Human Learning 7th Edition by Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Test Bank

 

 

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Sample Test

CHAPTER 3

BEHAVIORIST PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES

 

Multiple Choice Questions

 

1.    Which one of the following statements best describes the view of early behaviorists about how learning can best be studied?

a.    Psychologists can determine how learning occurs only if they can identify its physiological basis.

b.    Introspection—reporting what and how one is thinking—is likely to yield the most accurate results.

c.     To study learning scientifically, researchers must confine their investigations to animal research in a laboratory setting.

d.    The study of learning will be more objective and scientific if only observable events are considered.

 

2.    When behaviorists describe an organism as a “black box,” they mean that:

a.    Many stimuli have no noticeable effect on the organism.

b.    Learning processes occurring within the organism cannot be studied scientifically.

c.     Learning is, by its very nature, something that takes place outside the organism.

d.    An organism makes many responses even in the absence of any observed external stimulus.

 

3.    Which one of the following statements best reflects behaviorists’ notion of tabula rasa (“blank slate”)?

a.    Organisms inherit few predispositions to behave in particular ways; instead, the behaviors they exhibit are largely the result of environmental experiences.

b.    Stimuli that occur after responses are made are usually more influential on an organism’s learning that stimuli that occur before responses are made.

c.     The things that organisms learn in a new situation largely override the things that they’ve learned in previous situations; as a result, newly learned behaviors often replace previously learned behaviors.

d.    Learning is more a function of what the environment does to the organism than of what the organism does to the environment; in other words, the organism plays a relatively passive role in the learning process.

 

4.    Ivan Pavlov conducted a series of studies that led him to propose his theory of classical conditioning. In these studies, Pavlov observed how a dog learned to:

a.    Bark when meat was presented

b.    Bark when meat was taken away

c.     Wake up when an auditory stimulus (e.g., a bell) was presented

d.    Salivate to a simple stimulus such as a light or bell

 

5.    Classical conditioning typically occurs when:

a.    A response is followed by two stimuli

b.    A response is followed by a single aversive stimulus

c.     Two stimuli are presented at about the same time

d.    Two responses occur (usually coincidentally) at about the same time

 

6.    Which one of the following responses is most likely to be learned through classical conditioning?

a.    Feeling anxious around horses

b.    Taking a walk on a nice day

c.     Doing homework

d.    Waving to a friend

 

7.    When Julie’s father comes home from work he opens the front door and picks her up to give her a big hug. Before long, Julie starts smiling whenever she hears her father turn his key to open the door. In this situation, Julie’s smiling at the sound of her father’s key turning in the door is a(n) _____; the hugging is a(n) _____.

a.    unconditioned stimulus; conditioned response

b.    unconditioned response; conditioned stimulus

c.     conditioned stimulus; unconditional response

d.    conditioned response; unconditional stimulus

 

8.    After repeatedly being hugged by her father when he comes through the door, Julie begins to smile when she hears a key turning to open the door opening by any person. Julie’s behavior can be explained by:

a.    spontaneous recovery

b.    generalization

c.     higher-order conditioning

d.    stimulus discrimination

 

9.    Gina became ill after eating Turkey on Thanksgiving and was unable to look at Turkey without feeling ill for two months. However, during that two-month period Gina was able to look at chicken without feeling ill. Gina’s behavior when presented with chicken is explained by:

a.    Generalization

b.    extinguishing a conditioned response

c.     stimulus discrimination

d.    counterconditioning

 

10.  At the dentist’s office, Teresa has a painful experience that leaves her tense and fearful. The next time her mother brings her to the dentist’s office, Teresa begins to get tense and anxious. In this situation, the dentist and dentist’s office are _____; Teresa’s fear of pain is a(n) _____.

a.    unconditioned stimuli; conditioned response

b.    unconditioned responses; conditioned stimulus

c.     conditioned stimuli; unconditioned response

d.    conditioned responses; unconditioned stimulus

 

11.  After a painful experience at one dentist’s office, Teresa’s mother takes Teresa to a different dentist, who takes great care to make her visits painless. Teresa is anxious at first, but after a few visits, Teresa gradually becomes less resistant about going to the new dentist. Teresa’s change in behavior can probably best be explained in terms of _____. But then Teresa doesn’t go to see the dentist again until three years later. On her first visit to the painless dentist after that time interval, she is anxious once again, even though she had not been anxious in her previous visits. The return of this response after it had previously disappeared is known as _____.

