Question 1

Which statement about "selection by consequences" is false?

Accepted Answer

A)   Reinforcement is assumed to work like evolution: Both weed out behaviors that are not successful or useful.
B)   Complex behaviors, like differences among species, may result from behavioral variations and a selection process that occurs during the lifetime of the organism.
C)   As a result of psychology's reconsideration of the role of evolution, the "behavioral selection by consequences" approach is increasingly replacing traditional notions of reinforcement.
D)   Behavioral selection by consequences, like evolution, does not require a causal agent for the production of complex and diverse behaviors. C

Question 2

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

Accepted Answer

A)   fixed interval
B)   fixed ratio
C)   variable interval
D)   variable ratio C

Question 3

Modern learning theorists assume that

Accepted Answer

A)   response learning and stimulus learning co-occur naturally.
B)   response learning occurs naturally, and stimulus learning sometimes co-occurs.
C)   stimulus learning occurs naturally, and response learning sometimes co-occurs.
D)   cognitive learning occurs naturally, and both stimulus and response learning sometimes co-occur. A

Question 4

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

Accepted Answer

A)   FI
B)   VI
C)   FR
D)   VR

Question 5

How is the tendency to choose a small immediate reward over a larger delayed reward explained?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How is the tendency to choose a...

Question 6

Which statement about reinforcers is false?

Accepted Answer

A)   The value of an instrumental conditioned reinforcer is produced by classical conditioning.
B)   Like the behavior of nonhuman animals, most human behavior is directly reinforced by primary reinforcers.
C)   Conditioned reinforcers make learning more likely when there is a delay between a behavior and a primary reward.
D)   In addition to events like lights, bells, and money, a behavior can also be a conditioned reinforcer.
E)   Conditioned reinforcers boost performance that is maintained at a low level by primary reinforcement.

Question 7

A behavior chain is

Accepted Answer

A)   a group of related behaviors (e.g., a dog's digging, gnawing, chewing, swallowing)  that are controlled by a single primary reinforcer.
B)   a group of related behaviors (e.g., a dog's digging, gnawing, chewing, swallowing)  that are controlled by a single conditioned reinforcer.
C)   a sequence of behaviors controlled by a primary reinforcer and conditioned reinforcers.
D)   a sequence of behaviors controlled by different primary reinforcers.

Question 8

According to Tolman's latent learning experiments, a child could learn the route from home to school

Accepted Answer

A)   only by walking the route and learning the sequence of turns.
B)   by walking to school, riding to school, or by any other mode that would allow the child to learn the location of the school or the sequence of turns.
C)   only by being rewarded after every successful trip.
D)   by completing one successful trip and arriving on time.

Question 9

The "learning/performance distinction" refers to

Accepted Answer

A)   the behavioral differences in responding during acquisition (e.g., mistakes mixed with accurate responses)  versus association formation (e.g., accurate responses without errors) .
B)   the relationship between motivation (reward or punishment)  and behavior, with motivation necessary for performance but not for learning.
C)   the classification system that clarifies which behaviors are inherited (performance)  and which behaviors are acquired as a result of experience (learning) .
D)   the relationship between S-O and R-O conditioning, in which S-O associations produce learning and R-O associations produce performance.

Question 10

Imagine that even though the rate of reinforcement from your partner increases, you still might be prone to cheating. This aspect of behavior is explained or described by which aspect of the quantitative matching law?

Accepted Answer

A)   K
B)   RO
C)   B1
D)   K × R1

Question 11

Johnny earns some money for reporting video game bugs to developers. He spends 45% of his day playing video games, 25% of his day chatting with friends, 20% of his day working on academics, and the rest of the time taking care of basic needs. Unbeknownst to him, his girlfriend (a double major in psychology and electrical engineering) has surreptitiously jammed his cell phone's chat app and unblocks it and sends him chat messages only when he is playing video games. From the perspective of learning theory, what is she trying to accomplish?

Accepted Answer

A)   She is trying to get Johnny to earn more money.
B)   She is trying to get Johnny to chat more.
C)   She is trying to get Johnny to play games less.
D)   She is trying to help Johnny reach his bliss point.

Question 12

The statement "Food is reinforcing because it ends hunger pains" is aligned with _______ theories because _______.

Accepted Answer

A)   Thorndike's; annoyance is avoided
B)   Hull's; the event is satisfying
C)   Hull's; a biological need is being met
D)   Tolman's; food motivates behavior

Question 13

Which statement about the minimum distance model and the matching law is accurate?

Accepted Answer

A)   The minimum distance model predicts response rates on ratio schedules better, but the matching law is a better predictor of response rates on interval schedules.
B)   They perform equally well on variable schedules.
C)   Neither is as accurate as the laws derived from behavioral economics.
D)   The matching law is just as accurate as the minimum distance model when factors are added to account for melioration.

Question 14

The procedure of fading involves a gradual

Accepted Answer

A)   increase and decrease in the SD intensity to determine the level at which the stimulus is most salient.
B)   decrease in the amount of reinforcement so that the subject has difficulty recognizing when extinction begins.
C)   decrease in the intensity of one stimulus in a compound so that the second stimulus will regulate behavior.
D)   increase in the CS and US intensity as training proceeds in order to cause the development of a stronger-than-normal association.

Question 15

Tolman is best known for his argument that

Accepted Answer

A)   reinforcement and R-O associations produce the strongest learning.
B)   behaviors learned by experience are more adaptive than inherited behaviors.
C)   behavior is inherently flexible and goal-oriented.
D)   reinforcement is more powerful than punishment as a way to change behavior.

Question 16

The procedure of fading involves gradual changes in

Accepted Answer

A)   the response requirement in order to obtain a more complex behavior.
B)   the amount of reward offered so that a subject does not become satiated.
C)   reward frequency, from continuous to partial reinforcement.
D)   stimulus complexity, from simple to more subtle.

Question 17

A hungry and thirsty rat spends 40% of its time lever pressing for food and 60% of its time lever pressing for water. Because it is pressing more for water, water appears to be more reinforcing than food. What additional factors need to be considered, according to the field of behavioral economics?

Accepted Answer

A)   Food and water are not necessarily substitutable and the demand for each can change within a session.
B)   The prices of food and water (i.e., the effort required to get one or the other)  can vary.
C)   Food and water each has a different capacity to reinforce.
D)   No additional factors need to be considered, since food and water, like most primary reinforcers, are of more or less equal value and inelastic under equal states of drive.

Question 18

Which scenario is not an application of the matching law to ultimately reduce the amount of time a child spends playing computer games.

Accepted Answer

A)   Requiring increasingly more weekly chores for every additional 30 minutes the child wants to be at the computer
B)   Spending time interacting with the child in ways that compete with the attractiveness of the computer (e.g., going to a ball game, practicing soccer moves, playing a board game) 
C)   Reducing the number of different games on the computer so that they all become boring to the child
D)   Preventing the child from playing any game other than computer games for a week, thus reducing the reinforcing capacity of the computer games

Question 19

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

Accepted Answer

A)   fixed interval
B)   fixed ratio
C)   variable interval
D)   variable ratio

Question 20

Skinner assumed that reinforcement is powerful enough to

Accepted Answer

A)   result in one-trial operant learning.
B)   produce superstitious responding when delivered noncontingently.
C)   prevent extinction if it is sufficiently large during acquisition.
D)   produce cognitive expectations that are resistant to forgetting.

Exam 7: Behavior and Its Consequences