farmers bought a tractor (same response), but this was due to the decreased cost of tractors, not imitation.

Professor Tyson ran an experiment with two groups of subjects: an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group initially read a passage of prose material describing Richard E. Byrd's expedition to the North Pole and then they read a passage describing Byrd's expeditions to the South Pole. The control group read only the material on the trips to the South Pole. On a test about South Pole expeditions, the control group scored much higher than the experimental group. Select one: a. Proactive inhibition b. Retroactive inhibition c. Neither

Analysis: This item exemplifies proactive interference. The experimental group performed more poorly on the test than did the control group, indicating that reading the first passage had proactively interfered with the learning of the second passage.

Experimenters were working with three teenagers who had several disabilities. The goal of training was to open beverage containers. Opening beverage containers requires that the trainee (a) respond to certain essential aspects of the container, such as the type of lid, materials of construction, and placement of the opening; and (b) perform actions that share the critical feature of producing an opened container. Of course, types of containers differ in both their stimulus features and the responses needed to open them. The trainees received instruction in opening several different types of containers. As a result, the trainees were able to discriminate the opening-related features of novel containers and to open the containers. Select one: a. Conceptual behavior b. Generalized response class c. Both d. None of the above

Analysis: This item is an example of both conceptual behavior and a generalized response class. It is conceptual behavior because the trainees responded correctly to the stimulus features of the novel containers. It is a generalized response class because the trainees learned response features on the training containers. These response features allowed for correct responding on the novel test containers, which required slightly different, yet essentially similar responses as the training containers. It is an example of general-case instruction.

A group of researchers trained developmentally-delayed adults to use washing machines and dryers. They taught the trainees to use different types of washers and dryers in which the stimuli (e.g., placement of the controls) and required responses (e.g., the topography of the turn-on response) differed from machine to machine. As a test of teaching effectiveness, the experimenters had the trainees operate new machines that they had not been trained to use. In the new machines, the specific stimulus and response characteristics were different from, yet similar to those of most washers and dryers. The trainees were able to use the new machines correctly. Select one: a. Conceptual behavior b. Generalized response class c. Both d. None of the above

Analysis: This item is an example of both conceptual behavior and a generalized response class. It is conceptual behavior because the trainees responded correctly to the stimulus features of the washers and dryers, as shown by their performance on novel machines. It is a generalized response class because the trainees learned response features on the training machines, allowing for correct responding on new machines which required novel responses. It is an example of general-case instruction.

Andy read a book titled How to adopt a bohemian lifestyle and not alienate your conservative friends. The book had a profound influence on Andy, who then read the book How to be dignified without really trying. As a result of reading the book about a bohemian lifestyle, he recalled relatively little of the book on how to be dignified (e.g., he had completely forgotten the suggestion that he should wear a monocle). Select one: a. Proactive inhibition b. Retroactive inhibition c. Neither

Analysis: This illustration is an example of proactive interference, because recalling the material in the dignified book was impaired by the learning the material in the bohemian lifestyle book.

Elaise was a 5-year-old girl who took hours to dress herself in the morning. To improve this situation, her mother told Elaise that if she was not fully dressed within 30 minutes of waking up, she would not be permitted to watch television until 3:30 p.m. that day. As a result, the instances in which Elaise took longer than 30 minutes to dress declined from 100% to almost never. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This illustration is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change from available television to restricted television depended on the target behavior and caused the target behavior to be eliminated. Source: Hall, Axelrod, Tyler, Grief, Jones, & Robertson (1972). The correct answer is: Punishment

Suzanne, a first grader, was having difficulty writing the capital letter H. She would write it with the lines slanting in so it looked more like an A than an H. Her teacher, Sig Derechio, gave her 10 minutes of extra free time for every 10 consecutive H's she wrote properly. This procedure resulted in more, correctly written H's. This plan also improved Suzanne's M's, which had also had excessively slanted lines. Select one: a. Response generalization b. Not response generalization

Analysis: This item is an example of response generalization, because the effect of reinforcement spread from correct H's, which were reinforced, to correct M's, which were not reinforced.

Dave learned the English equivalents for 50 Spanish words one evening. The next night he learned the English equivalents for 50 Italian words. As a result of learning the English equivalents for the Italian words, he had difficulty in recalling the English equivalents of the Spanish words. Select one: a. Proactive inhibition b. Retroactive inhibition c. Neither

Analysis: This item is an example of retroactive interference, because performance involving the Spanish words was impaired due to the learning of the subsequent task involving the Italian words.

Loretta was blind. To earn a living, she made macramé plant hangers. The company she worked for paid her $2.50 for each batch of 10 plant hangers she made. The money was a reinforcer for her making the hangers. The target behavior was making one plant hanger. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: The target behavior was reinforced according to a fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement. It was reinforced only when it had occurred a specific and fixed number of times (10) that remained constant.

Three developmentally delayed people engaged in stereotypic self-stimulatory responses that interfered with efforts to teach them appropriate behavior. One, a 12-year-old female, flapped her lips with her fingers. Another, a 22-year-old female, rocked constantly. A third, a 23-year-old male, moved his hands in front of his face. At first, staff at the institution said, "No," when the self-stimulatory responses occurred, but this had little effect. A procedure was used in which the staff gave hugs and praise whenever the self-stimulatory activities had ceased for a few minutes. As a result the self-stimulatory responses were virtually eliminated in each of the people. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: These cases are examples of DRO, because in each one a stimulus change depended on the absence of the target behavior, and this change caused the target behavior to decline. Source: Repp, Deitz, & Speir (1974) The correct answer is: DRO

In an experiment, two researchers set up a token economy in a second-grade classroom. Tokens were exchangeable for a variety of games and materials including a ball, puzzles, dolls, and art supplies. The researchers gave students praise and tokens when they raised their hands after completing reading workbook assignments. This procedure caused a reduction in the students' frequency of correct answers to the reading lesson and on-task behaviors, including talking to the teacher, orienting eyes towards materials, and having one's pencil in position for writing. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRI, because a stimulus change (from no praise and no tokens, to praise and tokens) depended on behavior that was incompatible with the target behaviors and this change caused a reduction in the target behaviors. This example shows that DRI includes instances in which a desirable behavior is diminished through the reinforcement of an incompatible behavior. While this is certainly not a recommended technique, it does illustrate that DRI (as well as other behavioral procedures) involves value-free descriptions of behavior changes, not simply desirable behavior changes. Source: Kelly & Bushell (1987) The correct answer is: DRI

Ruth, a 9-year-old, developmentally delayed girl who had been diagnosed as being schizophrenic, often engaged in self-destructive behaviors including head banging and arm banging. A procedure was devised in which she was praised for engaging in "appropriate musical behaviors," which included hand clapping, rocking in time to the music, and singing the correct words at the right time. As a result, Ruth's self-destructive behaviors declined to very low levels. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRI, because praise depended on a response incompatible with the target behavior, and the procedure reduced the level of the target behavior. Source: Lovaas, Freitag, Gold, & Kassorla (1965) The correct answer is: DRI

Rae was a 24-year-old woman of normal intelligence, but she had had a heart attack 5 years earlier that had caused some neurological damage. She often opened her mouth rapidly and forcefully, at times dislocating her jaw this way. For treatment, Rae received praise and a flash of a light for every 5 seconds that passed with her mouth closed. The criterion value increased to 10 seconds and then 15 seconds. The procedure resulted in a substantial reduction in Rae's quick, forceful mouth openings. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRI, because the stimulus change from no light and praise to light and praise depended on mouth-closed behavior incompatible with the target behavior, and because the target behavior was reduced. Source: Parker, Cataldo, Bourland, Emurian, Corbin, & Page (1984) The correct answer is: DRI

Clarence was a 33-year-old, cognitively disabled man. He was tied to a chair and made to wear protective mittens, because he would pull out his fingernails if released. A procedure was used in which Clarence was given a small cup of coffee and verbal praise for every 15 seconds that passed without him pulling his nails. This procedure caused a reduction in Clarence's frequency of nail pulling. As Clarence began pulling his nails less, the 15-second interval was gradually increased until after several weeks, coffee and verbal praise were awarded for 15 minutes without nail pulling. Eventually coffee and praise were awarded for variable periods of time passing without nail pulling. Ultimately, Clarence no longer needed to be physically restrained or to wear the mittens. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRO, because a stimulus change (from no coffee and praise to coffee and praise) depended on the nonoccurrence of the target behavior and this change decreased the frequency of the target behavior. Source: Lane & Domrath (1970) The correct answer is: DRO

Bob was a 19-year-old, cognitively disabled man. He would often ruminate, a behavior disorder in which previously swallowed and partially digested food is brought up, re-chewed and re-swallowed. This disorder can cause malnutrition and death. For his treatment, Bob was given small bits of a cookie and dabs of peanut butter for every 10 seconds that he did not ruminate. As Bob's rumination decreased, the time criterion increased. Eventually, Bob's rumination decreased to nearly zero. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRO, because a stimulus change depended on the absence of rumination, and this procedure caused rumination to decline. Source: Conrin, Pennypacker, Johnston, & Rast (1982) The correct answer is: DRO

Lee was a 3-year-old boy who was being treated for toe walking, a disorder in which a child walks on the balls of his feet without his heels touching the ground. In severe cases, this condition requires surgery, so a group of behavior analysts wanted to see if they could correct the problem using behavioral techniques. At first, Lee was outfitted with a pair of heavy boots that weighed down his feet. The boots produced a partial reduction in toe walking. Two weeks later, Lee was given candy, snacks, and tokens for every 15 seconds that passed without him toe walking. He could trade in tokens for food and play materials. This caused a further reduction in toe walking. Lee's mother continued using these methods at home, completely eliminating toe walking within a few weeks. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRO, because a stimulus change depended on the absence of toe walking, and this change reduced the level of toe walking. Source: Hobbs, Altman, & Halldin (1980) The correct answer is: DRO

Sam was a 3-year-old boy who had been hospitalized for lead poisoning for the second time. Lead poisoning, often caused by chewing or eating flaking lead-based paints, can cause neurological disorders, mental retardation, and death. Sam was presented with a board to which a flour and water mixture that resembled flaking paint had been applied. Sam was also shown several inedible objects. The researcher wanted to reduce Sam's pica behavior, that is, putting his mouth on inedible objects (including body parts), eating the simulated paint, and touching paint chips. For every 10 minutes that Sam didn't engage in any pica behavior, he received raisins, cheese, and crackers. As a result, Sam's pica behavior was reduced to zero. Sam's parents learned to use this method and a year later the lead in Sam's blood was no longer dangerously high. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRO, because a stimulus change, no food to food, depended on the absence of the pica behavior, and this change eliminated the pica behavior. Source: Finney, Russo, & Cataldo (1982) The correct answer is: DRO

Newborn infants, ranging in age from 51 to 96 hours, were subjects in an experiment. In one group, infants received a baby-bottle nipple for every 10 seconds that passed without any head turns of 10 degrees or more. This response caused a decrease in the frequency of head turns. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRO, because a stimulus change, no nipple to a nipple, depended on the absence of the target response, and this procedure caused the target response to decline. Source: Siqueland (1968) The correct answer is: DRO

Harry was a 22-year-old cognitively disabled man diagnosed with epilepsy. He lived as an inpatient at a psychiatric unit of a university mental health centre. Harry engaged in seizure-like behaviors 0.7 times per day. During these apparent seizures, Harry would jerk his body about, make strange noises, masturbate, put his hand in his mouth, and hyperventilate. Harry liked getting outside the facility and into the local community, so he was allowed to go for a half-hour walk any day that no seizure had occurred during the previous 24 hours. This privilege resulted in a reduction of Harry's seizure-like behaviors by over half, to about 0.3 times per day. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRO, because a stimulus change, no opportunity for a walk to an opportunity for a walk, depended on the absence of seizures, and this opportunity decreased the number of seizures. Source: Burgio, Tice, & Brown (1985) The correct answer is: DRO

Tom and Patty were developmentally delayed students in a special education classroom. They often engaged in talk-out behavior in class, which was defined as calling out, talking without permission, screaming, singing, whistling, or loud coughing. A plan was implemented in which Tom and Patty received tokens for every 3 minutes that passed without any talking out. The tokens could be exchanged for games, favoured activities, and refreshments. As a result, Tom and Patty's talking out decreased substantially. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRO, because receipt of tokens depended on the absence of the target behavior, and the procedure caused the target behavior to decrease. Source: Repp, Deitz, & Deitz (1976) The correct answer is: DRO

Louise, 4, was a developmentally delayed girl who sucked her thumb. To reduce this behavior, she was given candy for each minute that passed without any thumb sucking. This procedure reduced Louise's thumb sucking considerably. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRO, because the candy depended on the absence of the target behavior, and the procedure caused a reduction in the target behavior. Source: Repp, Deitz, & Deitz (1976) The correct answer is: DRO

Fred often unzipped his pants and showed his penis to others. To reduce this behavior, staff at the institution where Fred lived began telling him "Good Fred, your pants are on right" and giving him a hug for every 10 minutes that passed without Fred exposing himself. Eventually this procedure eliminated Fred's self-exposures. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRO, because the praise and hugs depended on the absence of the target behavior and caused the elimination of self-exposures. Source: Lutzker (1974) The correct answer is: DRO

Fay was a friendly and polite 5-year-old girl. She was normal in most respects, but for a year she had scratched herself so much that she often bled, and large scars and scabs had formed over much of her face and on one arm and one leg. To try to solve this problem, Fay's mother began praising Fay after every 20- to 30-minute period of time that passed without any scratching. Fay's mother also gave her a gold star that Fay could paste in a booklet. For every three gold stars Fay earned, she would receive a cookie, a candy, or a tasty drink. Furthermore, at noon and at supper time, Fay's mom would count the stars and give Fay an inexpensive trinket if she reached a criterion number. Over time, the period of time without scratching gradually lengthened until, at the end of 6 weeks, Fay's scratching had ceased and her wounds were healed. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRO, because the praise and stars depended on the nonoccurrence of the target behavior, and the procedure caused a reduction in the target behavior. Source: Allen & Harris (1966) The correct answer is: DRO

In a third-grade classroom the teacher was troubled by the high level of disruptive behaviors, including being out-of-seat, making noise with objects, touching other students' materials, hitting, kicking, and talking without permission. One day the teacher set a kitchen timer for 5 minutes and let it run as long as no disruptive behavior occurred. Each time disruptive behavior occurred, the teacher reset the time. When the timer bell rang, the teacher praised the students and told them they had all earned 1 minute of free time. This procedure continued, and the number of minutes of free time the students had earned was displayed on a flip-card stand. Free time was awarded by terminating class up to 10 minutes early. As a result, disruptive behavior was reduced by about two-thirds in both math and language arts classes. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of DRO, because the stimulus change from no free minute earned to a free minute earned depended on the absence of the disruptive behaviors, and this procedure reduced these behaviors. Source: Allen, Gottselig, & Boylan (1982) The correct answer is: DRO

Bill was a 4-year-old enrolled in preschool. He was popular with the other children. His language skills were very good and he was very persuasive. However, Bill cried about 5 to 10 times per morning. Bill responded to all minor physical injuries, frustrations, and threats of physical harm by crying. When this happened, class activities would cease for everyone—Bill would only stop crying after being with the teacher for several minutes. To solve this problem, the teacher began completely ignoring Bill when he cried, except for a brief glance at him to make sure he was not in danger. After 5 days, Bill cried 2 or fewer times per day, and eventually he didn't cry at all. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of extinction, because a consequence (teacher attention) that had previously depended on the target behavior was withheld, and this withdrawal resulted in a decline in the frequency of the behavior. Source: Hart, Allen, Buell, Harris, & Wolf (1964) The correct answer is: Extinction

Newborn infants, ranging in age from 51 to 96 hours, were subjects in an experiment. In one group, infants received a baby-bottle nipple whenever they turned their head 10 degrees or more. After a time, nipple presentations no longer followed head turns, and this withdrawal caused the frequency of head turns to decline. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of extinction, because a stimulus change (no nipple to a nipple) that had formerly depended on head turns no longer depended on head turns, and the procedure caused head turns to decrease. Source: Siqueland (1968) The correct answer is: Extinction

Helen was a patient in a mental hospital who engaged in psychotic talk about her illegitimate child and the men she imagined were pursuing her. The nurses responsible for Helen were told to ignore her psychotic talk. As a result, Helen engaged in psychotic talk much less often than she had before. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of extinction, because the attention reinforcers for the psychotic talk were withdrawn, and this withdrawal resulted in a decreased level of psychotic talk. Source: Ayllon & Michael (1959) The correct answer is: Extinction

Dave was an 11-year-old boy. During spelling assessments, when the teacher asked Dave to spell a word he made faces and said incorrect letters. His teacher patiently told him the first letter of the word, had Dave sound it out, and after a long time and a lot of attention, Dave would spell the word correctly. One day the teacher began ignoring Dave for making faces and giving incorrect responses when he was asked to spell a word. This procedure resulted in a decline in the frequency of these responses. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is an example of extinction, because the attention that had previously depended on making faces and spelling incorrectly was withheld, and this withdrawal resulted in a decline in the frequency of these behaviors. Note: In the real life situation on which this item was based, the teacher combined extinction with positive reinforcement. The teacher gave Dave a lot of praise, gave him an A grade on his spelling chart, and helped him colour Easter baskets after Dave spelled the words correctly. In this description, for instructional purposes, we stress only the extinction component of the procedure. Source: Zimmerman & Zimmerman (1962) The correct answer is: Extinction

Linda had lived in an institution for many years. Linda had two self-destructive behaviors: pounding her head against a table and pinching herself. A procedure was implemented whereby Linda was praised and given tasty snacks for sitting up straight with her hands at her sides. As a result, Linda's head-to-table hitting decreased, but her level of self-pinching was unchanged. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is not an example of DRO, DRI, or extinction. In DRO, DRI, and extinction there must be a decline in the level of the target behavior. In this example, the level of the target behavior was unchanged. Had head-to-table hitting been the target behavior in this item, it would be an example of DRI. Source: Young & Wincze (1974) The correct answer is: None of the above

Sidney was an 11-year-old boy. He lived in a residential treatment centre for emotionally disturbed children, where he attended school. Several times each week he threw a temper tantrum in which he screamed and thrashed about on the floor, drawing a crowd of staff who watched him. One of the teachers arranged it so that when Sidney threw a tantrum, he was not allowed to watch television or listen to the radio for the rest of that day. This procedure was continued for several weeks until Sidney's tantrums ceased completely. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is not an example of DRO, DRI, or extinction. It is not DRO or DRI, because there is no reinforcement dependent on the absence of the target behavior or on behaviors incompatible with the target behavior. It is not extinction, because a stimulus change from television and radio to no television and no radio depends on the target behavior. In extinction, no stimulus change depends on the target behavior. This account is an example of punishment. The correct answer is: None of the above

Hendrick was an 11-year-old boy. During current events period, his teacher asked him to read a short newspaper article to the class. Hendrick began to read, but then started to laugh and giggle. At first the teacher was patient with Hendrick, asking him to describe what was so funny. This scenario happened repeatedly. One day the teacher shouted angrily at Hendrick for laughing and giggling. This reaction resulted in an immediate and permanent decline in his laughing and giggling. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is not an example of DRO, DRI, or extinction. It is not DRO or DRI, because there is no reinforcement of the absence of the target behavior or of incompatible behavior. It is not extinction, because the target behavior produced a dependent stimulus change. In extinction, the target behavior produces no stimulus change. This is an example of punishment. The correct answer is: None of the above

Henry was a kindergarten student. Although he was a good boy and a good student in many respects, he would often pull clothes off other children. When this happened, class was disrupted because all the students would laugh. The teacher began sending Henry to the school principal whenever he tried to take other students' clothes off. After several days, this procedure eliminated the problem. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This account is not an example of DRO, DRI, or extinction. It is not DRO or DRI, because there was no reinforcement dependent on the absence of the target response or on behavior incompatible with the target response. It is not extinction, because the target behavior produced a stimulus change (being sent to the principal). The correct answer is: None of the above

A group of 6- and 7-year old girls participated in a research experiment. Initially, the girls watched a woman who watched a series of 12 slides. Each slide showed two objects of equal monetary value; in each pair, the woman selected the object she preferred. For example, one slide may have shown a cell phone and an mp3 player; the woman may have chosen the cell phone. Girls in Group 1 watched the woman as an experimenter approved of her selections, whereas girls in Group 2 watched the woman while the experimenter disapproved of her selections. Girls in Group 3 watched the woman as the experimenter neither approved nor disapproved of her choices. After they watched the woman, the young girls indicated which of the items they preferred from each pair shown on the slides. Girls in Group 1 chose more of the same items that the woman did than girls in Group 3. Also, girls in Group 2 chose fewer of the same items that the woman did than girls in Group 3. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This case illustrates modeling, vicarious reinforcement, and vicarious punishment. It is modeling because watching the model's choices caused the girls to imitate those selections. It is vicarious reinforcement because the experimenter's approval for the model's choices made the girls more likely to choose those selections. It is vicarious punishment because the experimenter's disapproval of the model's selections reduced imitation of the disapproved selections. Source: Liebert & Fernandez (1970)

Arlene was in a learning experiment in which she was given a list of 200 words and given 10 minutes to study them. Then, she was shown slides of a number of words, some which were on the first list, and some which were not. Her task was to identify whether or not the item was on the original list by pressing a green button (for yes) or pressing a red button (for no). Select one: a. Serial anticipation learning b. Paired-associates learning c. Free recall d. Verbal discrimination e. Verbal recognition

Analysis: This illustration is a verbal-recognition task because Arlene was required to specify whether or not the verbal items presented to her had been presented to her previously.