a.    extinction; spontaneous recovery

b.    generalization; discriminative learning

c.     higher-order conditioning; discriminative learning

d.    generalization; higher-order conditioning

 

12.  Jacob is suffering from a mild case of flu and, as a result, is feeling a bit nauseous. He decides that he needs to eat something to keep up his strength, so he gets out of bed, puts on a heavy sweater to keep himself warm, heats up a bowl of leftover chili, and settles down in an easy chair to watch a television game show while he eats. A few days later, after Jacob has recovered from the flu, one of the stimuli in the situation just described elicits a feeling of nausea. With the phenomenon of associative bias in mind, choose the stimulus that is most likely to elicit nausea.

a.    The sweater

b.    The chili

c.     The easy chair

d.    The television game show

 

13.  Paul is usually successful on the math problems his teacher assigns at school, although he occasionally fails on one or two problems. In contrast, Peter’s experiences with mathematics are almost always associated with frustration and failure. Considering contemporary views of the roles of contiguity and contingency in classical conditioning, who will acquire classically conditioned anxiety regarding mathematics?

a.    Both Paul and Peter will develop a considerable degree of mathematics anxiety.

b.    Only Paul will develop math anxiety, because the relationship between math and failure is unpredictable.

c.     Only Peter will develop math anxiety, because whenever math is presented, failure always follows.

d.    Neither Paul nor Peter will develop math anxiety, because neither situation reflects contingency of the CS and UCS.

 

14.  If students associate failure with punishment, and then associate playing sports with failure, they may begin to fear playing sports through a process of:

a.    generalization

b.    spontaneous recovery

c.     higher-order conditioning

d.    stimulus discrimination

 

15.  Which one of the following best describes contemporary theorists’ perspective on classical conditioning?

a.    Cognitive factors, such as mental representations of stimuli and predictions that organisms make, must often be considered in addition to observable stimuli and responses.

b.    Despite Pavlov’s early findings to the contrary, higher-order conditioning and generalization seldom occur.

c.     Classical conditioning typically occurs only in conjunction with operant conditioning; for example, conditioned stimuli elicit conditioned responses only when those responses are followed by reinforcement.

d.    Classical conditioning occurs primarily in artificial laboratory conditions; it rarely occurs in more naturalistic, real-life settings.

 

16.  David is addicted to a drug that increases his blood sugar level, temporarily giving him more energy. David always takes this drug in the bathroom. He finds that he becomes tired when he enters the bathroom and also that he needs more and more of the drug to maintain the same high energy level. From the perspective of classical conditioning, which one of the following is the most likely explanation of David’s increasing addiction to the drug?

a.    Lowering blood sugar level to counteract the effect of the drug has become a conditioned response to the “bathroom” stimulus.

b.    David has learned to respond to some drugs but not to others through the combined processes of stimulus discrimination and higher-order conditioning.

c.     Taking the drugs provides negative reinforcement, in that David no longer feels tired.

d.    Associative bias has predisposed David to associate the bathroom with fatigue.

 

17.  Extinction is one method of eliminating undesirable conditioned responses, but there are several problems associated with its use. Which one is not a problem encountered in using extinction?

a.    Some responses extinguish slowly, if at all.

b.    Extinguished responses may reappear through spontaneous recovery.

c.     Extinction often occurs too quickly to be controlled.

d.    Organisms tend to stay away from stimuli they have learned to fear, thus preventing their exposure to the conditioned stimulus in the absence of the unconditioned stimulus.

 

18.  After being bitten by a neighbor’s dog, Kathy is now afraid of the puppy her family has just adopted. Kathy’s father gives Kathy a hot fudge sundae; then, while she is happily eating it, he brings the puppy about fifteen feet from where she is sitting. On each successive day, Kathy gets another ice cream treat, and her father brings the puppy a little closer than he did on the previous day. Eventually Kathy is able to pet and enjoy the new puppy. Kathy’s father is using a procedure known as:

a.    generalization

b.    stimulus discrimination

c.     extinction

d.    counterconditioning

 

19.  Nick is extremely anxious whenever he takes a test. From a classical conditioning perspective, a teacher can best reduce his anxiety by:

a.    Giving him a few extremely difficult tests at first, and then gradually giving him easier ones

b.    Giving him a few easy tests while he is feeling relaxed

c.     Reinforcing him for each test question he answers correctly

d.    Reassuring him that he can do well if he tries hard

 

