Exam 5: Instrumental Conditioning

Steve anxiously taps his pencil on his desk every day at 11:50. By 11:55 he is licking his lips. Assuming lunch is always served at noon, what, according to behavioral systems theory, best explains his pencil tapping behavior?

Which of the following is thought in part to have helplessness as a mechanism of its development?

The elevated responding for a favorable reward resulting from experience with a less attractive outcome is called

Which of the following is an example of (positive)punishment?

Shaping depends on which of the following?

Lyle leaves the theater because the music in the show he is watching is too loud. This is an example of

Compare positive and negative response-reinforcer contingencies. How do these contingencies contribute to the classification of instrumental conditioning procedures?

A negative contingency between a response and an aversive stimulus is also known as

Compare discrete-trial and free-operant methods of instrumental conditioning. What are the advantages of each class of procedure? What factors would influence your choice of procedure type if you were to explore instrumental behaviors?

According to the text, an unpleasant outcome is technically termed which of the following?

Which of the following is true of the nature of the instrumental reinforcer in conditioning procedures?

Which of the following would most likely be used in a discrete trial procedure?

Which of the following is typical of a discrete trial procedure?

Your dog is sitting quietly in the front yard when an intruder approaches. As you would hope, the dog begins to bark vigorously and the intruder runs away. The dog's barking is an example of

Which of the following is a conditioned reinforcer?

The cats in Thorndike's puzzle boxes were able to escape more quickly over successive trials. Thorndike interpreted this performance change to reflect

How does the current status of a reinforcer depend on prior experience with that or other reinforcers?

Which of the following is not true about behavioral variability?

Sometimes, removing a stimulus after some response increases the occurrence of that response. This is an example of

A delay in the delivery of a reinforcer after the target response is likely to disrupt conditioning because