Shelley was an alcoholic who was being treated in a special hospital ward. Every day, Shelley (and thirteen other alcoholics who had volunteered for the program) could drink alcohol, up to 17 one-ounce drinks per day. In one treatment, each drink Shelley consumed resulted in a 40-minute period during which he was forbidden to interact with other patients and staff. In another treatment, each drink Shelley took resulted in a 40-minute period during which he could socialize with other patients and staff, but he could not move from his chair or use any materials like paper and pencil, books, food, playing cards, or radios. Both treatments reduced Shelley's drinking compared to baseline levels in which no consequences were placed on drinking the daily ration. The first treatment produced a 36% reduction in drinking and the second treatment produced a 24% reduction. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This case is an example of punishment, because (a) stimulus changes, from social interaction to no social interaction and from free access to materials to no such access, depended on drinking alcohol and because (b) the procedure caused a reduction in drinking alcohol. This case is a nonexclusionary timeout procedure, because Shelley was not removed from the situation in which drinking alcohol occurred. Source: Griffiths, Bigelow, & Liebson (1977) The correct answer is: Nonexclusionary timeout

Frank and Leo, aged 12 and 14, were the most disruptive children in their class. The biggest problem with them was inappropriate vocalization. During class the teacher would give the pupils an edible treat (e.g., cookies, pretzels) six times per hour at randomly determined times. To solve Frank and Leo's behavior problem, if either of them vocalized inappropriately during each of three consecutive 20-second intervals, the teacher would place an orange card on the offender's desk and tell him he would not be receiving any treats for the next 10 minutes. When the teacher gave out the treats, pupils with orange cards were skipped. This procedure decreased Frank and Leo's inappropriate vocalizations by over 50%. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This case is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change (no orange card to an orange card) depended on the target behaviors and reduced the frequency of the target behaviors. This example is a nonexclusionary timeout procedure, because it involved the introduction of the orange card, a stimulus associated with reduced reinforcement. The correct answer is: Nonexclusionary timeout

Reggie was a cognitively-impaired 16-year-old who lived in an institution. Reggie and 15 other residents at the institution often engaged in inappropriate mealtime behaviors including eating with their fingers and eating spilled food. A procedure was used in which every time Reggie emitted an inappropriate mealtime behavior, his food tray was taken for 15 seconds. This procedure was implemented in the winter and by spring it had caused the residents to become much more refined diners, engaging in the inappropriate behaviors only 5% of the time, compared with 36% before treatment. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This case is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change from food to no food depended on the target behaviors and caused a decrease in the frequency of the target behaviors. This case is not a response cost procedure, because no tokens were removed. Source: Barton, Guess, Garcia, & Baer (1970) The correct answer is: Punishment

Barbara, 8, was a cognitively disabled girl enrolled in a day-care program. Barbara picked up all sorts of objects and brought them to her mouth. For heavy objects, Barbara brought her lips and tongue to the object instead. To treat this problem, a procedure was used in which, for every time Barbara brought an object to her mouth (by whatever means), her teeth and gums were brushed with mouthwash for 2 minutes. This action reduced her oral behaviors from over 150 per hour to zero. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This case is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change from no mouth washing to mouth washing depended on the target behavior and caused the target behavior to be reduced. Source: Foxx & Azrin (1973) The correct answer is: Punishment

Ben was a 10-year-old who lived at a juvenile psychiatric institution. In his class, he was often aggressive towards other children and often left his seat. To solve these problems, Ben was required to leave the classroom and go to a small, empty room (used for music practice) for 10 minutes. This procedure reduced Ben's aggression to a very low level and cut his out-of-seat behavior by two-thirds. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This case is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change from the classroom to an empty room depended on the target behaviors and this change reduced the frequency of the target behaviors. This example is an exclusionary timeout procedure, because Ben was excluded from the classroom where the target behaviors had occurred. Source: Drabman & Spitalnik (1973) The correct answer is: Exclusionary timeout

Four university students had volunteered to be subjects in an experiment. At the experiment site they were each put into a room alone and told to talk about whatever they liked. If they had trouble thinking of a topic to speak about, they could draw a card with a topic word on it and talk about that topic. During baseline periods there spoke freely, without penalties. During an experimental period, speech disfluencies including er, um, uh, or sound repetitions produced a one-point reduction in a number that was displayed to the subjects on a television screen. The number was initially set at 200, and the subjects were told that at the session's end they would receive $0.01 for each point remaining. Data indicated that the subjects' speech disfluencies decreased substantially owing to the point-loss arrangement. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This case is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change, point loss, was dependent on speech disfluencies and caused speech disfluencies to decline in frequency. This example is a response cost procedure, because it involves the removal of points, which are token reinforcers. Source: Siegel, Lenske, & Broen (1969) The correct answer is: Response cost

Mordred was a 20-year-old woman who was depressed. She would often cry for no apparent reason, would seldom talk, and when she did speak she talked about fear, personal injury, and death. She lived in a psychiatric hospital on a ward that used a token economy. One treatment used with Mordred was to fine her one token whenever she cried. As a result of this procedure, Mordred's crying declined from over 25 responses per day to less than 4 responses per day after 8 weeks. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This case is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change, the token fine, depended on crying and reduced the frequency of crying. This item is a response cost procedure, because it involved the removal of a specified amount of an item Mordred possessed. In the study, this procedure was also combined with token and social reinforcement for smiling. Smiling increased as a result. Source: Reisinger (1972) The correct answer is: Response cost

Alex initially learned to say the word "horse" when presented with a picture of a horse, because he was reinforced for doing so. This reinforcement increased the likelihood that he would say "horse" in the presence of the horse picture, but it also increased the frequency with which he would say "horse" when shown a picture of a dog, even though he was not reinforced for doing so. Select one: a. Response generalization b. Not response generalization

Analysis: This case is more difficult to analyze, but it is not an example of response generalization. In response generalization, the response-strengthening effect of reinforcement spreads to other responses that are not in the reinforced response class. In this case, the response-strengthening effect of reinforcement "spreads" not to another response, but to the same response ("horse") in a different stimulus situation. This example is a case of stimulus generalization, not of response generalization.

Maybelline was a 5-year-old girl who sucked her thumb. Once an hour her mother would remind her not to suck her thumb. As a result, Maybelline's thumb sucking declined to almost nothing within a few days. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This case is not an example of punishment. Although the target behavior declined, this decline was not caused by a response-dependent stimulus change. Instead, the decline in thumb sucking was owing to instruction that Maybelline must not suck her thumb. The correct answer is: Not punishment

Fred, a member of the university swim team, was having trouble with his backstroke. He would often fail to kick and would move his head from side to side, throwing his body position out of balance. To correct this problem, Gwen, his coach, would give him special attention and praise for every 50 metres he swam with his head in a fixed position and his legs kicking. In response to her praise, Fred gradually increased the number of lengths he swam properly until he was swimming every backstroke length perfectly. Select one: a. Response generalization b. Not response generalization

Analysis: This case is not an example of response generalization. Both head position and kicking were directly reinforced aspects of performance; response generalization requires an increase in some behavior which is not reinforced. If reinforcing only correct head position also improved kicking (which would be unreinforced) then this example would have represented response generalization, because the effect of reinforcing head position would have spread to kicking.

Shirley seldom discussed her own behavior until her roommate, Latifa, provided extra attention and concern when Shirley did self-disclose. As a result, Shirley's self-disclosures became much more frequent with Carmen, her other roommate. Select one: a. Stimulus discrimination b. Not stimulus discrimination

Analysis: This example does not illustrate stimulus discrimination. Shirley's self-disclosures were reinforced, but we don't really know whether her increased self-disclosure occurred in one set of stimulus conditions, but not in others. If Shirley's self-disclosure was reinforced by Latifa and not reinforced by Carmen, then we would have an example of stimulus discrimination, with Shirley as the S+ and Carmen as the S-.

Jethro was in a contest in which the winner would get a reinforcing prize for finding a four-leaf clover. Jethro searched long and hard for a four-leaf clover, but was unable to find one. Select one: a. Excitatory stimulus generalization b. Inhibitory stimulus generalization c. Nonexample of stimulus generalization

Analysis: This example does not illustrate stimulus generalization because there is no mention of a response becoming more (or less) apt to occur in a similar situation to that in which the response was reinforced (or extinguished). If Jethro had mistakenly picked three-leaf clovers as a result of the reinforcement for picking four-leaf clovers, then this would be an example of excitatory stimulus generalization.

Jethro loved to go fishing more than anything else. Because he lived on a farm, however, there were plenty of chores to do which were more important than fishing. After he sneaked away from the farm for a few days in a row, his parents hid his fishing gear and agreed to give it back to him only after he had worked for at least 6 hours a day. Thus, if he started work at 5:00 a.m. he could be finished an hour before noon and fish for the rest of the day. Assume that going fishing is a reinforcer for Jethro's behavior. The target behavior is working on the farm. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This example illustrates a fixed-duration schedule. It is a duration schedule, because reinforcement was contingent on engaging in the target behavior for an amount of time. It is a fixed-duration schedule, because reinforcement is contingent on engaging in the target behavior for a fixed amount of time, 6 hours.

Marvin's favourite food was a baked potato. He would often ask his parents to cook one for him in their microwave oven. A potato took 7 minutes to cook. The microwave, which was on the kitchen counter, was too high up for little Marvin to see inside. He would keep asking, "Is the potato almost ready?" while it was cooking. If there fewer than 30 seconds to go, his parents would answer, "yes" but if there were more time left they would say "no." Assume that a "yes" answer was a reinforcer for Marvin's behavior. The target behavior was Marvin's asking if the potato was ready. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This example illustrates a fixed-interval schedule of reinforcement. It is an interval schedule of reinforcement because the behavior of asking was only reinforced after the passage of time. It is a fixed-interval schedule, because the length of time that must pass before Marvin's parents reinforced a response was fixed at 6.5 to 7 minutes. (If you said it's a variable-interval schedule because the length of time varied between 6.5 to 7 minutes, your answer is also correct.)

When he first entered Ms. Gaston's second-grade class, George would wave his hand wildly, hoping to be called upon, but Ms. Gaston ignored his wild hand waving, calling on him only when he raised his hand calmly. As a result, George's rate of wild hand waving decreased in Ms. Gaston's classes and in his other classes. Select one: a. Excitatory stimulus generalization b. Inhibitory stimulus generalization c. Nonexample of stimulus generalization

Analysis: This illustration is an example of inhibitory stimulus generalization. Ms. Gaston extinguished George's wild hand waving in her class and this effect generalized to George's hand waving other classes (similar stimulus situations).

Sally had a 10-speed bicycle with tires that lost air pressure rapidly. When her tires lost air, she would have to pump them up with her hand pump. When a tire was completely flat, she had to pump 100 times to fill the tire to its recommended pressure. Assume in this example that a filled tire is a reinforcer for Sally's behavior. The target behavior was pumping the pump once. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This example illustrates a fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement (FR = 100). It is a ratio schedule because reinforcement was contingent on the number of times the response occurred (the number of times the pump was pumped). Assuming that Sally only pumped up a tire when it was completely flat, it is a fixed-ratio schedule, because the number of times the response had to occur remained constant at 100.

Whenever the police were nearby, Dolores would always obey the speed limit. However, in the absence of the police, Dolores customarily drove 10 to 20 kilometres per hour over the limit. The target behavior here is Dolores's driving at, or below, the speed limit. Select one: a. Excitatory stimulus control b. Inhibitory stimulus control

Analysis: This example illustrates excitatory stimulus control, because the response (driving at or below the limit) was more likely to occur in the presence of the police than in their absence.

Buster enjoyed swimming because he loved the feel of the water swirling all over his body. However, he was not a skilled swimmer and never swam when there were more than two people at the pool who could watch him. Therefore, he usually swam in the early morning, when the pool wasn't very busy. The target behavior is swimming at the pool in the presence of more than two people. Select one: a. Excitatory stimulus control b. Inhibitory stimulus control

Analysis: This example illustrates inhibitory stimulus control, because the response (swimming) was more likely to occur in the absence of the stimulus (more than two people) than in the presence of that stimulus.

Leo's wife asked him to buy 10 items from the supermarket. He memorized these items, but on his way out of the driveway, he met his daughter, who asked him to buy 10 more items. He then memorized this second list of items. As a result of learning his daughter's list, he couldn't recall all of the items on his wife's list when he arrived at the store. After this, he asked his family to submit written lists when they wanted him to pick up items for them. Select one: a. Proactive inhibition b. Retroactive inhibition c. Neither

Analysis: This example illustrates retroactive interference, because Leo's learning of the first list (his wife's) was impaired by the learning of a subsequent task (memorizing his daughter's list).

The Cosmos Insurance Company had a policy by which a driver's insurance premium was lowered if he drove for a year having only one accident causing less than $1,000 damage. Assume that a lower insurance premium is a reinforcer for the driver's behavior. The target behavior is either getting into an accident causing damage costing less than $1,000 (no more than one per year) or avoiding accidents altogether. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This example is a DRL schedule, because the reinforcement is contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior at a low rate.

Lloyd was in an experiment in which he initially listened to a cassette recording of a song. The experimenter then told him to write down as many words in the song as he could remember. Select one: a. Serial anticipation learning b. Paired-associates learning c. Free recall d. Verbal discrimination e. Verbal recognition

Analysis: This example is a free-recall task because Lloyd was required to provide as many items as he could after previous exposure to those items.

Dolly was trying to learn the names of the countries in South America in alphabetical order. On the first trial, she was required to say the name of the first country. Whether she was correct or not, Andy, her brother, would show her the name of the first country (Argentina) on a 3- by 5-inch card. She was then required to name the second country, which Andy again showed to her on a card after her attempt to answer. This procedure continued until she got all the countries right on two successive times through the list. Select one: a. Serial anticipation learning b. Paired-associates learning c. Free recall d. Verbal discrimination e. Verbal recognition

Analysis: This example is serial anticipation learning because Dolly was required to learn a list of verbal items by naming the next item on the list when presented with the previous item.

Through a computer error, Glenda had been mistakenly billed for $3000 on her credit card. She wrote letters asking the bank to correct the problem, but received no replies. Glenda ceased writing letters to the bank. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This item is not an example of punishment, because there was no stimulus change dependent on the response. The decline in Glenda's letter writing was owing to extinction, in which there is an absence of a response-dependent stimulus change. The correct answer is: Not punishment

Stephen was the class clown and would entertain the class every morning by telling jokes. Mr. Huth, the teacher, found that Stephen was so good at telling jokes that the students would laugh uproariously, falling out of their seats. Sometimes they had to leave the classroom because they were having difficulty catching their breath. As a result, Mr. Huth found it necessary to impose a contingency on Stephen's behavior. If during the morning class session Stephen told fewer than three jokes, the class would be able to leave 15 minutes early at the end of the day. As a result, the number of days on which Stephen told fewer than three jokes increased. The target behavior was Stephen's joke telling. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This illustration is an example of DRL or differential reinforcement of low rates of behavior. It is an example of DRL, because the target behavior was reinforced only when its rate of occurrence was sufficiently low (i.e., below three jokes per day).

Every day Sam's teacher induced him to do his math assignments by allowing him to go to gym period (a reinforcer for Sam's behavior) only after he had worked on the problems for 90 minutes. As a result, Sam worked on his math assignments for the required 90 minutes per day and began to excel at math. The target behavior in this example was Sam's work on his math assignments. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This illustration is an example of a fixed-duration schedule, because reinforcement for the target behavior was contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior for a specific interval of time (90 minutes), which was fixed from reinforcement to reinforcement. If Sam's teacher had made reinforcement contingent on a certain number of correct problems which remained constant or fixed from day to day, this illustration would have been an example of a fixed-ratio schedule. If Sam's teacher had made reinforcement contingent on the occurrence of the target behavior for an interval of time which varied from day to day (e.g., 30 minutes, 100 minutes, or 15 minutes) then this illustration would be an example of a variable-duration schedule. Finally, if going to gym period had been made contingent on a number of correct math problems, which varied from day to day (e.g., 40 problems, 100 problems, or 75 problems) then this illustration would be an example of a variable-ratio schedule of reinforcement.

Harold likes to listen to the news on the radio every hour to keep posted on the latest developments. Because he lives in an isolated community, there is only one radio station. It broadcasts the news only once an hour for 5 minutes. Listening to the news is a reinforcer for Harold's behavior. The target behavior is being in a location to be able to listen to the news. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This illustration is an example of a fixed-interval schedule of reinforcement. It is an interval schedule, because the response can only be reinforced after it occurs following the passage of an interval of time. It is a fixed-interval schedule, because the amount of time that has to pass for a response to be reinforced is fixed at 55 minutes. There is also a limited-hold contingency, because once reinforcement for a response becomes available (i.e., once the news comes on) it is available only for a limited period of time.

Roger was a 2-year-old who liked to pull things out of their proper places. Despite trying repeatedly, however, he was unable to pull off the doorknob on his bedroom door, so he stopped trying to do so. As a result, he never tried to pull another doorknob off any other door. Select one: a. Excitatory stimulus generalization b. Inhibitory stimulus generalization c. Nonexample of stimulus generalization

Analysis: This illustration is an example of inhibitory stimulus generalization. Roger's pulling responses on his bedroom doorknob were extinguished and this extinction resulted in the response becoming less apt to occur with respect to other doorknobs (other stimulus situations).

Homer worked in a sewer, so after a hard day at work he liked to take a shower. On days when he was especially dirty, he would have to shower and scrub for about 30 minutes before he was clean. On other days 5 to 10 minutes would suffice. Assume that being clean after a day at work was a reinforcer for Homer's behavior. The target behavior was showering and scrubbing. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This illustration is an example of a variable-duration schedule of reinforcement. It is a duration schedule because reinforcement (becoming clean) was contingent on engaging in the target behavior for a certain length of time. It is a variable-duration schedule, because the reinforcement was contingent on engaging in the target behavior for lengths of time which varied from day to day.

Lola had moved to a new town and enjoyed receiving letters from her friends and family back home. She would check her post-office box periodically to see if any letters had arrived. Some days she received a letter, other days she didn't. Assume that receiving a letter is a reinforcer for Lola's behavior. The target behavior in this example was checking the post-office box. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This illustration is an example of a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement. It is an interval schedule because the response of checking the post-office box was only reinforced after it occurred following the passage of intervals of time. It is a variable-interval schedule, because the intervals of time that had to pass varied. Note that there was no limited-hold contingency, since once a letter had arrived it was available indefinitely.

Zeke watched television a lot, but occasionally the television signal was interrupted in its transmission. Sometimes the ensuing picture delay lasted as long as 30 minutes. Other times, it would be as short as a few seconds. Assume that the stimulus change from a "Please stand by" message to a television show was a reinforcer for Zeke's behavior. The target behavior was Zeke's observation of the television set when the transmission was interrupted. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This illustration is an example of a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement. It is an interval schedule, because the target behavior was reinforced only after the passage of time. It is a variable-interval schedule, because a variable amount of time passed before a response was reinforced.