20.  Which one of the following educational practices is most clearly derived from behaviorist principles?

a.    Having students make overt responses

b.    Teaching students how to apply information

c.     Asking students to generate questions about what they read

d.    Presenting information in a logical sequence that stresses interrelationships among idea

 

21.  Thorndike’s original law of effect described the ways in which the learning of a response:

a.    has an effect on other organisms

b.    has an effect on stimuli in the environment

c.     has an effect on other responses

d.    is affected by the consequences of that response

 

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

a.    Pavlov’s concept of extinction

b.    Thorndike’s original law of effect

c.     Thorndike’s revised law of effect

d.    Skinner’s basic principle of operant conditioning

 

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

a.    “Maybe she isn’t paying attention as much as she should be.”

b.    “Maybe I don’t praise her enough when she does something well.”

c.     “Maybe she has trouble understanding the things she reads.”

d.    “Maybe she has trouble remembering things from one day to the next.”

 

24.  When Lily is presented with money after many different behaviors (e.g., cleaning her room, getting a good grade or eating her vegetables) she is more likely to perform each of those behaviors. The fact that this single reinforcer (i.e., money) can increase many of Lily’s behaviors is explained by:

a.    Classical conditioning

b.    Instrumental conditioning

c.     Transituational generality

d.    Secondary reinforcement theory

 

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

a.    There is a delay in reinforcement.

b.    Reinforcement is not contingent on the desired response.

c.     Money is rarely an effective reinforcer for people.

d.    The “reinforcer” is presented before the response.

 

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

a.    There is a delay in reinforcement.

b.    He has used negative reinforcement instead of positive reinforcement.

c.     Free time is not an effective reinforcer for the students.

d.    The “reinforcer” is presented before the response.

 

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

a.    Classical conditioning deals almost exclusively with stimuli, whereas operant conditioning deals almost exclusively with responses.

b.    Classical conditioning deals almost exclusively with responses, whereas operant conditioning deals almost exclusively with stimuli.

c.     Classically conditioned responses are voluntary, whereas responses learned through operant conditioning are elicited by specific stimuli.

d.    Classically conditioned responses are elicited by specific stimuli, whereas responses learned through operant conditioning are voluntary.

 

28.  Which one of the following is a primary reinforcer?

a.    A cookie

b.    A good grade

c.     A thousand dollars

d.    A feeling of pride about a job well done

 

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

a.    Have never received a grade above C

b.    Come from middle-income or upper-income backgrounds

c.     Have previously associated those grades with primary reinforcers

d.    Have been told that good grades are important for getting a college scholarship

 

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

a.    Kennedy is positively reinforcing him for the distracting behaviors.

b.    Kennedy is negatively reinforcing him for the distracting behaviors.

c.     Kennedy is vicariously reinforcing him for the distracting behaviors.

d.    Kennedy is punishing him for the distracting behaviors.

 

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

a.    Getting a new outfit you think is “cool”

b.    Being allowed to play basketball at a friend’s house after you finish your homework

c.     Being told that you did a good job

d.    Feeling good about your own generosity toward a less fortunate classmate

 

32.  Which one of the following is the best example of intrinsic reinforcement?

a.    Getting a new outfit you think is “cool”

b.    Being allowed to play basketball at a friend’s house after you finish your homework

c.     Being told that you did a good job

d.    Feeling good about your own generosity toward a less fortunate classmate

33.  Feedback about one’s performance is most likely to be effective when it:

a.    Is given after a short delay (perhaps 30 minutes after the performance)

b.    Describes only the things that the person has done correctly

c.     Comes from a peer rather than from an authority figure

d.    Provides information about how to improve

 

34.  Which one of the following is an example of negative reinforcement?

a.    When Kevin does his homework, his teacher praises him profusely, to the point that it embarrasses him.

b.    When Kathleen insults another student while waiting in line for lunch, her teacher moves her to the end of the line.

c.     When Lucas complains about a classmate who is picking on him, his teacher allows him to come in from recess on bitterly cold days.

d.    When Priscilla answers a teacher’s question incorrectly, Mike teases her unmercifully.

 

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

a.    positively reinforced

b.    negatively reinforced

c.     punished

d.    an example of passive avoidance learning

 

36.  Which one of the following best illustrates Skinner’s concept of superstitious behavior?

a.    Alice is praised for her accurate bookkeeping at work. After that, she continues to keep accurate books at work. She also begins to be more careful about balancing her personal checkbook each month, even though she receives no reinforcement for doing so.

b.    Bradley thinks his reinforcement for cleaning his apartment is the good feeling that a clean place gives him. In reality, he cleans only when company is coming, and it is his company that makes him feel good.

c.     Charlotte misinterprets a teacher’s praise as sarcasm and therefore as punishment rather than reinforcement.

d.    David usually struggles with his geography exams, but he recently got high scores on two occasions when he wore a Denver Broncos sweatshirt to school. He now wears his Broncos sweatshirt whenever a geography test is scheduled.

