Psychology2016

206 CHAPTER 5

Practice Quiz How much do you remember?

Pick the best answer.

1. To a dog, is an example of a primary reinforcer, whereas
   is an example of a secondary reinforcer.
   a. a paycheck; money
   b. dog food; a Frisbee

c. dog food; dog treats

d. a gold star; candy

2. Edgar cannot sleep because he is terribly worried about his
   research paper. So Edgar decides to get out of bed and continue
   working on the paper. Although he stays up to nearly 3 A.M., he
   is relieved that it is done and easily falls off to sleep. In the future,
   Edgar will be more likely to finish his work before going to bed so
   that he can avoid the worry and sleeplessness. Such behavior is an
   example of
   a. positive reinforcement.
   b. negative reinforcement.

c. punishment.

d. classical conditioning.

3. Joe owned a small repair shop. Each day, he would check the mail
   to see if any of his customers mailed in a payment for the work he
   had done for them. Some days, he would receive a check or two.
   At other times, he would have to wait days before getting another
   payment. What schedule of reinforcement is evident here?
   a. fixed interval
   b. fixed ratio

c. variable interval

d. variable ratio

4. Little Jimmie’s mother was upset to find that Jimmie had not picked
   up his building blocks after repeated requests to do so. The next
   morning, Jimmie found all his blocks had been picked up and put
   into a bag on top of the refrigerator. Jimmie’s mother told him that
   he couldn’t play with his blocks for the next 2 days. Which type of
   discipline did she use?
   a. negative reinforcement
   b. punishment by application

c. punishment by removal

d. positive reinforcement

5. Tabitha signed up for a new credit card that offers reward miles for
   every purchase. Tabitha plans to make as many purchases as she
   can so that she can accumulate enough miles to go on a trip over
   spring break. Such an approach is an example of
   a. a token economy.
   b. shaping.
   c. a schedule of reinforcement.
   d. a form of negative reinforcement.


6. Which of the following is the best example of applied behavior analysis?
   a. Tiffany works with children by asking them what they want to
   accomplish and then helping them attain that goal through differ-
   ent forms of classical conditioning.
   b. Bethany has children watch her repeatedly so as to understand
   how a task is to be done. Once they have finished the observa-
   tion, then they are asked to imitate the behavior.
   c. Agatha observes a child to see what purpose a disruptive
   classroom behavior serves and identifies a new replacement
   behavior. She then implements a training program for the new
   behavior, reinforcing often at the simplest levels and gradually
   removing reinforcers as the child demonstrates the behavior
   independently.
   d. Camille wants children to learn a new behavior and uses punish-
   ment as the basis for the behavior change.

primary reinforcers: satisfy basic biological needs (e.g., hunger, thirst, touch)

secondary reinforcers: gain reinforcing properties through previous association

with primary reinforcers

positive reinforcement: addition, or experiencing of, a pleasurable stimulus

negative reinforcement: removal, escape, or avoidance of unpleasant stimulus

Operant Conditioning

(learning to make voluntary responses through the effects of positive or negative consequences)

Thorndike

was among the first

to study learning of

voluntary responses

developed law of effect—action followed

by pleasurable consequence will tend to be

repeated; action followed by unpleasant

consequence will tend not to be repeated

Skinner

led field of

behaviorism

after Watson

coined term operant

conditioning— voluntary

behavior that people and

animals do to operate in

the world

focused on observable, measurable behavior

reinforcement

any event or stimulus, that when

following a response increases

the probability that the response

will occur again

punishment is any event

or stimulus that, when

following a response,

decreases the probability

that the response will

occur again

application of operant conditioning principles (sometimes classical conditioning) to change

undesirable behaviors and create desirable behaviors in both humans and animals

token economies, time-out, applied behavior analysis, biofeedback,

and neurofeedback use these principles

behavior

modification

opposite of reinforcement, which increases

the probability that the response will occur again

punishment by application—something

unpleasant is added to the situation

punishment by removal—something

pleasurable is removed

to work—must be immediate, consistent,

and paired with reinforcement of actual

behavior desired

stimuli must be discriminative;

specific cues lead to specific responses

some behaviors can be established through

shaping, reinforcing small steps, or each successive

approximation, toward the ultimate goal

as in classical conditioning, extinction, generalization,

and spontaneous recovery can occur

instinctive drift, or the tendency to revert to genetically controlled patterns of behavior,

can serve as a biological constraint on operant conditioning

easier to establish new responses

but more sensitive to extinction

leads to a response that is resistant to extinction

schedule can be specified by the pattern/ratio

of responses or by time/interval

both ratio and interval schedules

can be either fixed or variable

timing of reinforcement influences speed

of learning, strength of learned response,

and subsequent behavior pattern

continuous reinforcement: provision of

reinforcer for each and every correct response

partial reinforcement: reinforcing behavior

after some but not all correct responses

schedules of

reinforcement

other

features

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