Arnold worked in a sheltered workshop making cases for pop bottles. Every time he made a case that passed inspection he received a ticket with his name written on it. The tickets he earned were put into a bowl along with those of the other case-makers in the shop. At the end of each week five tickets were drawn and the winners would receive $25 for each ticket with their name on it. Assume that money is the behavioral reinforcer and that the target behavior was making one pop bottle case that passes inspection. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This illustration is an example of a variable-ratio schedule of reinforcement. It is a ratio schedule of reinforcement because the money was somewhat contingent on the number of tickets in the bowl - the more tickets Arnold had in the bowl, the greater the likelihood of reinforcement. It is a variable-ratio schedule, because the number of cases he made which resulted in reinforcement varied from week to week. His construction of only 1 acceptable case in a week might result in reinforcement, or he could make 50 acceptable cases in a week and get only one reinforcement.

Rory's television set was not working properly. The picture flipped repeatedly, much to Rory's frustration. However, Rory found that if he hit the top of the set it would stop flipping and deliver a really good picture. The number of times he had to hit the set before it stopped flipping varied. Sometimes it worked after one hit, but other times he had to smack it four, five, six, seven, or even eight times before it would operate correctly. Assume that the change from a flipping picture to a good picture is a reinforcer for Rory's behavior. The target behavior in this case is hitting the top of the television set once. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This illustration is an example of a variable-ratio schedule of reinforcement. It is a ratio schedule, because the reinforcement was produced by the number of times Rory hit the television set. It is a variable-ratio schedule, because the number of times Rory had to hit the television varied from reinforcement to reinforcement.

Paula was taking a course concerning the geography of countries in Southeast Asia. One of the test items was Identify which of the following countries is in Southeast Asia: Sweden Finland Bolivia Thailand Wawa Select one: a. Serial anticipation learning b. Paired-associates learning c. Free recall d. Verbal discrimination e. Verbal recognition

Analysis: This illustration is an example of a verbal recognition task, because Paula is being required to specify whether each item was presented to her previously (as a country in Southeast Asia).

Alice loved Popsicles. Whenever one of her parents gave her one, she would begin licking it with delight at the rate of 66 licks per minute. When she didn't have a Popsicle she engaged in licking motions at a rate of only one lick per hour. The target behavior here is Alice's licking. Select one: a. Excitatory stimulus control b. Inhibitory stimulus control

Analysis: This illustration is an example of excitatory stimulus control, because the licking response was much more likely to occur in the presence of the stimulus (a Popsicle) than in its absence.

Al-Shamali once had a girlfriend named Severna Malloy, who had fire-red hair and was very affectionate. Severna's company reinforced Al-Shamali's desires to reach for and hold a woman. Even though they have broken up, Al-Shamali's prehensile responses are particularly likely to occur when he is in the company of red-haired females. Select one: a. Excitatory stimulus generalization b. Inhibitory stimulus generalization c. Nonexample of stimulus generalization

Analysis: This illustration is an example of excitatory stimulus generalization, because the reinforcement of Al-Shamali's responses to Severna resulted in the occurrence of those responses in a different, though similar, stimulus situation.

Aldor was trying to conserve gasoline so he drove as if an egg were between his foot and the accelerator pedal at all times. He found this method did cut down on gas consumption, so he used it constantly when driving his car. One day he borrowed a car from a friend and he also drove his friend's car using the "egg" method. Select one: a. Excitatory stimulus generalization b. Inhibitory stimulus generalization c. Nonexample of stimulus generalization

Analysis: This illustration is an example of excitatory stimulus generalization. Use of the "egg" driving technique was reinforced in one stimulus situation: Aldor's driving his own car. As a result, the response became more apt to occur in another stimulus situation: when he drove his friend's car.

Martha once lost money in a pop machine. She put her money win and pressed a button, but no pop came out. As a result, she now is much less likely to put money into similar pop machines, but the likelihood that she will put money into other types of vending machines has not decreased. Select one: a. Excitatory stimulus generalization b. Inhibitory stimulus generalization c. Nonexample of stimulus generalization

Analysis: This illustration is an example of inhibitory stimulus generalization, because Martha's response of putting money into the pop machine was extinguished and this extinction resulted in the response becoming less likely to occur in similar situations (with other pop machines). Note that the inhibitory stimulus control generalized only to other pop machines, not to all vending machines.

Chuck was a 9-year-old boy who attended a special education class in a state institution. He often engaged in disruptive behaviors including loud yelling, banging objects, and pinching others. To solve this problem, Chuck (and four other students in his class) wore a coloured ribbon in bolo-tie fashion around his neck as long as he was behaving well. When he behaved disruptively, the ribbon was removed for 3 minutes. During the 3 minutes Chuck could watch classroom activities but could not participate. The teacher ignored him, and objects near him were removed from reach. As a result, Chuck's disruptive behavior declined to a very low level. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This illustration is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change, from ribbon to no ribbon, depended on the target behaviors and caused the target behaviors to be reduced. This item is an example of nonexclusionary timeout, because it involved the introduction of a stimulus associated with a reduction of reinforcement. Source: Foxx & Shapiro (1978) The correct answer is: Nonexclusionary timeout

Children at the Toddler Center, a day-care program, sometimes emitted inappropriate behaviors including physical aggression, crying and fussing, having tantrums, destroying toys, and engaging in dangerous activities including climbing to high places. To discourage these undesirable activities, children who did them were immediately removed to the periphery of the activity area and told to watch the other children behave well. After a few minutes they could rejoin the activities. This method reduced the inappropriate behaviors substantially. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This illustration is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change, removal to the periphery of the activities, depended on the target behaviors and caused the target behaviors to be reduced. This item is an example of exclusionary timeout, because the children were removed from the situation in which the target behaviors occurred. In this example, the children were not completely excluded from the activity area. They could observe the activities but not participate in them. This type of timeout procedure is called contingent observation. Source: Porterfield, Herbert-Jackson, & Risley (1976) The correct answer is: Exclusionary timeout

Patty gets a big thrill out of viewing thunderstorms. They occur only during the summer, however, and even then she has to wait days or even weeks between thunderstorms. Assume that thunderstorms are reinforcing for Patty's behavior. The target behavior is observing the sky to look for a thunderstorm. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This illustration is an example of variable-interval reinforcement. This is an interval schedule because the target behavior is reinforced only after the passage of time, the time between thunderstorms. It is a variable-interval schedule, because the amount of time that passes between thunderstorms varies from storm to storm. There is also a limited-hold contingency, because once a thunderstorm begins, there is only a limited period of time during which the target behavior can be reinforcedthe time during which the thunderstorm occurs.

Rabinder was watching a horror movie in which a psychotic killer would chop up his victims with an axe and then eat them. After the first axe-murder meal, Rabinder was so grossed out that he looked away from the screen whenever the killer appeared with his axe, but looked at the screen at all other times. The target behavior is looking at the screen. Select one: a. Excitatory stimulus control b. Inhibitory stimulus control

Analysis: This illustration is an instance of inhibitory stimulus control, because the response (looking at the screen) was more likely to occur in the absence of the stimulus (the killer wielding the axe) than in the presence of the stimulus.

Maki's parents tried to teach her the alphabet by using alphabet blocks. They began by using reinforcement to teach her to say the letter A. After they got her to say A in the presence of the A block, they showed her the B block but she still said A. Select one: a. Stimulus discrimination b. Not stimulus discrimination

Analysis: This illustration is not an example of stimulus discrimination, because Maki said A no matter which stimulus condition was present (A or B block). This is an example of stimulus generalization, because the same response (A) occurred in the presence of stimulus conditions similar to the original (A block) stimulus.

Tim was a 4-year-old, developmentally delayed boy who was a student in a remedial classroom. He spent most of his time lying on the floor squirming into odd positions. The teacher began a procedure in which Tim was placed in a seat and given toys, teacher praise, and tokens, conditional upon remaining seated. The tokens were exchangeable for candy and trinkets. As a result of this procedure, the time Tim spent squirming on the floor decreased. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This is an example of DRI because the stimulus change depended on a response (i.e., sitting) and the procedure caused a decrease in the level of the target behavior: squirming on the floor. Source: Twardosz and Sajwaj (1972) The correct answer is: DRI

Lucy was a 17-year-old developmentally delayed girl with motor epilepsy who had about 15 seizures per day. Just before a seizure, her body would become rigid, she would clench her fists, raise her arms at a 90-degree angle from her body, grimace, and her head would snap back. To try to reduce the seizures, a procedure was implemented in which Lucy's arms were returned to her sides when she raised them and she was praised lavishly and given candy for keeping her arms lowered. This procedure reduced her seizures to near-zero levels. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This is an example of a DRI procedure because a stimulus change depended on a response—arms down—that was incompatible with the target behavior, and this procedure caused the target behavior to diminish. Source: Zlutnick, Mayville, and Moffat (1975) The correct answer is: DRI

Sam was a 21-month-old child who would scream and cry at bedtime if his parents put him to bed and then left him alone before he fell asleep. As a result, his parents typically spent 0.5 to 2 hours per night with Sam, waiting for him to fall asleep. To solve this problem, a procedure was used in which the parents put Sam to bed, closed the bedroom door, left him alone, and ignored his screaming and crying. The first night Sam screamed and cried for 45 minutes, but by the tenth night Sam no longer screamed and cried at all. Select one: a. Extinction b. DRO c. DRI d. None of the above

Analysis: This is an example of extinction because the attention reinforcers for screaming and crying were withdrawn, resulting in a decreased level of screaming and crying. Source: Williams (1959) The correct answer is: Extinction

University students who suffered from test anxiety enrolled in a mini-course to treat their problem. During the initial meeting, the students heard audio recordings of other students detailing their intense exam anxiety. During later meetings, the students heard recordings in which test-anxious students detailed progressively fewer problems of exam anxiety, culminating in a recording in which they reported no exam anxiety. After listening to the recordings, the students' difficulties with exam anxiety were greatly lessened. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is an example of modeling and peer modeling because audio-recorded peers acted as models that were imitated. This is not an instance of participant modeling because the students did not engage in the demonstrated behaviors. This exemplifies modeling and imitation of the absence of a particular behavior.

Edmund enjoys viewing the rings of Saturn and other astronomical phenomena through his telescope during the evening hours. However, only evenings that have cloud-free skies allow him to view the outer-space bodies freely. Sometimes he has to wait several evenings before viewing conditions are right, but on other occasions he gets excellent and unobstructed views night after night without interruption. Assume that a clear and unclouded sky is a reinforcer for Edmund's behavior. The target behavior in this example is Edmund's looking at astronomical phenomena through his telescope at night. Select one: a. Continuous b. Fixed ratio (FR) c. Variable ratio (VR) d. Fixed interval (FI) e. Variable interval (VI) f. Fixed duration (FD) g. Variable duration (VD) h. Differential reinforcement of low rates (DRL) i. Differential reinforcement of zero responding (DRO)

Analysis: This is an illustration of a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement. It is an interval schedule of reinforcement because the response is only reinforced after a passage of time when the night skies have been cloudy. It is a variable-interval schedule because the length of time that has to pass varies. There is also a limited-hold contingency here, because the reinforcement (a clear sky) is only available for a limited period of time. Sooner or later the sky clouds over again.

A group of people who had a fear of elevators participated in training sessions intended to reduce their phobia. The people were taught to clearly imagine 15 mental pictures (15 discrete stages) in which a person gradually came nearer to an elevator and eventually rode on it. In the final scene, the person was imagined riding an elevator up the Calgary tower, a trip that takes a couple of minutes. This procedure allowed the people to approach and use elevators to a much greater extent than they had before. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling and covert modeling. The trainees did not watch an actual model, but instead imagined one. This was not participant modeling even though the activity was separated into steps. In this case, the trainees did not imitate the imagined model's behavior at each stage of the activity.

Two boys, aged 12 and 14, were subjects in research. These boys had never spoken English or Spanish words before the experiment. A researcher said English words (e.g., door, day, shampoo), and reinforced the boys' imitations of the words with praise and tokens. The researcher also included Spanish words (e.g., camisa, ventana, reloj) among the English words, but did not reinforce the boys' repetitions of the Spanish words. Nonetheless, the boys still imitated the Spanish words. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling and generalized imitation because the boys imitated responses (i.e., the Spanish words) for which they had not been trained and continued imitations of items which were not reinforced.

Nathan, 6, was a mute, autistic boy. He was put into a special training project in which the researchers used behavioral procedures such as reinforcement, shaping, and fading to encourage speech, beginning with the word cup. After training, when the trainer said cup, Nathan was able to repeat it. Use of these training methods enabled Nathan to repeat new words that the researcher said. The researcher sometimes said Danish words, and Nathan was able to correctly repeat those words as well, without reinforcement. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling and generalized imitation. Because of reinforcement of prior imitation, Nathan could imitate different modeled words the first time he heard them. Also, reinforcement for each instance of imitation was not necessary for imitation to occur.

Individuals who were fearful of police were participating in a study designed to diminish their fears. Both the researcher and the fearful people approached the police in stages, while the researcher praised the subjects for doing so. They started by moving slightly towards police officers stationed at the other side of a large room. The researcher gradually demonstrated responses that brought him nearer and nearer to the police, ending with a handshake with the police and friendly conversation. After the researcher demonstrated each step, the fearful people engaged in the same response. Once each step was successfully completed, they moved on to the next step. This method substantially reduced the people's fears of the police. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling and participant modeling because the activity was separated into progressive steps, each step was demonstrated, the fearful people were prompted to copy each modeled response, and following successful imitation, they moved on to the next step.

People with a fear of heights enrolled in a short course to assist them with their problem. The teacher set up a sequence of heights, starting with the first rung of a ladder, and extending as high as a ladder at the top of a seven-story building. The teacher demonstrated the climb to each successive height, followed by the students performing the same behavior (one level at a time), receiving both prompts and reinforcement from the teacher. When the students had successfully performed one task in the sequence, they would move on to the next, greater fear-inducing height. Through this method the students learned to climb to new heights with much less fear than before. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling and participant modeling. The task was separated into components, each modeled and reinforced, and subjects moved to more difficult components after easier components had been mastered.

Three male university students participated as subjects in an unusual experiment. In an experimental room decorated to look like a barroom, a student assistant (who was working with the experimenter) drank beer with the 3 subjects. When the student assistant elevated his rate of beer drinking, the subjects elevated their rate of beer drinking. When the student assistant slowed his rate of beer drinking, this caused a decline in the rate of the subjects' beer drinking. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling and peer modeling. The student assistant, who was a peer of the subjects, modeled a certain rate of beer consumption, which the subjects imitated.

Olya, who lived in Russia, was attending kindergarten. Unfortunately, she received little kindness or attention and was often mistreated. One day, one of Olya's schoolmates injured his finger. The teacher hugged the injured boy, carefully applied a dressing to his wound, and bestowed affection on him. After watching this, Olya purposely injured her own hand with a sharp object, causing the teacher to treat her kindly as well. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling and vicarious reinforcement because Olya imitated the injury-producing behavior to receive the desirable consequences that depended on the classmate's injury.

Young children attended a summer resort for children with diabetes. One group of the children viewed a video of older children giving themselves insulin injections, which controls diabetes. A second group of the children viewed a video about good eating habits. After the children viewed the video, the researchers trained both groups in how to inject themselves with insulin. They found that older children who had seen the self-injection video were able to self-administer insulin with more skill than those who had seen the video about good eating habits. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling as well as peer modeling. The older girls imitated the videotaped models, which were peer models.

Debbie taught swimming to children who had spina bifida, a disorder of the spinal cord that results in paralysis below the waist. When the children improved in an aspect of their swimming ability, a videographer recorded the improvement, which was then shown to the children repeatedly. This method caused the children to engage in correct swimming responses more often. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling because showing examples of desirable behaviors to children increased imitation of those behaviors. In this case, the children were both the models and the observers. When the same person both models and observes, this is called self-modeling.

Patients under treatment for hypertension watched a video of ideal patients who disclosed pertinent facts and details about their medical problem to their physicians and asked their physicians relevant questions. In a study following the video showing, the hypertensive patients communicated much more effectively with their physicians than did a control group of patients who did not see the video. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling because the patients imitated the video's demonstration of effective communication skills.

Oliver and Mary each had difficulty in school. At the beginning of a research project, Oliver and Mary were required to read from a reader every day. After this, a teacher's aide began working with them. The teacher's aide read for 2 minutes and after this, Oliver or Mary read the book, beginning where the teacher's aide finished. This technique improved their reading skills. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling because the teacher's modeling of appropriate reading behavior strengthened imitative behavior in the children who observed her.

Young, autistic boys were involved in research designed to improve their communication skills. During training, the boys observed videos of adults discussing toys the boys liked. After viewing the videos, the boys initiated the same discussion about the toys they had viewed on video. Data from the study showed that watching the video discussions improved the boys' conversational skills. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling because watching the adults' conversational skills strengthened responding by the observing boys.

A group of children, all under the age of 7, participated in research. Group 1 children observed a woman behave aggressively with toys, for which the researcher gave verbal approval repeatedly. Group 2 children also observed a woman behave aggressively with toys, but the researcher verbally disapproved of those aggressive behaviors. Group 3 children watched the woman behave aggressively toward the toys, but the experimenter neither approved nor disapproved of the aggressive behaviors. Afterward, the researchers studied all three groups of children as they played. Group 1 children performed aggressive acts more often than Group 3 children. Group 2 children, who had seen aggressive behaviors be disapproved, performed fewer aggressive acts than did Group 3 children. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling, vicarious reinforcement, and vicarious punishment. It is vicarious reinforcement because viewing the approval of the model's aggression strengthened aggressive imitation. It is vicarious punishment because viewing disapproval of the model's aggression made children less aggressive than those with other influences. The original research included a control group that did not watch a model. This portrayal of the research has been changed to exemplify vicarious effects of modeling more clearly. Vicarious reinforcement and punishment effects are ideally shown through the use of a control group that watches a model in which the model's behavior receives neither desirable nor undesirable consequences.

A male prisoner who had a stuttering problem sought help for it. A therapist treated him by having the man make an audio tape and then cutting out the parts of the tape where the man stuttered. The prisoner repeatedly listened to his speech on the edited tape. This improved the fluency of his speech and diminished his stuttering. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is modeling. This is a case of self-modeling in which the man's appropriate fluent speech served as his model for imitation.

Third-grade students normally arrived at their classroom prior to their teacher. Before the teacher arrived, the students were noisy. However, when he entered and said, "Hello Everyone. What a fine day we have today," the students became silent. When the teacher was ill for a couple of weeks, however, the children continued to become silent when their substitute teacher entered the classroom. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is not modeling. Although the students became silent in response to a similar stimulus each time, this was not due to imitation.

Office employees working in a skyscraper were observed to determine whether they drew the blinds at the windows to their offices. Data showed that during the early afternoon hours, 85% of the blinds in the building were drawn to block the intense afternoon sunlight. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is not modeling. Most employees acted alike by drawing the blinds, but this behavior was due to its common effect in escaping from the bright sunlight, not imitation of one another's behavior.

Boys (around 6 years old) viewed a video in which a mother instructed her child not to play with some toys on table, and then left the room, leaving her child alone with the toys. The child in the video then played with the toys. Group 1 boys saw a version of the video in which the mother returned to the room, took the toys away, and shook her child briefly. Group 2 boys saw a version of the video in which the mother never returned to the room. After watching the video, both groups were sent to a room of toys; the experimenter instructed the boys not to play with the toys. Secret observations of the boys indicated that the Group 1 boys played with the prohibited toys much less than the Group 2 boys. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This is vicarious punishment because undesirable consequences depended on the model's behavior and this weakened the observer's behavior.

John was working on a test in his geography class and came to the following test item: "Name each country in South America." He named as many as he could. Select one: a. Serial anticipation learning b. Paired-associates learning c. Free recall d. Verbal discrimination e. Verbal recognition

Analysis: This item is a free-recall task because John was required to name as many items as he could as a result of previously learning those items (i.e., studying for the test).

Stella was in a learning experiment. On each trial, she was presented with a word (e.g., bell) and was required to name a specific word that rhymed with it (e.g., smell). No reinforcement of any kind was provided for correct responding. Select one: a. Serial anticipation learning b. Paired-associates learning c. Free recall d. Verbal discrimination e. Verbal recognition

Analysis: This item is a paired-associates learning task, because Stella was required to name a response word for each stimulus word presented.

In a high school course, students were learning the notion of inflation. The textbook presented a definition of inflation and gave an example of inflation that occurred in Germany after World War I. Later, on an exam, the students read several other items describing historical instances of inflation along with several items describing instances when there had been no inflation. The students had not been previously exposed to the items on the exam. On the exam, the students tended to say that all the items were examples of inflation. Select one: a. Conceptual discrimination b. Overgeneralization c. Undergeneralization d. Not conceptual discrimination

Analysis: This item is an example of a faulty conceptual discrimination. For these students, the critical features of inflation were not discriminative stimuli for their behavior because they could not correctly identify nonexamples of inflation. It is an example of overgeneralization because the students identified nonexamples of inflation as examples.