 

37.  Imagine that you want to improve a distractible child’s ability to sit still and listen in class. Which one of the following procedures illustrates how you might use shaping to do so?

a.    Explain the purpose of sitting quietly before reinforcement begins.

b.    Reinforce the child for sitting still on some occasions, but not on others.

c.     Reinforce the child for sitting still and listening for only a minute, then for progressively longer and longer periods of time.

d.    Frequently change the specific consequence you use to reinforce sitting still-and-listening behavior (e.g., you might use candy a few times, then praise, then privileges, and so on).

 

38.  A ski instructor is teaching a class of beginning skiers how to do a snowplow turn. She first teaches her students to stand with the fronts of their skis together and the backs of their skis far apart. She then has her students bend their knees slightly and lean forward in this “snowplow” position. After the students can do these two things successfully, the instructor has them add more behaviors to the sequence: gliding across the side of a gentle slope in a snowplow, putting their body weight on the downhill ski, gradually turning downhill, and so on. The instructor praises her students each time they successfully add a new movement to the sequence. In behaviorist terminology, the procedure that the ski instructor is using can best be described as:

a.    the Premack principle

b.    chaining

c.     a differential schedule of reinforcement

d.    higher-level conditioning

 

Note: Questions 39 and 40 both refer to the same situation.

 

39.  Warren has earned himself a reputation for being the class clown. His teacher, Ms. Washington, used to laugh at Warren’s funny remarks, but is now trying to discourage Warren’s disruptive behavior by ignoring his jokes. In behaviorist terminology, Ms. Washington is now trying to modify Warren’s joke-telling behavior through:

a.    stimulus discrimination

b.    extinction

c.     shaping

d.    negative reinforcement

 

40.  Washington tries to ignore Warren when he tells jokes in class. But sometimes Warren tells a joke so funny that Ms. Washington laughs in spite of herself. Rather than decreasing his joke-telling, Warren begins telling even more outrageous jokes. Inadvertently, Ms. Washington is modifying Warren’s joke-telling behavior through:

a.    stimulus discrimination

b.    extinction

c.     shaping

d.    negative reinforcement

 

41.  In the basement of Marcy’s college dormitory is a Coke machine that dispenses a can of Coke whenever someone firmly pounds the side of the machine. Marcy is delighted when she discovers this fact, because she can now get Cokes from the machine without having to pay for them. One morning a repairman fixes the machine. The next time Marcy goes to get a soft drink from the machine, she finds that her usual pounding strategy doesn’t yield her the Coke she wants. But rather than insert the required coins to purchase a drink, Marcy begins pounding the side of the machine vigorously for several minutes. In behaviorist terminology, Marcy’s behavior at this point can best be described as:

a.    an extinction burst

b.    discrimination

c.     shaping

d.    a response reinforced by an activity reinforcer

 

42.  Tiffany is a hyperactive child who rarely sits still for more than 30 seconds at a time. Ms. Garcia decides to use positive reinforcement to help Tiffany learn to sit quietly in her seat during class time. Which one of the following approaches will bring about the fastest change in Tiffany’s behavior?

a.    a variable ratio schedule of reinforcement

b.    a variable interval schedule of reinforcement

c.     continuous reinforcement

d.    a fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement

 

43.  John and Bill have both learned that when they whine and complain, their teacher will hurry over to see what’s wrong. John’s teacher gives him attention every time he complains. However, Bill’s teacher gives him attention only on some of the occasions he complains. Both teachers eventually realize that they are reinforcing the boys for inappropriate behavior and so both stop attending to the boys when they whine and complain. From a behaviorist perspective, we can predict that:

a.    Both boys will whine and complain even more than before.

b.    Both boys will stop their whining and complaining almost immediately.

c.     Bill’s complaining will decrease more rapidly than John’s.

d.    John’s complaining will decrease more rapidly than Bill’s.