Children in a preschool were learning what on top means. The teacher showed them several examples of on top, including a ball being on top of a toy truck, a doll being on top of a small wooden block, and a picture book being on top of a mat. Later, the children were tested using novel stimuli that were either on top or not on top of each other (nonexamples). The children were able to correctly identify examples of on top when small items were used. However, when the teacher showed large items on top of one another, they failed to identify the items as on top of one another. For example, the children failed to identify a roof on top of a house as an example of on top. Select one: a. Conceptual discrimination b. Overgeneralization c. Undergeneralization d. Not conceptual discrimination

Analysis: This item is an example of a faulty conceptual discrimination. It has elements of a conceptual discrimination because the students could identify the critical features of on top with small objects. However, the critical features of on top did not control the students' responding with large objects. It is an example of undergeneralization because the students identified some concept examples as nonexamples.

In a high school art appreciation class, students were learning about cubism, a style of painting that depicts objects and people in terms of two-dimensional geometric shapes, without realistic detail. Much of Picasso's work exemplifies cubism. After training, the teachers showed the students slides of various cubist and noncubist works that the students had not viewed before. The students correctly classified the noncubist paintings, but they incorrectly classified many of the cubist paintings as noncubist. Select one: a. Conceptual discrimination b. Overgeneralization c. Undergeneralization d. Not conceptual discrimination

Analysis: This item is an example of a faulty conceptual discrimination. It has elements of a conceptual discrimination; the students could identify the critical features represented in some of the cubist paintings. However, the critical features of cubism did not properly control the students' responding to all the cubist paintings because they identified some examples of cubism as nonexamples. It is an example of undergeneralization because the students identified some concept examples as nonexamples.

A class of preschool children were trained to identify squares and to distinguish these from nonsquares. After training, the children were tested. Trainers showed the children squares they had not seen before along with other geometric shapes. The students correctly identified the squares as squares, but also identified several other types of closed geometric forms as squares. Select one: a. Conceptual discrimination b. Overgeneralization c. Undergeneralization d. Not conceptual discrimination

Analysis: This item is an example of a faulty conceptual discrimination. The testing procedure was appropriate for testing conceptual discrimination because it used novel examples and nonexamples. However, the critical features of squareness did not control the children's responding on the test. This is an example of overgeneralization because the children identified some concept nonexamples as examples.

Sue was taking a course in French. On a surprise quiz, she was given 10 French words and she was required to supply their English equivalents. Select one: a. Serial anticipation learning b. Paired-associates learning c. Free recall d. Verbal discrimination e. Verbal recognition

Analysis: This item is an example of a paired-associates learning task, because Sue was required to name the English response word that was paired with each French stimulus word.

Roy was a meteorologist, a person who studies and predicts the weather. Roy did his job by studying weather maps and computer printouts of weather data. He was able to look for key aspects of the data, such as a particular pattern of high and low pressure areas. Roy was also able to analyze the data he collected. For example, Roy could assess the relative importance of the various aspects of the data. Roy's skills allowed him to accurately predict the weather, even under unusual combinations of conditions he had not encountered before. Select one: a. Conceptual behavior b. Generalized response class c. Both d. None of the above

Analysis: This item is an example of both conceptual behavior and a generalized response class. It is conceptual behavior because Roy's behavior was controlled by critical features of weather conditions rather than specific signals. It is also a generalized response class because though the weather conditions changed, Roy's analysis continued to include assessments of the relative importance of different aspects of the data. Roy's accuracy in making novel predictions under unusual conditions indicated a generalized response class.

Six developmentally delayed males ranging in age from 8 to 23 were learning how to put on different kinds of pullover shirts. Pullover shirts all have certain stimulus features in common (e.g., big opening at the bottom, smaller openings for neck and arms at the top) and certain response features in common (e.g., positioning the shirt over one's head, putting arms through armholes, pulling the shirt down). However, different types of pullover shirts differ in both their stimulus features (e.g., fabric, sleeve length, type of collar, and fit) and the responses features necessary to put them on (e.g., pulling the arms through a long, rather than a short sleeve). The trainees learned how to put on the shirts through training with several different types of pullover shirts. Because of this training, the subjects were able to put on pullover shirts that they had not put on before. Select one: a. Conceptual behavior b. Generalized response class c. Both d. None of the above

Analysis: This item is an example of both conceptual behavior and a generalized response class. It is conceptual behavior because the trainees responded correctly to the stimulus features of the pullover shirts, as shown by their performance with novel shirts. It is a generalized response class because the trainees learned response features on the training shirts. These response features allowed for correct responding with novel test shirts, which required slightly different responses but had the same response features as the training shirts. It is an example of general-case instruction.

Violet was a young girl who hid whenever she saw a dog. She hid from all types of dogsbig dogs, little dogs, frisky dogs, tired old dogs, and so on. She did not hide from other animals. Violet hid in a wide variety of places including behind bushes, in her house, in her garage, and behind a fence. Violet's hiding actions always put her out of sight of the dog. Often she encountered novel dogs in various circumstances. Violet was always able to hide successfully. Select one: a. Conceptual behavior b. Generalized response class c. Both d. None of the above

Analysis: This item is an example of both conceptual behavior and of a generalized response class. It is conceptual behavior because Violet's responses were controlled by the critical features of a dog (i.e., dogness) rather than by a specific dog. This is also a generalized response class because though Violet's hiding behaviors were all different, they shared the response feature of putting her out of sight of the dog. Violet demonstrated learning of a generalized response class by responding consistently in new situations that required novel hiding behaviors.

Donna, Mary, and Jeff were all legally blind and developmentally delayed. They were in a program to train them to clean rooms. Training took place in a model apartment where the researchers taught the trainees a variety of cleaning responses to a variety of stimuli. Although a variety of stimuli and responses were involved, the trainees were taught certain generic cleaning tasks (cleaning a floor) in response to certain generic stimuli (e.g., type and size of the floor). During training, Donna, Mary, and Jeff learned to respond to stimulus features of things in the model apartment and learned to engage in cleaning tasks defined by response features. Later, the trainees were tested in three different situations: an office, an infirmary, and a conference room. The trainees were able to clean the three rooms at a relatively high level of correct responding. Select one: a. Conceptual behavior b. Generalized response class c. Both d. None of the above

Analysis: This item is an example of both conceptual behavior and of a generalized response class. It is conceptual behavior because the trainees responded correctly to the stimulus features of the things in the model apartment, as shown by their cleaning performance in the novel rooms. It is a generalized response class because the trainees learned response features in the model apartment, allowing for correct responding on the novel test rooms. It is an example of general-case instruction.

Anders was learning to calculate the length of the hypotenuse (the longest side) of a right triangle after being given the length of the other two sides. This task demanded that he discriminate several important features of a triangle and correctly apply a formula (i.e., the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides). He practiced with one type of right triangle in which the sides were three, four, and five units long. Later, he was given problems with other types of right triangles but could not solve them. Although he could discriminate the features of right triangles and differentiate between novel right triangles and other types of novel triangles, he could only apply the formula to right triangles with sides of three, four, and five units in length. Select one: a. Conceptual behavior b. Generalized response class c. Both d. None of the above

Analysis: This item is an example of conceptual behavior because Anders could discriminate right triangles from other types of triangles. However, this is not a generalized response class because Anders could not apply the formula to solve a range of problems involving the calculation of the sides of right triangles.

June was an art teacher. In her work, she often examined students' projects and noted whether they showed the characteristics of good art, including such things as balance of elements, composition, originality of style, colour coordination, etc. She also told students how to rearrange the elements in their work in order to improve it. She was able to do both of these things even though every student project was different. Select one: a. Conceptual behavior b. Generalized response class c. Both d. None of the above

Analysis: This item is an example of conceptual behavior because June's behavior was under the control of stimulus features, the artistic features of the students' projects. June's ability to identify the critical stimulus features in novel projects demonstrates this stimulus-feature control. It is also an example of a generalized response class because June could correctly explain how to rearrange the elements of the students' projects, which were all novel to her.

Kevin was taking an introductory anthropology course that included instruction in the notions of matriarchal and patriarchal societies. Kevin's anthropology instructor used concept teaching principles and taught students these concepts using examples and nonexamples of each type of society. On the final exam, Kevin was given novel examples of patriarchal and matriarchal societies and was able to classify these examples correctly. However, he was also directed to provide original examples of the two types of societies but was unable to write original examples. Select one: a. Conceptual behavior b. Generalized response class c. Both d. None of the above

Analysis: This item is an example of conceptual behavior because Kevin could respond to the critical features of matriarchal and patriarchal societies. It is not an example of a generalized response class because Kevin could not engage in responses (writing original examples) defined by a set of response features (i.e., the features of matriarchal and patriarchal societies).

Experimenters were working with a group of fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-grade students. After reading 14 brief stories, the students were asked to identify the motives of characters in the story, particularly to distinguish between apparent motives and actual motives. Training methods included prompting student responding with questions, praising them for correct responding, correcting errors by redirecting the student to pertinent parts of the story, and offering correct-answer feedback. As a result the students were able to read new stories and correctly identify character motives. Select one: a. Conceptual discrimination b. Overgeneralization c. Undergeneralization d. Not conceptual discrimination

Analysis: This item is an example of conceptual discrimination because after training, the students could discriminate the critical feature of character motives. The critical feature of a character's motive is the actual reason why the character acts as she does. Variable features of a character's motive include the apparent reason for the character's actions, the age of the character, and whether the character's motives are good or bad.

Two teachers did an experiment in which they taught the concept of chide to university students. They defined chide as talking to someone in order to get them to correct their mistakes. The teachers taught chide using various methods, including giving examples of the word in sentence contexts, giving examples of instances of chiding, and giving synonyms of the word. A post-test included examples of chide that the students had not read during training. Data from the study showed that all of the training methods helped to get the students to respond correctly to the post-test items. Select one: a. Conceptual discrimination b. Overgeneralization c. Undergeneralization d. Not conceptual discrimination

Analysis: This item is an example of conceptual discrimination because on the post-test the students could discriminate the critical features of chide. The critical feature of chide is criticism of one person's performance by another person or other people. Variable features of chide include the nature of the criticism, the form (e.g., written, spoken) of the criticism, and its length and intensity. Note that in this item the teachers taught conceptual behavior using various methods. The method used to teach conceptual behavior is not a critical feature of conceptual behavior.

Several researchers taught a group of 40 preschool children the concept of diagonal. They defined diagonal as a tilted line. During teaching, the researchers showed the children six examples of diagonal that included 4-inch lines at angles of 45°, 72.5°, 135°, and 142.5°. The researchers also showed the children two nonexamples of diagonal, 4-inch black lines at angles of 0° and 90°. Teaching methods included the teacher identifying examples and nonexamples of diagonal. The teacher also required the students to identify examples and nonexamples and praised them for correct responding. On a post-test, the children were shown examples and nonexamples of diagonal and were required to identify them as examples or nonexamples. The post-test items were 3 inches long, were wavy rather than straight, and red rather than black. Because of the training, the students did well on the post-test. Select one: a. Conceptual discrimination b. Overgeneralization c. Undergeneralization d. Not conceptual discrimination

Analysis: This item is an example of conceptual discrimination because on the post-test the students could discriminate the critical features of diagonal. The critical feature of diagonal is that the line angle be discernibly different from either 0° or 90°. Variable features of diagonal include the length, colour, thickness, and specific angle of the lines (within the acceptable range of variation). Note that on the post-test, the same angles were used as the ones used in training, but the researchers used novel stimuli by altering the variable features of the lines.

Else was concerned because many literary concepts are poorly defined and misunderstood. She developed a set of materials to teach students about the literary concept of irony. She defined irony as having three components: (a) dissembling, or hiding under a false appearance, (b) subtlety, and (c) surprise. To teach the concept, she developed a training program that included examples of irony along with nonexamples that were missing one of irony's critical features. Else presented both humourous and tragic examples and nonexamples. On a post-test, Else's students were able to correctly identify examples and nonexamples of irony that they had not encountered before. Select one: a. Conceptual discrimination b. Overgeneralization c. Undergeneralization d. Not conceptual discrimination

Analysis: This item is an example of conceptual discrimination because on the post-test the students could discriminate the critical features of irony. Critical features of irony include the dissembling feature, subtlety, and surprise. Variable features include humorous or tragic content.

Two researchers taught a group of university students about the morpheme, the smallest unit of language that carries meaning, contributes to the meaning of words in which it appears, and cannot be subdivided into smaller units that have meaning. Examples of morphemes include the s-ending in plural words, words such as pin, child, load, and pray, the er in the word unloader and the hood in childhood. The students did a discrimination training exercise that included a clear definition of morpheme and involved responding to examples and nonexamples. As a result, on a post-test the students could identify examples and nonexamples of morphemes that were not included in the training examples and nonexamples. Select one: a. Conceptual discrimination b. Overgeneralization c. Undergeneralization d. Not conceptual discrimination

Analysis: This item is an example of conceptual discrimination because on the post-test the students could discriminate the critical features of morphemes. Critical features of the morpheme included a unit of language that (a) carries meaning, (b) contributes to the meaning of the word in which it appears, and (c) cannot be subdivided into smaller units that still have meaning. Variable features of the morpheme include whether the unit is a word or part of a word, the length of the unit, the spelling of the unit, and so forth.

University students were learning Goldiamond's concept of a constructional approach to behavior change, which emphasizes teaching new forms of useful behavior rather than simply eliminating undesirable responses. Students were trained to identify examples and nonexamples of this approach in a training program. As a test of learning, the experimenters gave the students new examples of behavior change projects using the constructional approach and new nonexamples in which behavior change occurred without following the constructional approach. As a result of the training, the students were able to classify correctly the examples and nonexamples of the constructional approach. Select one: a. Conceptual discrimination b. Overgeneralization c. Undergeneralization d. Not conceptual discrimination

Analysis: This item is an example of conceptual discrimination because on the post-test the students could discriminate the critical features of the constructional approach, as shown by their ability to discriminate novel examples and nonexamples of this concept. The critical feature of the constructional approach is that new useful behavior is trained. Variable features of the constructional approach include the specific type of behavior taught, the subject population, and the methods used to teach the new behavior.

University students were learning the poetry concept of trochaic meter. In poetry with trochaic meter, a short or unstressed syllable follows a long or stressed syllable. The students studied a definition of trochaic meter, and then did a discrimination training exercise in which they studied examples and nonexamples of trochaic meter. Byron wrote one of the examples: Maid of Athens, ere we part, Give, oh give me back my heart! Housman wrote one of the nonexamples in which one stressed syllable follows one unstressed syllable: When I was one-and-twenty I heard a wise man say, "Give crowns and pounds of guineas, But not your heart away." As a result of these training methods, on a post-test the students were able to distinguish between examples and nonexamples of trochaic meter they had not seen before. Select one: a. Conceptual discrimination b. Overgeneralization c. Undergeneralization d. Not conceptual discrimination

Analysis: This item is an example of conceptual discrimination because on the post-test the students could discriminate the critical features of trochaic meter, as shown by their ability to discriminate novel examples and nonexamples of this concept. The critical feature of trochaic meter is that one stressed syllable is followed by one unstressed syllable. Variable features of trochaic meter include the content of the poem, stylistic features of the poem, the quality of the poem, and so forth.

David, 10, was hospitalized for severe asthma. He also had behavior problems. These included staying in bed every morning, whimpering and crying when other children teased him, failing to play with other children, and leaping on adults to tickle them. To solve these problems, a therapist made David the actor in a video in which he got up in the morning, made his bed, stood up for himself against attacks by other children, took the initiative to play a game with other children, and acted appropriately with an adult in an office setting. David watched this video over and over during a period of weeks, causing him to imitate the desirable behaviors he saw himself perform in the videos. He performed inappropriately much less often, and months after the intervention, David's behavioral improvements continued. Select one or more: a. Modeling b. Vicarious reinforcement c. Vicarious punishment d. Generalized imitation e. Peer modeling f. Covert modeling g. Participant modeling h. Self-modeling i. Not an example of modeling

Analysis: This item is an example of modeling. David imitated his own good behaviors portrayed on the video. This is an instance of self-modeling in which the model and the individual performing the modeled behaviors are the same person.

Peter was 10 years old, cognitively impaired, and legally blind. He was enrolled in a program for severely disturbed children. Peter was verbally and nonverbally aggressive. His aggression included hitting, kicking, choking, pulling, and pushing others, as well as threatening to kill others and to step on their faces. A treatment used with Peter required him to stand up and sit down 10 times after each instance of aggression (physical and verbal). This method produced a decline in nonverbal aggression from over 60 responses per day (average) to fewer than 5 per day and a decline in aggressive comments from about 25 per day to fewer than 10 per day. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This item is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change (no required exercise to required exercise) was dependent on the target behaviors and reduced the frequency of the target behaviors. This procedure, called contingent exercise, is neither an example of timeout nor one of response cost. This procedure is the punishment equivalent of the Premack Principle. According to the standard Premack Principle, a high-probability behavior can be used to reinforce a low-probability behavior. In this illustration, a low-frequency behavior, exercise, is used to punish high-frequency aggressive behaviors. Source: Luce, Delquadri, & Hall (1980) The correct answer is: Punishment

Velma was a cognitively disabled 32-year-old woman. She was blind and deaf. She had a behavior problem called bruxism, a grinding of the teeth that can cause damage to the teeth, gums, and jaw. Before treatment, Velma engaged in bruxism during more than 60% of the time that her behavior was measured. A treatment was used in which a piece of ice was applied to Velma's cheek or chin when she ground her teeth. This procedure reduced her teeth grinding to only about 11% of the time that her behavior was measured. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This item is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change from no ice to ice depended on the target behavior and because the stimulus change caused a reduction in the target behavior. Source: Blount, Drabman, Wilson, & Stewart (1982) The correct answer is: Punishment

Ascenda was a hyperactive 6-year-old girl who had brain damage owing to contracting meningitis during infancy. She would climb to high places on furniture, window sills, trees, and houses. She had several scars and had lost her front teeth from falling from heights. To solve the problem, several procedures including timeout and DRI were used, unsuccessfully. A psychologist then used a procedure in which Ascenda was given an electric shock with a hand-held device when she climbed. After receiving several shocks, Ascenda climbed a lot less than before. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This item is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change from no shock to shock was dependent on climbing and the shocks reduced the frequency of climbing. Source: Risley (1968) The correct answer is: Punishment

Celia was a cognitively disabled and hearing-impaired 5-year-old girl. A big problem with her was that she would scratch other people. To solve this problem, Celia was put behind a free-standing room divider for several minutes where she could not see other children in the classroom. Before being separated from the other children, Celia had scratched others twice after an initial warning. The procedure caused Celia's scratching to decline from 0.15 scratches per minute to 0.05 scratches per minute and eventually scratching was almost completely eliminated. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This item is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change, being sent behind a room divider, depended on the target behaviors and caused a reduction in the target behaviors. This item is an example of exclusionary timeout, because Celia was removed from the situation in which the target behaviors had occurred. Source: Barton, Brulle, & Repp (1987) The correct answer is: Exclusionary timeout

Eight female teenagers were in the custody of a county family and children's services department. They lived in a cottage residence, with a 9:45 p.m. curfew from Sunday through Thursday. Curfew violations were a problem, so a system was set up in which residents who arrived late on any given evening would cause the next evening's curfew to be earlier for all the cottage residents. As a result the frequency of late arrivals declined substantially. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This item is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change, making the curfew earlier, depended on late arrivals and caused a reduction in late arrivals. In this type of group contingency, whenever one person emits the target behavior, all members of the group get the consequence. Source: Alexander, Corbett, & Smigel (1976) The correct answer is: Punishment

Martha was an 18-year-old girl who emitted hyperactive behaviors including squirming, rocking, scratching, thrashing her head about, and fussing continually with her hair and clothing. She was willing to participate in a program designed to teach her to sit still. She was placed in a small room with an operating television set. The room was monitored by motion detection instruments to measure Martha's hyperactivity. Whenever Martha emitted a gross movement, the television picture would become distorted. As a result, Martha's hyperactivity declined from more than 10 responses per minute to about 1.5 responses per minute. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This item is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change, picture distortion, depended on the target behaviors and caused the frequency of the target behaviors to decline substantially. Source: Greene & Hoats (1969) The correct answer is: Punishment

A group of high school students was learning about different types of minerals. As part of their instruction, the teacher had each student examine a kit that contained 20 different mineral specimens. The students' task was to learn to identify each specimen by examining it and then turning over a card placed in front of the specimen to see the name of the mineral. On a mid-term exam, the students were tested on their knowledge of the minerals. The same specimens they had studied earlier were numbered and placed on a table. The students' task was to write down the name of each mineral on their answer sheet. Dana, one of the students in the class, correctly identified each of the specimens. Select one: a. Conceptual discrimination b. Overgeneralization c. Undergeneralization d. Not conceptual discrimination

Analysis: This item is not an example of conceptual discrimination. On the exam, the students were tested using the same mineral specimens they had used during training. Because of this, the students' correct exam responding could be due to learning names for the specific specimens used in training rather than learning the names of the critical features of each mineral. To test for conceptual behavior, the exam would have had to use novel mineral specimens. This would have provided a test of the discriminative control of stimulus features that define conceptual behavior, rather than specific stimuli.

A group of researchers were working with a teacher to improve the reading skills of sixth-grade students enrolled in a remedial program. Part of the training included teaching students to identify the main idea in short reading passages. The students read the passage, underlined the sentence or phrase that contained the main idea, and received feedback by checking the correct answer, located on the back of the paper. The students were tested on their ability to identify the main idea by reading passages that they had read before and asking them to identify the main idea by underlining a key sentence or phrase. These tests showed that the students had learned to identify the main ideas. Select one: a. Conceptual discrimination b. Overgeneralization c. Undergeneralization d. Not conceptual discrimination

Analysis: This item is not an example of conceptual discrimination. The students were tested using the same reading passages that they had used during training. Because of this, the students' correct responding on the tests could be due to learning the specific main ideas of each passage rather than learning the critical features of the main idea. To test for conceptual behavior, the tests would have had to use novel reading passages. This would have provided a test of whether the critical features of the concept were discriminative stimuli for the students' responding.

Agnes, a 4-year-old, had learned to imitate 10 different behaviors that her trainer, Jackie, had taught her. Whenever Jackie demonstrated one of the 10 behaviors and clapped her hands (the signal to imitate) Agnes could imitate the response immediately. However, when Jackie demonstrated a new behavior and clapped her hands, Agnes simply looked puzzled and could not imitate the response. Select one: a. Conceptual behavior b. Generalized response class c. Both d. None of the above

Analysis: This item is not an example of either conceptual behavior or a generalized response class. It is not conceptual behavior because Agnes was not responding to stimulus features, but instead to 10 different stimuli, the modelled responses. It is not a generalized response class because Agnes could not engage in novel responses that shared a response feature such as imitativeness.

Dr. Bucklew ran an study in which 100 experimental subjects first read a prose passage describing the basic features of a mini-computer and then read a passage explaining the operation of a micro-computer. A control group of 100 subjects read only the material on the mini-computers. On a test of the mini-computer material, the experimental subjects did far better than the control subjects. Select one: a. Proactive inhibition b. Retroactive inhibition c. Neither

Analysis: This item is not an example of proactive or retroactive interference. Because the experimental group performed better than the control group, we can conclude that the micro-computer material facilitated rather than impaired the student's performance on the mini-computer material.

Dorothy had learned the names of capital cities of several countries in the world. After mastering this task, she subsequently learned the chief agricultural exports of the countries with relative ease. Select one: a. Proactive inhibition b. Retroactive inhibition c. Neither

Analysis: This item is not an example of proactive or retroactive interference. Dorothy's performance on the second task was facilitated by learning the first task, so this illustration is an example of positive transfer of learning, not interference.

Kathleen was a patient in a psychiatric hospital being treated for severe depression. Kathleen would often sit in a chair in the ward sunroom all day without moving. Her psychiatrist prescribed electro-shock therapy for her in which, on the first Tuesday of every month, Kathleen was given a powerful electric shock. As a result of this procedure Kathleen spent less time sitting in the sunroom than she had before. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This item is not an example of punishment, because the stimulus change from no shock to shock did not depend on the target behavior. When a stimulus change depends on a behavior, the stimulus change occurs when the behavior occurs and doesn't change when the behavior fails to occur. In this case the shock sessions took place once a month regardless of the occurrence of the target behavior. The correct answer is: Not punishment

Joey continually banged his head against his playpen. After several days of this, his head banging seemed to be increasing in force, creating welts, bruises, and sores on his head. Nonetheless, to his parents' horror, he continued to pound his head against the playpen. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This item is not an example of punishment, because there is no mention of a decrease in the target behavior. The correct answer is: Not punishment

Martin was a patient in a mental hospital. He would occasionally become very aggressive, striking and biting other patients, nurses, and attendants. To quell Martin's aggression, a physician administered a heavy dose of a tranquilizer, causing Martin to become quite placid, and eliminating his aggression. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This item is not an example of punishment. Even if the drug was administered dependent on Martin's aggression, the behavior-drug dependency would not be the cause of the reduction in aggression, because the drug would diminish the aggression whether it was administered dependent on or independent of the aggression. The correct answer is: Not punishment

Dr. Ellis was working with Freddie, a man who had a few idiosyncrasies. Whenever the subject of his mental life would come up, Freddie would claim that the Greek playwright Aristophanes had somehow been trapped inside him. As a part of Freddie's treatment Dr. Ellis would pay attention to him only when he engaged in conversation which did not include claims that Aristophanes was inside him. As a result of this method, Freddie's claims to have Aristophanes inside him declined to zero. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This item is not an example of punishment. In punishment a stimulus change depends on a behavior. In this illustration, there was no stimulus change that depended on the target behavior. Instead, a stimulus change depended on the absence of the target behavior. This item is an example of a DRO procedure. The correct answer is: Not punishment

Emille was recovering from an automobile accident and was having some difficulty in walking. To encourage her to walk, her physiotherapist, Etienne, gave her a token for every 100 steps she took; she could leave the hospital when she had accumulated 10 tokens. As a result Emille markedly increased the number of steps she walked. Bob also recorded the amount of time Emille spent in bed watching television. He found that her television watching dramatically decreased as a result of the token reinforcement program. Select one: a. Response generalization b. Not response generalization

Analysis: This item is not an instance of response generalization. In response generalization there is a spread of the effect of reinforcement to an unreinforced response and this unreinforced response must increase in frequency, not decrease.

Sabrina was presented with the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10, with one number presented per slide in each trial. She was required to provide a specific word for each number. For example, the word for 1 was "tie," the word for 2 was "Noah," the word for 3 was "Ma," and the word for 4 was "rye." She was told after each response (or after 5 seconds, whichever came first) whether her response was correct. If she was incorrect, Bob, the experimenter gave her the correct answer. Select one: a. Serial anticipation learning b. Paired-associates learning c. Free recall d. Verbal discrimination e. Verbal recognition

Analysis: This item represents paired-associate learning, because (a) pairs of verbal items were used and (b) the task involved providing the response word when presented with the stimulus items (the numbers).

Joe was Beatrice's secretary. Because Bea was not satisfied with Joe's typing productivity, she implemented a procedure by which he would get an extra $5 every day he typed 30 pages or more. As a result, Joe's page production increased dramatically. An analysis of Joe's work indicated that 20- to 24-page days and 25- to 29-page days increased as well as 30-page (or more) days. Select one: a. Response generalization b. Not response generalization

Analysis: Yes, the above example is a case of response generalization. The reinforcement procedure increased the number of days on which Joe typed 30 pages or more, indicating an effect of reinforcement. However, days on which Joe typed 20 to 24 and 25 to 29 pages were also increased, even though responding at these levels was not reinforced.

At home, Eddie's Grandma Merit usually studied with him and judiciously praised his successes in comprehending his reader. He worked diligently under these conditions. When Grandma Merit wasn't around, no one else paid any attention to his work, so he didn't do any. Select one: a. Stimulus discrimination b. Not stimulus discrimination

Analysis: Yes, this illustration is an example of stimulus discrimination, because Eddie's work was reinforced in the presence of one stimulus (Grandma) and not reinforced in the presence of different stimuli (no Grandma). Grandma Merit is the S+ and her absence is the S-.

Billy often made comments and whispered to his friends during Ms. Hagey's history class. Finally, Ms. Hagey announced that there would be no homework-free weekends as long as students talked during her class. Although Billy kept on making his comments during class, no one would answer him, and after a few days Billy kept his remarks to himself. Select one: a. Extinction b. Not extinction

Analysis: This example illustrates extinction, because Billy stopped making comments in class after his friends withheld reinforcement by not answering him. The correct answer is: Extinction

Allan was a 9-year-old boy who had been referred to Dr. Hansen by a urologist. Allan's problem was bed-wetting. Part of the treatment was use of a device that sounded a moderately loud tone when the child wet his bed. If Allan then failed to get up and flip a switch that turned off the first tone, a second much louder and more unpleasant tone would sound within 7 seconds. After experiencing the second, louder tone a few times, Allan always promptly flipped the switch to turn off the first tone. Eventually, Allan also stopped wetting his bed. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This illustration is an example of avoidance, because (a) a stimulus change from a moderately loud tone to a louder tone depended on the absence of the target behavior (getting up to flip the switch) and (b) this procedure increased the level of the target behavior. Source: Hansen (1979) The correct answer is: Avoidance

Dr. Chuol gave excellent lectures in her psychology course, but her (few) jokes were invariably greeted with deafening silence. Recently, however, some of the students began to laugh uproariously at her jokes. Now Dr. Chuol tells at least a dozen jokes during each lecture. Select one: a. Extinction b. Not extinction

Analysis: This item does not illustrate extinction because Dr. Chuol told more jokes, not fewer. The correct answer is: Not extinction

Ever since phone lines had been installed in Prairieville, citizens had been able to call directory assistance without charge. Then the phone company changed its policy, charging for directory assistance calls at $0.20 per call. The citizens were outraged about this change. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This item is not an example of punishment, because there is no mention of a decrease in the level of the target behavior. In the actual study, imposing a directory assistance fee caused a decline in the number of directory assistance calls. Source: McSweeny (1978) The correct answer is: Not punishment

Iris was in a program for emotionally disturbed students in elementary school. During the first week of training designed to improve her attention, she was given 5 minutes of free play for every 5 minutes of time she spent with her eyes on the teacher during lesson presentations. This procedure worked well, and during the second week, Iris was awarded 10 minutes of free time for every 5 minutes of attending. During the third week, 5 minutes of Iris's attention was good for 10 minutes of free time and extra attention from the teacher. Select one: a. Shaping b. Not shaping

Analysis: This item is not an example of shaping, because there is no successive reinforcement of responses that are increasingly like some goal response. The correct answer is: Not shaping

Joachim was an autistic child who had great difficulty in correctly responding to symbols, although he could respond to colours. During the first part of a training program, a trainer presented his name spelled correctly in red letters and misspelled in green letters. Joachim's task was to pick the correctly spelled name. He gradually became more successful in doing this, and the training continued with the misspelled versions of his name printed in gradually less green hues and progressively more red hues. Finally, Joachim was able to choose the correct name when both it and the misspelled versions were printed in red letters. During training, he was given a spoonful of custard after each correct choice. Select one: a. Shaping b. Not shaping

Analysis: This item is not an example of shaping. In this case, reinforcement of a response which is more and more similar to a target response is not offered. The response of choosing the correct name is reinforced throughout the training procedure. There is, however, a gradual change in the stimulus for which a response is reinforced. (This item is an example of fading, which is not covered in the text.) The correct answer is: Not shaping

Blanche wanted to study the incidence of shoplifting in department stores. During an initial 3-week period, she measured the number of wallets stolen from one department store display and the number of earrings taken from another display. During a second 3-week period, she posted signs near the wallet display which stated that shoplifters would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. She continued to measure the number of wallets stolen. Finally, during a third 3-week period, she moved the "shoplifters will be prosecuted" signs from the wallet area to the earrings area. Throughout the experiment, Blanche made sure that the wallets and earrings were equally accessible and under equal surveillance by store personnel. Blanche found that fewer wallets and earrings were stolen when anti-shoplifting signs were posted near them. Is this an experiment?

Analysis: In this experiment the independent variable is the presence of anti-shoplifting signs near the merchandise. Blanche manipulated the placement of signs over time by placing the signs near the wallets, then removing the signs from the wallets and placing them near the earrings. This strategy allowed her to compare the volume of shoplifting (the dependent variable) that occurred in the presence or absence of the signs. Two controlled variables are the accessibility of the items and the surveillance by store personnel. This experiment is a within-subjects design, because Blanche exposed subjects to different values of the independent variable at different times. The correct answer is: Yes, this is an experiment

Iain, a third-grade teacher, was interested in the effects of rewards on the accuracy with which his students solved arithmetic problems. For 1 week, he bestowed lavish praise on students who received 80% or better on a daily, 15-minute arithmetic problem drill. During the next week, he discontinued this reward system but continued to measure student test performance. Finally, for the third week Iain reinstituted the praise reward. Throughout the experiment Iain made sure that the problems were equally difficult. When he analyzed the data, Iain found that during the first week, average problem-solving accuracy reached 86%. During the second week, accuracy declined to 65%, but it rose to 84% again during the third week. Is this an experiment?

Analysis: In this experiment, the independent variable is the reward for problem-solving accuracy. Iain has manipulated this variable across time by applying it during the first week, withdrawing it during the second week, and reinstituting it during the third week. Two controlled variables are problem difficulty and the 15-minute period test period, because these variables are held constant. This experiment is a within-subjects design, because the same subjects received different values of the independent variable at different periods of time during the experiment (i.e., the presence of praise was alternated with the absence of praise, or a "zero" value of the independent variable). The dependent variable in the study is the accuracy with which the students solved the arithmetic problems. The correct answer is: Yes, this is an experiment

As a graduate student, Alissa was doing research on the effect of the size of units of instructional material on student performance in learning that material. One group of students was required to study a very large unit of written material and take a test on it. A second group of students studied the same material, divided into two units. The second group studied the first part, took a test, and then studied the second part, followed again by a test. Students in both groups studied in the same classroom. Alissa found that the shorter-units group had a better cumulative test score than did the longer-unit group. Is this an experiment?

Analysis: In this illustration, the independent variable is the size of the unit of instructional material, which was manipulated (controlled) by the experimenter. Alissa changed the variable by splitting one large unit into two smaller (half-sized) units. This experiment is a group (between-subjects) design because different groups received different values of the independent variable. The dependent variable in the experiment is student performance (test scores), which was measured to reveal the influence of unit size (the independent variable). Two controlled variables are the content of the material studied and the study environment, because these variables were the same for both groups. The correct answer is: Yes, this is an experiment

Angela worried her teachers. She spent little time working or playing with any of her classmates. To remedy this, her teachers began to compliment any work that she did in a group and to talk with her when she was playing with others. Soon, Angela was spending a great deal of her time doing group projects. Select one: a. Extinction b. Not extinction

Analysis: This case does not illustrate extinction, because the response of working and playing with her classmates increased in frequency as a result of the teachers' attention. The correct answer is: Not extinction

Mike had a disturbing habit. Every time he noticed that a friend was getting a lot of attention from the group, Mike would interrupt the conversation by telling a funny story. His friend, Dan, was annoyed by this interruption and convinced the others to ignore Mike's jokes and continue with the conversation. Soon Mike was listening to the conversation and only rarely would interrupt. Select one: a. Extinction b. Not extinction

Analysis: This case exemplifies extinction, because Mike ceased his interruptions after his friends ignored him. The correct answer is: Extinction

Chauncey, a student in an introductory psychology course, had volunteered to be in an experiment. During the initial sessions, he received some training in hypnosis and then drank a glass of a special blend of vegetable juices. At subsequent sessions, he was told to imagine himself tasting the beverage and then to imagine feeling nauseated. After several such imagined sequences, he was asked to drink some of the vegetable beverage and to rate its taste. Compared to students who imagined a positive event following the imagined consumption of the beverage, Chauncey and the other students in his group drank much less of the beverage, rated the beverage as less palatable than did the control group, and felt more nauseated when they drank it (or imagined drinking it). Select one: a. Pavlovian conditioning b. Operant conditioning c. Pseudoconditioning d. Classical conditioning e. No conditioning

Analysis: This case is an example of Pavlovian conditioning. The US was the instruction to imagine nausea and the UR was the nausea elicited by the instructions. The imagined drinking of the beverage predicted the nausea. This procedure established the beverage as a CS for the unpleasant feelings of nausea (the CR). The CS (the imagined drinking of the beverage) appeared to generalize to the actual beverage. Source: Clarke & Hayes (1984) The correct answer is: Pavlovian conditioning

Mike was an autistic boy, and both Wilma and Doug had severe mental disabilities. One common problem they had was a failure to attend to their therapists by making eye contact with the therapist for two seconds or more within five seconds after receiving a "Look at me" instruction. To solve this problem, each time a child failed to respond to the "Look at me" prompt within 5 seconds, the therapist would give a "Head up," "Head straight," or "Head down" command and would manually guide the child's head in the appropriate direction. Combined with reinforcement (praise and edibles) for eye contact, this procedure produced a 90% level of correct responding, a major improvement over the 55% level of correct eye contact responding obtained with praise and edible reinforcement alone. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This case is an example of avoidance, because (a) a stimulus change from no manual guidance to manual guidance depended on the absence of the target behavior, (making eye contact within the prescribed time limit), and (b) this procedure increased the level of the target behavior. Source: Foxx (1977) The correct answer is: Avoidance

Ralph and Tom were identical, 5-year-old twins who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. They couldn't talk or respond socially or use the toilet. They spent 70% to 80% of their waking hours engaged in self-stimulation such as rocking and self-fondling. They frequently threw tantrums. Dr. Lovaas wanted Ralph and Tom to obey "Come here" commands. If Ralph or Tom failed to come to within one foot of Dr. Lovaas within 7 seconds after a "Come here" command, they received a painful electric shock administered from a grid of wires on the floor. Initially, Ralph and Tom did nothing when told to "Come here," but as a result of the shock procedure they came to obey the command almost all of the time. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This case is an example of avoidance, because (a) a stimulus change from no shock to shock depended on the absence of the target behavior (responding to the commands) and (b) this procedure increased the level of the target behavior. Source: Lovaas, Schaeffer, & Simmons (1965) The correct answer is: Avoidance

Alexandra was a subject in a psychology experiment. During one session she was shown red, blue, and yellow slides of geometric figures. After each red slide was shown, ten seconds of music from the film Star Wars was played over headphones that she was wearing. After half of the blue slides, the music was played but after the other half, no music was played. After the yellow slides no music was played. Before the session, the music produced good feelings in Alexandra, but the colours did not. As a result of the training, however, Alexandra's good feelings toward the colours had changed such that she rated red as her most preferred colour, blue as her next most preferred colour, and yellow as her least preferred colour. Select one: a. Pavlovian conditioning b. Operant conditioning c. Pseudoconditioning d. Classical conditioning e. No conditioning

Analysis: This case is an example of conditioning. The US was the music and the UR was the good feeling elicited by the music. The red slides always predicted the music, the blue slides predicted the music half the time, and the yellow slides never predicted the music. This procedure resulted in red acquiring the ability to function as a CS for the good feelings (the CR). Source: Bierley, McSweeney, & Vannieuwkerk (1985) The correct answer is: Pavlovian conditioning

Joan suffered from constipation for 5 years. She also had encopresis, an accompaniment of constipation in which fluid from her stomach and small intestines seeped out at night, soiling her bedclothes. Three years of humanistic therapy failed to help her. To solve this problem, she tried a new procedure. Every morning, upon awakening, Joan was required to sit on the toilet for 20 minutes or until she had a bowel movement. If she failed to defecate she was required to sit on the toilet for 40 minutes at 1:00 p.m. or until she had a bowel movement. If she failed to defecate at the 1:00 p.m. session, she was required to sit on the toilet for 90 minutes at 7:30 p.m. or until she had a bowel movement. Joan was not allowed to read or engage in any activity while on the toilet. As a result, Joan began defecating more often and soiled herself at night less often. Within 14 months she was defecating on a normal schedule. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This case is an example of escape, because (a) a stimulus termination (ceasing having to sit on the toilet) depended on the target behavior and (b) the method increased the level of the target behavior. This case is also an example of avoidance, because (a) a stimulus change from no required toilet sitting to required sitting depended on the absence of the target behavior, and (b) this procedure increased the level of the target behavior. Source: Rolider & Van Houten (1985) The correct answer is: Both escape and avoidance

Phoenecia was a 67-year-old woman who had had a stroke 6 months earlier. As a result, she was unable to use her left forearm and unable to flex her left elbow. In an attempt to solve this problem, researchers attached electrodes to Phoenecia's right forearm and administered an electric shock. Phoenecia could turn off the shock by flexing her left forearm five degrees. As a result, Phoenecia flexed her elbow much more often than she had before. After 19 sessions, Phoenecia could flex her elbow as much as seventy degrees. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This case is an example of escape, because (a) stimulus termination (i.e., termination of shock) depended on the target behavior (elbow flexion) and (b) this method increased the frequency of elbow flexion. Source: Ince (1969) The correct answer is: Escape

Garth was an officer in the navy. He had no history of psychological problems, but he talked in his sleep. This talking was a problem, because he had begun to share his apartment with a woman friend who was disturbed by his frequent, often noisy, sleep talking. In addition, the content of the sleep talk, though mostly nonsense, was sometimes embarrassing for Garth. To solve this problem, Garth tried drugs and hypnosis, without success. Dr. LeBoeuf had Garth put a device near his bed that sounded a 5-second, 100-decibel tone through an earphone whenever Garth talked in his sleep. In addition to waking him repeatedly, this method eliminated Garth's sleep talk in about 3 weeks. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This case is an example of neither avoidance nor escape, because there is a decrease in the level of the target behavior. Avoidance and escape are both response-strengthening procedures, not response-weakening procedures. This illustration is an example of punishment. Source: Le Boeuf (1979) The correct answer is: Neither escape nor avoidance

Three, 3-year-old children attended nursery school for three hours per day. The children's favourite activities were running around the room and screaming; sitting quietly and looking at the blackboard seldom occurred. A procedure was implemented in which, when the children were sitting quietly and paying attention to the blackboard, they were told to "run and scream." They immediately did so. As a result of this technique, the children sat quietly and paid attention to the blackboard much more often than they had before. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This case is an example of positive reinforcement, because the presentation of the opportunity to run and scream was dependent on the target behavior and caused the level of the target behavior to increase. This case was the first reported behavior analysis application of the Premack principle to human behavior. Source: Homme, deBaca, Devine, Steinhorst, & Rickert (1963) The correct answer is: Reinforcement

Three, 4-year-old girls were participating in research designed to study creative behavior. The children were given building blocks and invited to play with them. The teacher expressed delight and enthusiasm when a child had constructed a shape or form she had not constructed before (i.e., a novel form). As a result, the number of novel forms increased. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This case is an example of positive reinforcement, because the response (the novel form constructions) produced a dependent consequence (teacher praise and approval), resulting in an increase in the number of novel forms. Source: Goetz & Baer (1973) The correct answer is: Reinforcement

The residents in a complex of 166 apartments in Baltimore were participating in an electricity conservation study. During any month when the amount of electricity used by the residents was less than that predicted by the electric company (based on outside temperatures), the cost savings represented would be paid back to the residents. This procedure resulted in a decrease in electricity use of 6.2%. The target behavior here is those behaviors that conserve electricity. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This case is an example of positive reinforcement, because the target behavior had a dependent consequence, and because the procedure caused an increase in the target behavior. The procedure in this study is called a group contingency. In a group contingency, consequences are dependent on the total or average performance of the group, rather than the behavior of any one person. Source: Slavin, Wodarski, & Blackburn (1981) The correct answer is: Reinforcement

Nelson wished to train his pet dog to bring him the morning paper. At first, he gave the dog food as it moved nearer and nearer to the paper, until the dog inspected the paper with its nose. After that (reinforcing each response with food), he trained the dog to grasp the paper in its mouth, then to hold it for longer periods, and finally to bring the paper to him. Select one: a. Shaping b. Not shaping

Analysis: This case is an example of shaping, because the dog is reinforced for behavior which successively approximates bringing the paper to Nelson. The correct answer is: Shaping

During recreation period, Nancy would sometimes fail to remain on the school playground. To solve this problem, the supervising teacher told Nancy that if she wandered off the playground, she would be harshly reprimanded. As a result of this talk, Nancy thereafter always remained on the playground. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This case is neither an example of avoidance nor escape. The increase in the level of the target behavior in this item was owing to instructions rather than to response-dependent stimulus changes. The correct answer is: Neither escape nor avoidance

Miss T. was a single woman who made dresses for a living. She greatly feared social situations, especially those in which she had to interact with men or in which men were arguing or fighting. She had become so fearful that whenever there was even a small emotional disturbance involving men in a social situation, she would run away. She sought help for her problem from Dr. W. Dr. W. brought Miss T. to social situations and rewarded her with praise if she would remain in the situation for progressively longer periods of time. This procedure continued until Miss T. was able to interact in all kinds of social situations without escaping. At work she no longer avoided social situations, even when two men fought outside her work-room for an hour. Select one: a. Pavlovian conditioning b. Operant conditioning c. Pseudoconditioning d. Classical conditioning e. No conditioning

Analysis: This case is not an example of Pavlovian conditioning. In this example, Miss T. was rewarded for remaining in a social situation for progressively longer periods of time. As such, Dr. W. provided response-dependent consequences for social behavior. In Pavlovian conditioning, response-dependent consequences are not used. This case is an example of shaping, an operant conditioning procedure. The correct answer is: Operant conditioning

Marvin, an undergraduate in college, was participating in a psychology experiment for the first time. He was seated in a semi- reclining chair with several wires attached to his body. Some of these wires measured his galvanic skin response (GSR), a measure of the electrical conductivity of the skin. Electric shock produces a strong change in skin conductivity; this reaction is called a GSR. Wires attached to the middle finger of Marvin's right hand were used to give him electric shocks. Initially, a faint 0.25-second light flash from a small bulb had no effect on Marvin's GSR. During the experiment, Marvin was shocked 31 times. As a result of this procedure, the light produced Marvin's GSR when it flashed alone. Select one: a. Pavlovian conditioning b. Operant conditioning c. Pseudoconditioning d. Classical conditioning e. No conditioning

Analysis: This case is not an example of Pavlovian conditioning. The US is the electric shock and the associated UR is the GSR. The light, an initially neutral stimulus, did not predict electric shock. Although the light elicited a GSR, it did so for reasons other than because it predicted the US, so this case is not an example of Pavlovian conditioning. Because the light elicited a GSR without predicting the US, this item is an example of pseudoconditioning. The correct answer is: Pseudoconditioning

Martha was a young girl in danger of going blind unless she wore special glasses to correct her vision. As it was, she refused to wear the glasses. Dr. Wolf, a psychologist, set up a procedure in which he gave Martha food and prizes for getting closer and closer to the glasses. When this worked, he gave her food and prizes for putting on the glasses for progressively longer periods of time, until Martha was wearing the glasses all the time. Select one: a. Shaping b. Not shaping

Analysis: This illustration is an example of shaping, because reinforcement is contingent on responses that are more and more similar to the goal behavior. The correct answer is: Shaping

Keith was a 4-year-old boy who had several behavior problems including repetitive stereotyped acts, such as lying on the floor for long periods while staring at a pair of shoes, kissing and fondling a pair of shoes, and repeating the word shoes as part of a strange ritual. Whenever Keith engaged in repetitive stereotyped acts, a therapist held one hand over Keith's eyes and the other hand behind his head for 30 seconds. This stimulus rapidly reduced the repetitive acts, which were eventually eliminated. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This case is not an example of avoidance or escape, because there is a decrease in the level of the target behavior. Avoidance and escape cause increases in some measure of the target behavior, not decreases. Source: Barrett, Staub, & Sisson (1983) The correct answer is: Neither escape nor avoidance

Mark had just bought a new car. When Mark started the car, a computer voice told Mark to buckle his seat-belt. As a result of the computer voice, Mark buckled his seat-belt much more often than he did before he bought that car. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This case is not an example of positive reinforcement, because the computer voice presentation was not dependent on the target behavior (buckling the seat-belt). This is an example of the use of a rule/instruction to engage in a behavior. The correct answer is: Not reinforcement

Dr. Arnold was working with a physically disabled 4-year-old boy who had had few movements and no speech since he was in an automobile accident. At first, the boy smiled only about twice a day, but as a result of Dr. Arnold talking to him, the boy's smiles increased to about once a minute. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This case is not an example of positive reinforcement. Although the boy smiled more while Dr. Arnold was talking to him, talking was not dependent on the smiling response. If this illustration had specified that Dr. Arnold talked to the boy only when the boy smiled, then talking would have been dependent upon smiling. The correct answer is: Not reinforcement

In a program designed to teach social skills to junior high school students, a researcher encouraged the students to ask follow-up questions during discussions. Whenever Zeke, a student, asked a follow-up question, the researcher would praise him and comment on what an interesting question Zeke had asked. Zeke, who seldom received praise, was overjoyed with this attention and felt a sense of accomplishment. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This case is not an example of positive reinforcement. Although the praise and comments were dependent consequences for the target behavior, there is no mention of an increase in the level of the target behavior. The correct answer is: Not reinforcement

Sixteen male and 18 female cognitively-impaired people lived in an institution. Food theft at the institution had become a serious problem. Normally, thieves were required to return stolen food to its owner when they were caught, but this hadn't proven to be much of a deterrent. To reduce the thefts, staff implemented a new procedure: a food thief would be required to pay the theft victim 10 tokens from the thief's token savings. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This case is not an example of punishment. Although a stimulus change, the removal of 10 tokens, was dependent on food theft, there is no indication that this procedure diminished food theft. If the stimulus change reduced theft, this item would have been an example of response cost, because the stimulus change involved the removal of a specific amount of a token reinforcer. The correct answer is: Not punishment

Erica was undergoing treatment for air travel phobia. Her therapist made her do relaxation exercises daily. Erica induced a state of profound relaxation by listening to a CD of her therapist's soothing relaxation instructions. This procedure reduced Erica's fear and enabled her to travel on airplanes without difficulty. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This does not represent any of the applications or processes. Erica simply received relaxation training. The feared stimuli were never introduced in imagined or real form. Therefore, it is not an illustration of systematic desensitization, in vivo desensitization, counterconditioning, or flooding, all of which present the feared stimulus at some point during treatment. The correct answer is: None of the above

Little Timmy had the annoying habit of pinching his parents' guests on the nose every time they picked him up. They would laugh, but Timmy's mother, annoyed at these antics, asked him why he did it. He usually would say, "I don't know," and later would pinch another guest. Finally, Timmy's mother asked her guests to ignore his pinching (it wasn't that painful) and after about a week, he stopped. Select one: a. Extinction b. Not extinction

Analysis: This example demonstrates extinction, because once the guests ceased reinforcing Timmy's nose pinching, he stopped. The correct answer is: Extinction

Professor Khare was interested in studying the sex lives of people living in his apartment complex. He went from door to door, asking residents questions about their sex lives. He asked the same questions of each resident, in the same, unbiased way each time. He discovered a lot of new things about his neighbours' sex lives. Is this an experiment?

Analysis: This example is not an experiment because Professor Khare did not actively manipulate an independent variable. He merely recorded answers to questions about people's sex lives. This illustration would qualify as an experiment if the professor had compared the subjects' responses to the questions using same-sex and opposite-sex interviewers. If he had done this, he would have manipulated the sex of the interviewer, creating an independent variable. The responses would have been the dependent variable. The correct answer is: No, this is not an experiment

In a junior-high home economics classroom the students were working on sewing projects. Often the level of disruptive noise in the classroom rose so high that the students' work was impaired. To solve this problem, an apparatus was constructed that measured the overall noise level in the room. When the room was quiet enough not to disrupt the students' work, radio music would come on. As a result, the noise level in the classroom was much lower than before radio music was introduced at low noise levels. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This illustration is an example of positive reinforcement, because the response that resulted in low noise levels produced a dependent consequence (the radio music) and because this procedure increased the amount or duration of low noise levels. Source: Wilson & Hopkins (1973) The correct answer is: Reinforcement

Tarja needed some money, so she volunteered to be in a research project in which she would be paid $120 to be given a drug that would make her nauseated. The day the research took place, she hadn't eaten anything for 8 hours, and when she arrived, she drank a glass of cranberry juice and then a glass of water. The researcher then injected her with a drug called apomorphine hydrochloride. Within 6 minutes, she became quite nauseated. Two minutes later she vomited. Forty minutes after vomiting she fell asleep. In two test sessions, held 4 days and 1 month after the initial session, Tarja was given some cranberry juice to drink. Although she and the other subjects in her group drank much less than control subjects who had not been made ill, Tarja felt a twinge of nausea when she sampled the cranberry juice. Select one: a. Pavlovian conditioning b. Operant conditioning c. Pseudoconditioning d. Classical conditioning e. No conditioning

Analysis: This illustration is an example of Pavlovian conditioning. The US was the nausea-inducing drug and the UR was the nausea. Because the cranberry juice predicted the drug, the juice was established as a CS for the nausea (the CR). Source: Cannon, Best, Batson, & Feldman (1983) The correct answer is: Pavlovian conditioning

Little Albert was a generally happy and healthy 9-month-old boy. No one had ever seen him become angry or fearful. However, in preliminary tests, John and Rosalie, the experimenters, found that Albert cried and responded fearfully after a loud noise was made behind his head. After this observation, they put a white rat in front of Albert in several sessions, and when he was looking at it, John and Rosalie sounded the loud noise. This elicited Albert's crying and other fear responses. As a result of this procedure, when the rat was placed in front of Albert in the absence of the loud noise, he began crying. Select one: a. Pavlovian conditioning b. Operant conditioning c. Pseudoconditioning d. Classical conditioning e. No conditioning

Analysis: This illustration is an example of Pavlovian conditioning. The loud noise was used as the US and the crying and other fear responses were the UR. The white rat, which was initially a neutral stimulus, predicted the loud noise and thereby was established as a CS for the fear responses. The correct answer is: Pavlovian conditioning

Sweeney was in medical school and he had agreed to be a subject in a psychiatric experiment. He and ten other male medical students were outfitted with devices that measured the volume of their penises. They watched a series of ten filmed segments, each about 1 minute long. Half of these segments were films of nude women and half were films of nude men. The female and male films were alternated. Before each female film, a still photo of a red circle was presented, while before each male film, a green triangle was presented. At first, Sweeney's penile volume increased only when he looked at nude women and decreased only when he looked at nude men. As a result of this training, however, Sweeney's penile volume increased when he saw the red circle and decreased when he saw the green triangle. Initially, these stimuli had no effect on Sweeney's penile volume. Select one: a. Pavlovian conditioning b. Operant conditioning c. Pseudoconditioning d. Classical conditioning e. No conditioning

Analysis: This illustration is an example of Pavlovian conditioning. The unconditional stimuli were the films of nude men and women, and the URs were the changes in the size of Sweeney's penis. The conditional stimuli (the red circle and the green triangle) predicted the appearance of the unconditional stimuli and came to elicit the CRs (increases and decreases in penile volume). Source: McConaghy (1970) The correct answer is: Pavlovian conditioning

Joe was schizophrenic and lived on a psychiatric ward. Two of Joe's problems concerned his conversational skills: he failed tospeak loudly enough to be understood and he failed to speak in durations longer than 15 seconds. To improve his conversational skills, a "nagging" procedure was used. When Joe failed to speak loudly enough or long enough, the staff told him "louder" or "longer" as applicable, at 3-second intervals until Joe complied with the request. Four times per day the ward staff would ask Joe to tell them something about a topic, such as what he had read in the newspaper that day. Only Joe's first responses (i.e., before nagging) to a topic were measured. This approach improved Joe's appropriate speech volume from 17% to 91% and improved his appropriate speech durations (i.e., longer than 15 seconds) from 0% to 96%. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This illustration is an example of avoidance conditioning, because (a) a stimulus change (adding nagging) depended on the absence of the target behaviors and (b) this procedure increased the level of the target behaviors. This item also involves an element of escape conditioning since Joe could terminate nagging by engaging in the target behaviors. However, the increase in Joe's target behaviors was measured before any nagging took place, so this item is best interpreted as an example of avoidance. Source: Fichter, Wallace, Liberman, & Davis (1976) The correct answer is: Avoidance

Suri was a sophomore in an introductory psychology class and was participating in an experiment conducted by Dr. Ellson. Suri sat in a comfortable chair that had a small light bulb on its left arm. For 60 trials, Dr. Ellson turned on the light and a tone at the same time. The light was bright enough to see immediately. Initially, the tone was too quiet to hear, but it gradually increased in volume so that Suri heard it after about 3 to 4 seconds. As soon as she heard the tone, she pressed a button as she had been instructed. After the trials in which the light signalled the tone, there were some test trials in which the light was presented without the tone, and Suri was told to press the button if and when she heard the tone. As a result of the training procedure, Suri also pressed the button several times in these trials, because she thought she heard the tone. Select one: a. Pavlovian conditioning b. Operant conditioning c. Pseudoconditioning d. Classical conditioning e. No conditioning

Analysis: This illustration is an example of classical conditioning. The US is the tone and the UR is the response of hearing the tone. During training, the light, a stimulus that does not ordinarily cause people to hear things, predicted the tone (the US). This prediction established the light as a CS with the ability to elicit the response of hearing the tone in the absence of the actual tone (the CR). This example shows how certain kinds of sensory hallucinations can be induced through classical conditioning procedures. Source: Ellson (1941) The correct answer is: Classical conditioning

One day Dave was teasing Marsha about her weight. This teasing angered Marsha, so she slapped Dave in the face. As a result, Dave began teasing Marsha about her weight more often than before. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This illustration is an example of positive reinforcement, because the slap was a consequence dependent on teasing, and because the slap caused teasing to become more frequent. The correct answer is: Reinforcement

Dr. Hamel was interested in the types of food eaten in the school cafeteria. For several weeks, she kept records of student consumption of 15 different types of food. She found that the students liked pizza and disliked liver. Is this an experiment?

Analysis: This illustration is not an example of an experiment because there is no independent variable. Dr. Hamel simply measured food consumption; she did not manipulate an independent variable because she did not compare food consumption under two or more different conditions. There would have been an independent variable if, for example, Dr. Hamel had varied the prices of the food over time to see how price affected the demand for food. The correct answer is: No, this is not an experiment

Gale injured his leg playing football. At times the pain from the injury was so severe it was difficult for him not to cry. He tried massaging his leg, but this seemed to have no effect: the pain came and went on its own. Nonetheless, he continued to massage his leg often, something he had never done before the injury. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This illustration is not an example of avoidance or escape. In avoidance, a stimulus change depends on the absence of the target behavior, while in escape a stimulus change depends on the target behavior itself. In this illustration, there is no stimulus change dependent on either the target behavior or its absence. The correct answer is: Neither escape nor avoidance

A number of households in Florida were selected to participate in a trash recycling program. Residents were encouraged to separate newspaper and aluminium products for collection. It was found that an informational brochure increased the number of participants who separated their recyclable trash. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This illustration is not an example of positive reinforcement, because there was no response-dependent consequence for the target behavior. The increase in the target behavior was owing to rules/instructions to engage in the target behavior, not to a response-dependent consequence. Source: Jacobs, Bailey, & Crews (1984) The correct answer is: Not reinforcement

Leo, a business executive, was having trouble getting his assistant to process and mail out all of his correspondence on time. To solve the problem, he instituted a system in which 10% of the assistant's weekly pay was awarded as a bonus for completing and mailing 50 letters. Select one: a. Shaping b. Not shaping

Analysis: This illustration is not an example, because reinforcement of responses that are increasingly like a goal response is not offered. There is only a static or fixed reinforcement contingency for a response which meets a criterion. The correct answer is: Not shaping

Marvin was interested in how many people would say hello to him if he initiated the first hello. Marvin stood on a street corner for a few hours and greeted each passer-by with a hello. He tracked the number of people who returned his greeting and the number that did not. He found that only 18% of people returned his greeting. Is this an experiment?

Analysis: This illustration is not an experiment because there is no independent variable. To have a true independent variable, Marvin needed to manipulate the greeting by exposing one group of subjects to it, and not exposing another group. Had Marvin used his own greeting as the independent variable, the dependent variable would have been whether the passers-by greeted him. The correct answer is: No, this is not an experiment

A group of people who suffered from fear of flying had signed up for a program designed to help them overcome their problem. For each of these people, the stimuli associated with airplanes and air travel were conditioned stimuli for the CR of fear. Some of the people were trained to imagine seven horrible airplane crashes. In sum, these people imagined these terrible scenes for almost 6-hours over seven treatments. This procedure significantly reduced the subjects' fear of airplanes and air travel. Rumours that they now fear psychotherapy are probably unfounded. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is an example of flooding. The psychotherapists presented the conditioned stimuli for fear responding (the terrible, imagined scenes) in intense and heightened form without predicting a US (or CS) for fear. This is not aversion therapy because the goal of the method was not to set up a conditioned aversion to a reinforcing or pleasure-inducing stimulus. It is not counterconditioning because there was no attempt to condition a response that was opposite to the problem CR, fear responding. There was no use of systematic desensitization because there was no relaxation training, among other factors. Source: Howard, Murphy, & Clark (1983) The correct answer is: Flooding

Jerry was a young, married man who enjoyed wearing women's clothes. He turned to therapy because he was afraid that his practice would be discovered and because his wife wanted him to stop. To treat the problem, Jerry's therapists started by taking photographs of him wearing women's clothes. Later, after being given a drug that induces nausea and vomiting, they showed Jerry the photos. He continued viewing the photos until he vomited or experienced intense nausea. This treatment was applied every 2 hours for almost a week. This procedure caused Jerry to become nauseated and ill when he viewed photos of himself dressed as a woman. He stopped dressing in women's clothes. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is aversion therapy because the procedure set up a conditioned aversion to a stimulus that used to evoke good feelings. This is also counterconditioning. The method established conditional responses—unpleasant emotional reactions—which were the opposite of the pleasurable feelings cross-dressing used to evoke. Source: Lavin, Thorpe, Barker, Blakemore, & Conway (1961) The correct answers are: Counterconditioning, Aversion therapy

Kelly's parents were training her in speech skills. Initially, training would occur at feeding time. Her parents would give her morsels of food whenever she spoke a word correctly (i.e., the word corresponding to the picture they presented). However, after a while, the parents began pairing the food with verbal approval (e.g., good, that's right), and the procedure continued to work successfully. Finally, the parents reinforced Kelly's words with verbal approval alone, without food. The procedure continued to be effective. Select one: a. Shaping b. Not shaping

Analysis: This is not an example of shaping. Reinforcement of responses that are increasingly similar to a goal response is not offered. There is, however, a gradual change in the reinforcers, which maintain the response. The correct answer is: Not shaping

Sam had been placed in a psychiatric hospital after assaulting a woman. The crime was an enactment of a sadistic fantasy Sam had been experiencing for several years. His treatment included a procedure in which he clearly imagined his sadistic fantasy and then received a painful electric shock. This method was applied for a 3-month period. By the end of the treatment period, when Sam imagined the fantasy, he experienced the same unpleasant feelings that he had resulted from the electric shock. The fantasies subsided, and Sam was eventually released from the hospital. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is aversion therapy, because the treatment set up a conditioned aversion to the sadistic fantasy, an inappropriate stimulus that elicited positive feelings. Conditioning took place by establishing a predictive relationship between the sadistic fantasies and the electric shock, a US for the UR of bad feelings. This also exemplifies counterconditioning because the method established CRs, that is, unpleasant feelings, which were opposed to the responses typically evoked by the fantasy (good feelings). As a part of the treatment, Sam's therapist encouraged appropriate benign fantasies to replace the sadistic ones. Source: Mees (1966) The correct answers are: Counterconditioning, Aversion therapy

Cigarette smokers had signed up for a smoking cessation program. As part of the procedure, the experimenters sounded a tone every few seconds. As each tone sounded, smokers inhaled deeply on a cigarette. This continued until each smoker had finished three consecutive cigarettes or was too ill to continue. The smokers had three such sessions on each of 6 days, spread out over 2 weeks. As a result, the smokers became nauseated when they viewed or smoked a cigarette, helping many of them to quit smoking. (Note: the rapid inhaling of cigarette smoke used in this research is a US for the UR of nausea.) Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is aversion therapy. Pavlovian conditioning established an aversion to cigarettes (the harmful stimuli that formerly elicited good feelings, thereby reinforcing the undesirable behavior). A predictive relationship was established between the cigarettes and large amounts of inhaled smoke, a US for the UR of nausea. This example also demonstrates counterconditioning. The method established a CR, nausea, which was the opposite of the response that cigarettes typically evoke, good feelings. The researchers who did this work also found that counselling assisted the smokers in quitting Source: Tiffany, Martin, & Baker (1986) The correct answers are: Counterconditioning, Aversion therapy

A group of students at a university were participating in some research. One group of students repeatedly heard a tone that predicted the appearance of a video showing graphically unpleasant lung surgery. The lung surgery videos were unconditioned stimuli for the subjects' unpleasant emotional responses. After a time, the tone came to act as a CS for unpleasant emotional responses. After this, the students engaged in a Stroop task, which consists of reading colour names displayed in a colour different than the one described (e.g., reading the word red printed in green). This is a difficult task for most people because the tendency to read the word competes with the tendency to say the colour in which the word is printed. While engaged in the Stroop task, the CS tone came on, causing unpleasant emotional responses and a decrease in the rate of performance on the Stroop task. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is conditioned suppression because appearance of the CS for unpleasant emotional responses caused a reduction in the rate of ongoing behavior on the Stroop task. Source: Desbien & Yelen (1980) The correct answer is: Conditioned suppression

In a research study involving university students, a group of students were exposed to unpleasant electric shocks, preceded by the sounding of a tone. After this, the same group of students went to an experimental chamber, where each was seated before a button and a video screen. After every 15 button presses, students could view a picture on a video screen. Partway through the exercise, the tone that had previously preceded electric shocks sounded. The students responded emotionally, engaging in a lower rate of button pressing than they had before the tone sounded. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is conditioned suppression because presenting a CS that had predicted shock (a US for unpleasant emotional responding) reduced the rate of the button pressing response. Source: Di Giusto & Bond (1978) The correct answer is: Conditioned suppression

When he was 4 years old, Jeff's cousins had played a cruel trick on him. They put a toy snake on him during an automobile trip, which upset Jeff so much that his parents stopped their car to calm him. They happened to stop in front of a cemetery, which caused Jeff to connect snakes and cemeteries; he intensely feared both. To address his fear of cemetaries, Jeff's therapist had him imagine pleasant sexual scenes while he was driving, and had him arrange his trips past cemetaries so that he would reach a point of high sexual arousal while driving past the cemetery. This procedure enabled Jeff to get over his cemetery phobia. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is counterconditioning because the goal of the method was to have the conditioned stimuli evoke sexual responding which is opposed to fear. Because there was no use of relaxation, this item does not illustrate desensitization. Source: Brown (1978) The correct answer is: Counterconditioning

Ivan, who was only 32 days old, was fed milk from a bottle for 10-15 seconds, 10 times a day. Each time, feedings were preceded by a 2-second tone from a pipe organ and there was a 2- to 3-second interval between tone and bottle. This procedure continued for 4 months. Before pairing the stimuli, Ivan would engage in vigorous sucking movements when the nipple of the bottle touched his lips; he didn't react at all to the tone. After 6 days of experimental trials consisting of 29 tone-bottle pairings, the tone presented alone elicited Ivan's sucking movements. Select one: a. Pavlovian conditioning b. Operant conditioning c. Pseudoconditioning d. Classical conditioning e. No conditioning

Analysis: This item is an example of Pavlovian conditioning. The US is the bottle touching Ivan's lips and the UR is the sucking response. The CS (the organ tone) predicted the US, eventually gaving the CS the ability to evoke the CR (the sucking movements). The correct answer is: Pavlovian conditioning

Jason experienced intense fear of heights, especially when crossing a bridge. His problem with heights began during a problem with his marriage, at which time he became terrified while looking down from a bridge. Jason worked with a therapist who required him to imagine several dozen images of heights and bridges, and then to imagine very pleasant scenes such as having a delicious meal with good friends. The goal was for Jason to learn to replace his fearful responses to heights and bridges with pleasant responses. This procedure was successful; Jason lost his fear of heights and bridges. His fear had not returned after 2 years. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is counterconditioning because the goal of the method was to set up positive emotional responses to the CS (i.e., feared) stimuli, and positive emotions are the opposite of fear. This is not systematic desensitization, which uses relaxation training and a hierarchy of fear. Source: Hurley (1976) The correct answer is: Counterconditioning

A number of female university students were participating in research in which they hoped to rid themselves of their terror of snakes. The students in one group imagined scenes in which a snake was wrapping itself around their necks, nasty biting snakes were in their stomachs, and a human-sized snake was attacking them. This procedure reduced the women's fear of snakes and over two-thirds of them were able to pick up a live snake. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is flooding because conditioned stimuli for fearful behaviors, the snake scenes, were presented in intense form without predicting an US for fearful responses. This is not aversion therapy because the goal of the method was not to set up a conditioned aversion to a pleasure-inducing stimulus. It is not counterconditioning because there was no procedure to condition a response that was the opposite of the problem response (CR), fear. This fails to illustrate systematic desensitization for several reasons, including the absence of relaxation training. Source: Hogan & Kirchner (1968) The correct answer is: Flooding

Barbara had been a victim of incest by her father when she was a teenager. In addition to the negative, intrusive thoughts that troubled her, Barbara also suffered from a sleep disorder. During Barbara's treatment, she imagined the incest scenes, which were made even more traumatic by adding fictional details such as the horrified reactions of her family, foster parents, fiancé, and others, who scorned and rejected her. Barbara also imagined physically and verbally attacking her mother for permitting the incest to occur. Barbara's therapists used these methods over the course of week, followed by at-home sessions in which Barbara imagined the scenes on her own. These procedures reduced Barbara's intrusive thoughts and disagreeable emotional reactions. After a year, the intrusive thoughts no longer occurred. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is flooding because the incest scenes, the conditional stimuli for unpleasant emotional responses, were presented in intensive, heightened form while not predicting a US for unpleasant responses. This is not aversion therapy because there was no attempt to establish an aversion to a pleasure-inducing stimulus. This is not systematic (or in vivo) desensitization because there is no training in relaxation and no phased-in introduction of the conditional stimulus. In the research this example was taken from, relaxation training was used, making the procedure a counterconditioning method. This facet has been omitted here to provide a clear example of flooding. This research led to concerns about the wisdom and ethics of using flooding with sexual assault victims. The correct answer is: Flooding

Jessica is profoundly afraid of hypodermic needles. As a toddler, she received a series of daily injections for an intestinal disorder for 4 months. Since then, she has vigorously fought against anyone attempting to give her an injection. After a violent encounter with two hospital orderlies, Jessica elected to go into treatment for her phobia. She received training in how to relax. When relaxed, her therapist allowed her to view progressively bigger hypodermic syringes for longer and longer periods of time. The therapist also brought the syringes gradually closer to Jessica as long as she remained relaxed. Eventually a techncian could use a syringe to draw Jessica's blood and even then she remained relaxed. In follow-up observations she continued to function well in the presence of hypodermic needles and no longer had her phobia. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is in vivo desensitization. It is desensitization due to the use of training in relaxation, use of the anxiety hierarchy, and gradual introduction of the feared stimuli in progressive fashion. This is in vivo desensitization due to the use of real syringes rather than imagined ones. This is also counterconditioning because the goal of the procedure was to condition relaxation to the feared CS, and relaxation is the opposite of fear. Source: Turnage & Logan (1974) The correct answers are: Counterconditioning, In vivo desensitization

Dr. Serena was working with two clients, Ron and Rachel, who feared cats. Dr. Serena trained Ron and Rachel in profound muscle relaxation. She also gave them extra relaxation exercises to perform at home. Through this method, both clients' fear of cats was eliminated. Both Ron and Rachel could now walk, unaccompanied, through their neighbourhoods, something that they could not have imagined doing before. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is not an example of any of the therapies or processes. You may have considered systematic or in vivo desensitization due to the use of relaxation methods. Yet, in this case, relaxation was the only procedure used. With the desensitization therapies, the therapist presents the feared stimuli (cats, in this case) in increments as the client practices staying calm and relaxed. This is also not counterconditioning because with counterconditioning, a procedure is used to condition a new CR to a CS that is the opposite of the original CR. In this case, there was no attempt to establish relaxation as a CR to cat conditioned stimuli; there was only the use of non-specific relaxation training. The correct answer is: None of the above

Dr. Keenan was interested in the effects of watching tropical fish on relaxation. He put a fish tank in the office of a dentist friend who agreed to participate in the research. Dr. Keenan displayed the same fish, in the same tank, in the same location every day. Dr. Keenan then interviewed patients as they left the office. Patients said that they liked watching the fish swim in the tanks. Patients also claimed to be much more relaxed than they had been during visits to the dentist before there were fish in the waiting room. Is this an experiment?

Analysis: This is not an experiment because there is no true independent variable. Dr. Keenan simply put a fish tank in the waiting room and asked the patients if they liked it, and whether they were more relaxed with fish to watch, than without them. This illustration would have been an experiment if, for example, Dr. Keenan had manipulated the presence and absence of the fish tank in the waiting room and measured how relaxed the subjects said they were with fish and without fish. The correct answer is: No, this is not an experiment

A team of behavioral scientists was doing research with people who feared roaches, reptiles, and spiders. One procedure they used to reduce fear was to have the people listen to the feared word (e.g., roach), just prior to hearing a relaxing word (e.g., tame, drift). With this method, the feared words predicted the relaxing words. The relaxing words had been previously established as conditional stimuli for positive emotional responses. This method reduced the subjects' fear of the words as well as their fear of real roaches, reptiles, and spiders. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is second-order conditioning because the feared words predicted the relaxing words, which had been previously established as conditioned stimuli. This is counterconditioning as well because the goal of the method was to establish CRs—relaxing feelings—that were the opposite of the responses that the feared stimuli previously evoked. Source: Weiss & Evans (1978) The correct answers are: Counterconditioning, Second-order conditioning

A group of girls in elementary school were participating in a research project. The goal of the project was for the students to rid themselves of the negative image females sometimes have due to social learning. Girls in an experimental group watched photos of females on a video screen for a few seconds. Each picture was followed by a 5-second display of a positive word (e.g., good, brave). (Prior conditioning had established the positive words as conditional stimuli for positive emotional responses.) Due to this procedure, the girls' favourable emotional responses toward other females increased. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is second-order conditioning because the pictures of the females predicted the appearance of the positive words, which were conditioned stimuli for positive emotional responses. This is also an instance of counterconditioning because the goal of the method was to condition responses (positive emotional responses) that were opposite to the previously established responses (negative emotional responses). Source: Parish, Bryant, & Prawat (1977) The correct answers are: Counterconditioning, Second-order conditioning

Women who had unpleasant emotional responses toward normal sexual behavior were involved in a research project. These women found public kissing, flirting, sexual intercourse, and viewing a naked man as sources of unpleasant emotional responses. For the women, normal sexual stimuli were conditioned stimuli for the conditional response of negative emotional reactions. To correct this, the therapists asked the women to read descriptions of normal sexual activities, which were followed by the researcher reading words that were conditioned stimuli for positive emotional responses. This method increased the positive emotional responses the women had toward normal sexual activities. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is second-order conditioning because there is a predictive relationship between the sexual activity stimuli and previously conditioned stimuli, the words that evoked pleasant emotional responding. It is also counterconditioning because the goal of the procedure was to establish positive emotional responses (CRs), that were the opposite of the unpleasant emotional reactions that the sexual activities had previously evoked. Source: Tryon & Briones (1985) The correct answers are: Counterconditioning, Second-order conditioning

Mario's fear of public speaking was interfering with his work, so he sought out a therapist for assistance. As part of Mario's treatment, the therapist used audiotapes that induced profound muscle relaxation. While relaxed, Mario imagined speaking in public. The scenes were rated from minimally to maximally fear-provoking. Early on, he imagined himself seated alone in a meeting room. Much later, he imagined other people at a meeting laughing derisively at his speaking efforts. He imagined the scenes in order from least to most fearful, remaining relaxed. When he began to feel fear, he reinduced a state of relaxation before continuing. Eventually Mario could relax while imagining the most feared scenes and was eventually able to speak at meetings without fear. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is systematic desensitization. It is desensitization because it involves relaxation training, use of an anxiety hierarchy, and working through the feared stimuli in a progressive fashion while remaining relaxed. It is systematic desensitization due to the use of imagined rather than real stimuli. This is also counterconditioning because it conditions a relaxation response, which was the opposite of fear. Source: Migler & Wolpe (1967) The correct answers are: Counterconditioning, Systematic desensitization

Duce had a bad habit of losing track of time while talking with his friends. As a result, he often arrived late for his dates with Sara. This was a problem because Sara threw a tantrum each time Duce was late for a date. Whenever he was on time, she would be happy and talkative. As a result of her negative reaction, Duce began to arrive on time more often than he had before. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This item is an example of avoidance because (a) a stimulus change from no tantrum to a tantrum depended on the target behavior and (b) this arrangement produced an increase in the level of the target behavior. The correct answer is: Avoidance

Sal was developmentally disabled. Three classes of events induced Sal's anger: jokes, personal criticism, and talk involving sexual content, such as dating, matrimony, and childbirth. Sal's therapist ranked the anger-inducing events or items in each of the three classes from minimally to maximally anger-inducing. Sal also received training in how to relax. At first, the therapist had Sal imagine the minimal anger-inducing event in the jokes class. If Sal stayed relaxed, they progressed on to the next most powerful item. This continued and Sal moved through the ranked items and remained relaxed throughout. This method was also used with the other two classes of anger-provoking events. The treatment was successful in greatly reducing Sal's anger to the three classes of events. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is systematic desensitization. It is desensitization due to the use of relaxation training, use of an anxiety hierarchy, and moving through the hierarchy items progressively while keeping relaxation as a constant. It is systematic desensitization due to the imagined presentation of the stimuli during therapy. This is also counterconditioning because the objective of the method was to establish relaxation responses to the conditioned stimuli, and these responses are the opposite of anger. The correct answers are: Counterconditioning, Systematic desensitization

Annette was so terrified of sharks that she was unable to visit the seashore. To solve this problem, she entered therapy which started with muscle relaxation training. Her therapists also identified specific stimuli associated with the seashore that Annette feared and ranked these from least to most fearful. The least fearful event was strolling on the beach, whereas the most feared event was swimming in the ocean in water three metres deep. Annette conducted the therapy at home, where she became relaxed, imagined the low-fear event on her list while remaining relaxed and, if she could remain relaxed, continued imagining fearful events further along the continuum. Annette continued her therapy until she could imagine the most fearful events on the list without experiencing fear. This procedure successfully eliminated her fear of the seashore. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is systematic desensitization. It uses a relaxation procedure, the anxiety hierarchy, the initiation of the procedure at the least-feared event, and upward progression through the hierarchy while maintaining states of relaxation. This desensitization is systematic due to the use of imagined rather than actual stimuli. This is also counterconditioning. The goal of the method was to set up relaxation as the response evoked by the CS stimuli (i.e., the seashore), and relaxation is the opposite of fear. Source: Krop & Krause (1976) The correct answers are: Counterconditioning, Systematic desensitization

Joseph was on active reserve duty in the Israeli Army. Because of traumatic wartime experiences, loud noises caused him to feel intense fear and anxiety. Joseph's therapists treated him with relaxation training, teaching him to remain relaxed when he heard low volume noises. Noise volume was gradually increased, and Joseph learned to remain relaxed. Eventually, Joseph was able to remain relaxed when he heard very loud noises, so they no longer caused him fear and anxiety. Select one or more: a. Counterconditioning b. Systematic desensitization c. In vivo desensitization d. Aversion therapy e. Flooding f. Second-order conditioning g. Conditioned suppression h. None of the above

Analysis: This is vivo desensitization. This is a desensitization procedure because the feared stimulus was arranged on a scale from least to most fearful and Joseph was trained to stay relaxed as increasingly fearful stimuli were introduced. This is in vivo desensitization because real noises were employed, not just imagined noises. This is counterconditioning because the goal of the method was to establish relaxation in the presence of the CS, and relaxation is the opposite of fear. Source: Kipper (1977) The correct answers are: Counterconditioning, In vivo desensitization

Larry liked to talk about world politics during the many parties he attended. At most of these parties, large beer bashes, the guests were not in the mood for such serious discussions. They typically ignored Larry and went off to get more beer. Larry persisted in his attempts at serious discussions, feeling an obligation to increase social awareness among his friends. Select one: a. Extinction b. Not extinction

Analysis: This item also fails to exemplify extinction, because even though people ignored Larry, his political discussions persisted. The correct answer is: Not extinction

Mike was in the experimental group of a psychology research project that consisted of three stages. First, Mike was shown a series of slides that consisted of simple mental arithmetic tasks. Mike's task was to use the answer from the previous arithmetic problem and add it to, subtract it from, or multiply it by the next number. For example, if the answer to the last problem was 14 and the slide Mike was viewing read +2, then Mike would calculate 14 + 2 = 16 and then use 16 in solving the next problem. These problems were arranged such that the number 16 would often be the answer. Second, Mike was presented with slides containing the number 16. After he viewed these for ten seconds, he was given an electric shock. Third, Mike once again returned to the first task of solving arithmetic problems, again with the number 16 often being a correct answer to the problem. During this third stage of the experiment, a galvanic skin response (GSR) occurred when Mike calculated the answer 16. Select one: a. Pavlovian conditioning b. Operant conditioning c. Pseudoconditioning d. Classical conditioning e. No conditioning

Analysis: This item is an example of Pavlovian conditioning. The US is electric shock and the UR is the GSR response. The number 16, a formerly neutral stimulus, became a CS when it predicted the onset of shock. The number thus acquired the ability to elicit GSRs (the CR). This experiment shows that our thinking behavior, as exemplified by thoughts of the number 16 when derived as an answer to an arithmetic problem, can function as a CS. The correct answer is: Pavlovian conditioning

Students at a university dormitory would often not lock their doors before going to sleep. One researcher attempted to solve this problem by phoning students who had failed to lock their doors and telling them to lock-up. These calls were placed at 2:30 a.m. As a result, door locking among the students increased from about 75% to 100%. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This item is an example of avoidance, because (a) a stimulus change from no late-night call to a late-night call depended on the absence of the target behavior (locking the door), and (b) this method produced an increase in the level of door locking. Source: Hughey (1982) The correct answer is: Avoidance

Gaetan took a Keller-Plan psychology course in which students had to pass a series of quizzes. Students earned four points for each quiz they passed. Students could take and pass the quizzes as quickly or as slowly as they wished. However, if Gaetan and the other students in his group failed to take quizzes often enough to meet a minimum rate of progress, they lost 25 points per day until they passed a quiz. This point-loss contingency improved the rate at which Gaetan and his fellow students progressed through the course. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This item is an example of avoidance, because (a) a stimulus change from no point loss to point loss depended on the absence of the target behavior and (b) this procedure increased the level of the target behavior. Source: Semb, Conyers, Spencer, & Sanchez Sosa (1975) The correct answer is: Avoidance

Mary, a 40-year-old woman with a mental disability, had been hospitalized for 22 years. She spent much of each day reclining on seats rather than going to occupational therapy sessions. Every time she missed an occupational therapy session, prices for goods she could purchase with her token economy earnings doubled. Before this penalty was applied, she did not go to occupational therapy at all. As a result of the penalty, she began going to the occupational therapy sessions five times per week. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This item is an example of avoidance, because (a) a stimulus change from normal prices to doubled prices depended on the absence of the target behavior (going to the occupational therapy sessions) and (b) this procedure produced an increased level of the target behavior. Source: Winkler (1971) The correct answer is: Avoidance

Nyanath's house was poorly heated at night, because she was trying to save money on the heating bill. On some cold mornings, Nyanath would jump out of bed and her feet would "freeze" when they hit the cold tile. However, if she put her slippers on first, her feet remained warm. As a result of this discovery, Nyanath started putting her slippers on before touching her feet to the tile much more often than when the house was warmer at night. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This item is an example of avoidance, because (a) a stimulus change from warm to cold feet depended on the absence of the target behavior (putting the slippers on) and (b) this procedure increased the level of the target behavior. The correct answer is: Avoidance

The students at a university were angry with the administration for not supporting their free-speech movement. As a result, the students decided to stage a sit-in in the president's office, refusing to leave until the president made an official statement about the university's stand on the issue. They sat there for 3 days until the president gave up and agreed to make the statement. Before this sit-in, the president had never supported free speech. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This item is an example of escape because (a) a stimulus change from a sit-in to no sit-in (termination of the sit-in) depended on the target behavior and (b) the procedure increased the level of the target behavior. The correct answer is: Escape

Six female staff members at Anna State Hospital volunteered for a research project concerned with encouraging people to take prescribed medication at the appropriate times. The women carried a device that sounded a tone when it was time to take a pill. Turning a knob on the device would end the tone and dispense a pill. As a result, the women turned the knob every time the tone came on, but never when the tone was off. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This item is an example of escape conditioning, because (a) a stimulus termination (termination of the tone) depended on the target behavior and (b) this procedure increased the level of the target behavior. Source: Azrin & Powell (1969) The correct answer is: Escape

Jimmy, 6, had been sent to see a psychiatrist because he did not speak in school or at summer camp. While at home, he spoke to his family with ease, but, except for a few words on the first day, he said nothing at school. Jimmy was enrolled at a special summer camp for socially withdrawn children. There, he was dunked into the swimming pool until he responded "No" to the question, "Do you want to go under water again?" Similarly, camp staff would splash water at Jimmy until he said, "Go away." These methods rapidly increased Jimmy's rate of saying "No" and "Go away." Eventually he became more talkative, both at camp and at school. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This item is an example of escape conditioning, because stimulus termination (of dunking and splashing) depended on the target behaviors and increased the frequency of the target behaviors. Source: van der Kooy & Webster (1975) The correct answer is: Escape

Jeanette's behavior problems included conversational skills deficits. She would often pause too long between statements and before answering questions, make insufficient eye contact, and provide excess detail. To treat these problems, whenever Jeanette failed to engage in an appropriate conversational skill, a shrill tone would go on and stay on until Jeanette executed the skill being taught. As a result, whenever the tone came on Jeanette would quickly perform the skill. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This item is an example of escape, because (a) termination of the tone depended on the target behavior and (b) this procedure increased the level of the target behavior when the tone came on. This item has an element of avoidance, because a stimulus change from no tone to a tone was dependent on the absence of the target behavior. However, we do not know whether the level of the target behavior increased when the tone was not present. Source: Stalonas & Johnson (1979) The correct answer is: Escape

Mr. Flinterman, a strict high school teacher, attempted to discipline Billy for throwing erasers. First, he tried reprimanding Billy firmly, and then he tried cracking Billy on the knuckles with a ruler, but nothing seemed to work. The school psychologist, Ms. Blacquiere, told him to try ignoring the boy and to continue with his lesson. Mr. Flinterman agreed to follow her advice for a few weeks just to show her that it wouldn't work. When Ms. Blacquiere subsequently asked him about Billy, he said he was beginning to worry about the boy; Billy simply sat during class, listening and working. Select one: a. Extinction b. Not extinction

Analysis: This item is an example of extinction, because once Mr. Flinterman stopped paying attention to Billy's eraser throwing, Billy no longer threw erasers. The correct answer is: Extinction

Young Harmien had mastered her ABCs with her parents' help. They worked with Harmien to get her to say the alphabet, then reinforced her effort. Her parents took a 3-week trip to Europe during which time Harmien stayed with her grandmother, who didn't drill Harmien on the alphabet. When her parents returned, they found that Harmien could no longer say her alphabet as well as she could before their trip. Select one: a. Extinction b. Not extinction

Analysis: This item is an example of forgetting, not extinction. Harmien could no longer correctly say the alphabet because the passage of time between practices was too long, not because reinforcement was withheld. The correct answer is: Not extinction

Dr. Fuller was working with a severely handicapped 18-year- old male who could only lay on his back, open his mouth, blink, and move his head, shoulders, and arms a bit. The man, labelled a "vegetative idiot," had never learned to do anything. The physicians who worked at the institution felt it was impossible for the man to learn anything. Dr. Fuller deprived the man of food for fifteen hours. Initially, the man lifted his right arm to the vertical position about once per minute. After the food deprivation, Dr. Fuller squirted a warm sugar-milk solution into the man's mouth with a syringe whenever the man lifted his right arm to vertical. This procedure continued for several sessions eventually causing the man to raise his right arm to vertical three times per minute. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This item is an example of positive reinforcement, because food presentation was dependent on arm raising and because this presentation resulted in an increase in the frequency of arm raising. Source: Fuller (1949) The correct answer is: Reinforcement

Six kindergarten children were participating in a project to learn handwriting skills. The children were given a lesson to teach them to draw straight and curved lines and to trace letters; responses were defined as correct responses if they were performed appropriately. After every fourth or fifth correct response, the teacher gave a child a token that could be exchanged for activity opportunities including colouring, painting, playing games, and going to the gym. It was found that giving the children tokens for correct responses resulted in more correct responses than did giving the children tokens regardless of their responses, correct or incorrect. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This item is an example of positive reinforcement, because receiving tokens was a response-dependent consequence that caused correct responding to increase in frequency. The response-dependent tokens produced more correct responses than did response-independent tokens, showing that the response-dependent feature of positive reinforcement was important. This study is one of many that uses tokens that can be exchanged for rewards and privileges. Tokens are a convenient means of using positive reinforcement. Source: Brigham, Finfrock, Breunig, & Bushell (1972) The correct answer is: Reinforcement

In a large department store, 33 retail sales employees participated in an experiment. The salespeople's behavior was classified into two categories: functional responses, which included conversing with customers, showing merchandise, ringing up sales, and arranging and straightening merchandise; and dysfunctional responses, which included socializing with co-workers or visitors, idle standing or sitting, and being absent from assigned tasks without reason. The salespeople were observed, and for each week that they engaged in the functional responses 90% of the time or more, they would receive 4 hours off with pay. In addition, for each day a salesperson met the 90% standard, his or her name would be entered into a pool. The winner of the pool would receive two airplane tickets to Hawaii or the cash equivalent. As a result, the salespeople engaged in the functional responses more often than they had before the experiment and more often than did employees who were not participating in the experiment. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This item is an example of positive reinforcement, because the paid time off and the chance to win a trip were dependent on the target behaviors and because they caused the level of the target behaviors to increase. Source: Luthans, Paul, & Taylor (1985) The correct answer is: Reinforcement

Twenty-seven children in a first- and second-grade classroom were participating in a project to improve their dental hygiene. The amount of their tooth brushing was measured by the amount of plaque on their teeth. Students whose plaque level was below a selected criterion had their photographs displayed on a bulletin board at the front of their classroom. As a result of this procedure, the students' level of tooth brushing, as measured by plaque reduction, increased. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This item is an example of positive reinforcement, because the presentation of the children's photographs on the bulletin boards was dependent on the target behavior and because this display caused the level of the target behavior to increase. Source: Blount & Stokes (1984) The correct answer is: Reinforcement

Mr. and Mrs. Orr were an elderly couple. Mr. Orr had recently suffered a stroke that had caused some behavioral changes. Specifically, Mr. Orr would seldom respond correctly to questions and rarely spoke without being prompted. behavior analysts trained Mrs. Orr to use response-dependent attention procedures in which she would touch, praise, and smile at Mr. Orr when he answered a question correctly or engaged in unprompted talk. These procedures caused Mr. Orr to respond correctly to questions and to engage in unprompted talk much more often than he had since the stroke. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This item is an example of positive reinforcement, because the tokens were response-dependent consequences of the target behavior and because the procedure caused an increase in the target behavior. Source: Fjellstedt & Sulzer-Azaroff (1973) The correct answer is: Reinforcement

Norm was an 8-year-old boy who had been removed from a regular school classroom to a special education class, because he would follow the teacher's instructions only after long delays. A procedure was set up to encourage him to follow instructions rapidly. This procedure consisted of giving Norm tokens when he complied with the teacher's instructions within a given time limit. Norm could use the tokens in exchange for toys or play periods. This procedure caused Norm to follow the teacher's instructions rapidly much more often than he had before. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This item is an example of positive reinforcement, because the tokens were response-dependent consequences of the target behavior and because the procedure caused an increase in the target behavior. Source: Fjellstedt & Sulzer-Azaroff (1973) The correct answer is: Reinforcement

Bess was a cognitively-impaired girl who lived in an institution. Her problem was self-destructive behavior, including eye poking and scratching. Her behavior had left her blind in one eye and had damaged the other. Experimenters tried to solve this problem by squirting five cubic centimetres of lemon juice into Bess's mouth whenever she engaged in self-destruction. This procedure reduced Bess's self-destructive acts from about 3.5 per minute to only 0.5 per minute. However, the nature of the problem behavior required its complete elimination, so the experimenters turned to other procedures. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This item is an example of punishment, because a stimulus change, lemon juice in the mouth, depended on the target behaviors and this change caused a decline in the target behaviors. Source: Favell, McGimsey, & Jones (1978) The correct answer is: Punishment

On his way to work, Dave always waved at an old lady who sat on her porch. She never waved back. Then one day she began returning his waves, causing Dave to wave less often after that. Select one: a. Punishment b. Exclusionary timeout c. Nonexclusionary timeout d. Response cost e. Not punishment

Analysis: This item is an example of punishment, because the old lady's waves depended on Dave's waves and caused Dave's waves to occur less often. Even apparently polite and friendly gestures can function as punishers, but this example is notable for its atypicality; waves usually act as reinforcers rather than punishers. The correct answer is: Punishment

Leonard was a child from a low-income family who was attending preschool. Workers at the preschool taught Leonard and the other students correct colour names. To encourage the children to use these names, they began giving objects and materials to the children only when they asked for the materials using the correct colour name. For example, staff honoured Leonard's requests for a blue ball, but not for a ball. As a result, Leonard and the other children used the correct colour names when requesting objects and materials much more often than they had before. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This item is an example of reinforcement, because the response of using the correct colour name produced a dependent consequence (receiving the desired objects or materials); this consequence resulted in an increase in the level of correct colour naming. Source: Hart & Risley (1968) The correct answer is: Reinforcement

Opal was in a study skills management program. To create an incentive, Opal gave all of her phonograph records to her roommate, who monitored the amount of studying that Opal did. Initially, Opal got a record back for each night that she studied for 30 minutes. As the program progressed, she got a record only if she studied more than she had the previous night until she reached the criterion of studying 3 hours per night. Select one: a. Shaping b. Not shaping

Analysis: This item is an example of shaping, because reinforcers are contingent on increases in study time that are closer and closer to the goal of 3 hours per night. The correct answer is: Shaping

Paul persuaded his fellow students to use a behavior change procedure with their biology professor. When the teacher was lecturing, they paid attention to him only when he made small arm movements and gestures. After a time, they made their attention contingent upon larger and larger arm movements, until the teacher was waving his hands and arms wildly during lectures. The teacher did not know that the students were using this procedure with him. Select one: a. Shaping b. Not shaping

Analysis: This item is an example of shaping, because the students are reinforcing increasingly vigorous arm movements until the goal response of exceptionally wild arm movements is reached. The correct answer is: Shaping

After Shamika's father died, her stepmother took complete charge of the household. The stepmother yelled at Shamika a lot. At first, Shamika thought that if she did her homework and several chores around the house, she wouldn't get yelled at. However, Shamika's stepmother yelled at her whether or not she did the homework and chores. As a result of the yelling, though, Shamika did her homework and chores more often than she had before. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This item is neither an example of escape nor avoidance. In this illustration, the stimulus change from no yelling to yelling does not depend on the target behavior, because it occurs no matter what Shamika does. Although Shamika's behavior did increase, this increase was not owing to a response-dependent stimulus change, so the increase was not owing to escape or avoidance. The correct answer is: Neither escape nor avoidance

Roelof was an alcoholic. He had been hospitalized due to his alcoholism and he volunteered to participate in a study designed to help him with his problem. In the study, Roelof entered an environment designed to look like a bar. There he was invited to drink what he liked from a selection of available beverages. Immediately after he took a drink, he received an electric shock. Compared to a group of alcoholics who were not treated, Roelof and the others in his treatment group drank the same amount of alcohol. Roelof felt normal when he drank at the post-test trials. Select one: a. Pavlovian conditioning b. Operant conditioning c. Pseudoconditioning d. Classical conditioning e. No conditioning

Analysis: This item is not an example of Pavlovian conditioning. The shock consequence was dependent on the drinking. The shock also had no effect on any measure of Roelof's behavior. Source: Cannon & Baker (1981) The correct answer is: No conditioning

Lillian was a singer who had epilepsy. Her seizures could be arrested early in their course if she smelled particular odours, so when she felt a seizure about to occur, she would sniff a concentrated odour of jasmine from a vial, and this action would stop the seizure. Select one: a. Pavlovian conditioning b. Operant conditioning c. Pseudoconditioning d. Classical conditioning e. No conditioning

Analysis: This item is not an example of Pavlovian conditioning. The smell of jasmine can be considered as a US for the UR of arresting a seizure. However, the US was not predicted by any CS, so no conditioning took place. Source: Efron (1964) The correct answer is: No conditioning

Sally never did her required household chores after school. After confronting her several times, her mother decided that Sally would not be allowed to play outside for a week for each day she skipped her chores. Thus, Sally could go out and play after school by simply doing her chores. Her mother found that after 2 months of this procedure, Sally was doing her chores much more often than she had before. Select one: a. Escape b. Avoidance c. Both escape and avoidance d. Neither escape nor avoidance

Analysis: This item is not an example of avoidance, because the stimulus change from inside the house to outside depends on the occurrence of the target behavior, not on the absence of the target behavior. This item is an example of escape, because (a) termination of a stimulus (restriction to the inside of the house) depended on the target behavior and (b) this arrangement increased the level of the target behavior. The correct answer is: Neither escape nor avoidance

Simon had volunteered for an experiment concerned with sexual fetishes. His penis was fitted in a device called a phallo-plethysmograph that measured his penis size. Over a number of trials, he was shown slides of pairs of boots for 30 seconds. This procedure continued using different slides of a variety of boots, and each trial was separated by a 1- to 5-minute interval. The trials continued until Simon's penis grew measurably larger on seeing the boots on five consecutive trials. This reaction occurred after 36 trials. Initially, the boots did not affect Simon's penis size. Select one: a. Pavlovian conditioning b. Operant conditioning c. Pseudoconditioning d. Classical conditioning e. No conditioning

Analysis: This item is not an example of classical conditioning. In this item, Simon's penis grew when the boot slides were repeatedly presented, but the boots had never predicted other stimuli. This item is a case in which a response occurs as a result of the repeated presentation of a stimulus, not because of the predictive relationship between two stimuli. As such, this case is an example of pseudoconditioning. Source: Rachman & Hodgson (1968) The correct answer is: Pseudoconditioning

Donny made frequent remarks about Dale's figure every time they were at a party together. As soon as they were alone Dale got angry with Donny and asked him to stop. However, Donny continued to make the remarks. Finally, right after Donny made a rude comment, Dale yelled at him, calling him "a sick son-of-a-toad" before walking away. Soon afterwards, Dale noted that Donny no longer made such comments and had begun to compliment her appearance in public. Select one: a. Extinction b. Not extinction

Analysis: This item is not an example of extinction, because Don stopped his remarks only after Dale yelled at him (not after withholding attention for the response). The correct answer is: Not extinction

Debbie wasn't doing well in sixth grade math. Her teacher told her parents that Debbie handed in less than 50% of her homework assignments. Debbie's parents told Debbie that on days in which she did not hand in her homework she would be sent to bed right after dinner. As a result, Debbie handed in her assignments 95% of the time. Select one: a. Reinforcement b. Not reinforcement

Analysis: This item is not an example of positive reinforcement. In positive reinforcement the presented stimulus is dependent on a target behavior, and this dependency causes that behavior to increase in frequency. In this illustration no stimulus is presented dependent on the target behavior of handing in the assignments. Instead, the stimulus is presented dependent upon not handing in assignments. The correct answer is: Not reinforcement

Dr. Farquhar was interested in the effects of meditation on blood pressure in heart patients. She divided a group of patients into two groups. One group was taught to meditate, the other was not. Before starting the experiment, Dr. Farquhar took baseline measures of blood pressure, making sure that the average blood pressure between the two groups was equal, and she prescribed the same diet for both groups. After 4 weeks of meditation training, she found no difference between the two groups in blood pressure, even when the blood pressure was measured just after the meditators had meditated. Is this an experiment?

The independent variable in this experiment is the meditation training. Dr. Farquhar manipulated meditation, since she exposed one group to the training but did not expose the other group. The dependent variable here is blood pressure, which was measured to see what effect the independent variable (i.e., meditation) had on it. Two controlled variables in the study are the patients' pre-experimental blood pressure levels and diet, which was kept the same for both groups. Dr. Farquhar gave different values of the independent variable to different groups, making the experiment a group (between-subjects) design (i.e., the experimental group was given meditation while the control group was given no meditation, or a "zero" value of the independent variable). The correct answer is: Yes, this is an experiment