 

44.  At the beginning of the school year, Mr. Webber is concerned that Frances rarely does her independent seatwork. He begins praising Frances for each seatwork assignment she completes, and by January she is completing her assignments regularly. To make sure that the behavior continues in the years to come, what would behaviorists tell Mr. Webber to do now?

a.    Praise her more often than before.

b.    Praise her for only some of her completed assignments.

c.     Punish Frances when she doesn’t complete an assignment.

d.    Switch from a social reinforcer to an activity reinforcer.

 

45.  George has learned that if he pesters his father about using the family Cadillac enough times, his father will eventually break down and give George the keys to the Cadillac. George’s “pestering” behavior is apparently being reinforced on a ___________ schedule.

a.    variable ratio

b.    variable interval

c.     fixed interval

d.    differential rate of low responding

 

46.  McDonald wants his students to ask him for help on their geometry problems only after they have tried to solve the problems independently for at least five minutes. Mr. McDonald should reinforce students’ help-seeking behavior on a ___________ schedule.

a.    fixed ratio

b.    variable ratio

c.     differential rate of low responding

d.    differential rate of high responding

 

47.  Lori has learned that when she wants to say something in class, she must raise her hand before doing so. At home, however, she speaks without ever raising her hand ahead of time. We can say that the classroom has become a(n) ____ for Lori’s hand-raising behavior.

a.    generalized stimulus

b.    antecedent stimulus

c.     positive stimulus

d.    negative reinforce

 

48.  Sharon has learned that her language arts teacher answers her questions willingly but that her biology teacher discourages questions. Sharon therefore asks questions in language arts but not in biology. In behaviorist terminology, Sharon is:

a.    on a differential rate of low responding schedule

b.    showing generalization

c.     on a fixed interval schedule

d.    under stimulus control

 

49.  A teacher claps his hands together loudly three times as a way of reminding his students that they need to talk more quietly during their free time at the end of the day. In behaviorist terminology, his strategy can best be described as:

a.    cueing

b.    an intermittent schedule

c.     negative reinforcement

d.    a setting event

 

50.  A teacher wants to encourage her students to work cooperatively with one another as they study classroom subject matter. If she were to use the concept of a setting event to encourage such cooperative behavior, she would:

a.    Praise her students when they cooperate with one another.

b.    First give students a task in which they can’t work with one another.

c.     Say “I like how Sally and John are helping one another today” loudly enough that other students can hear.

d.    Provide instructional materials that students can use only by working together.

 

51.  Mark’s previous girlfriend always told him how handsome he looked whenever he wore his green sweater. Tonight Mark is going out with a new girlfriend and puts on the same green sweater. In behaviorist terminology, Mark is:

a.    on a differential rate of low responding schedule

b.    showing generalization

c.     on a fixed interval schedule

d.    showing stimulus discrimination

 

52.  A physics teacher wants her students to work on several difficult physics problems that involve calculating velocity, acceleration, or time using the formula v = a ´ t. The teacher first has her students work on a few easy problems involving the formula. She then presents the more difficult problems; when she does so, she finds that her students are reasonably persistent in working at the problems, and most of them eventually solve the problems correctly. By using the easy problems to promote persistence in her students during the more difficult ones, the teacher is, in behaviorist terminology, using the concept of:

a.    cueing

b.    behavioral momentum

c.     a DRL schedule

d.    a DRH schedule

 

53.  Mandy has learned that whenever her father comes home drunk, he is likely to yell at her, so she usually goes to her friend’s house before he has the chance. In this situation, the father’s coming home drunk is:

a.    Punishment I

b.    Punishment II

c.     An unconditioned stimulus

d.    A pre-aversive stimulus

 

54.  Martin went to two or three school dances but felt uncomfortable and self-conscious at them. Martin no longer goes to school dances. His lack of attendance is an example of:

a.    Passive avoidance learning

b.    Active avoidance learning

c.     Punishment I

d.    Punishment II

 

55.  Which one of the following statements best describes behaviorists’ two-step theory of avoidance learning?

a.    Avoidance of the aversive stimulus is negatively reinforced by the presence of the pre-aversive stimulus.

b.    Remaining in the situation is punished by the aversive stimulus; avoiding it is positively reinforced by the pre-aversive stimulus.

c.     Fear of the pre-aversive stimulus is classically conditioned, and escape from that stimulus is negatively reinforced.

d.    Escape responses occur prior to avoidance responses.

 

56.  An avoidance behavior of a previously aversive situation is particularly difficult to extinguish because:

a.    It has typically been reinforced on a fixed ratio schedule.

b.    It has typically been reinforced on a variable ratio schedule.

c.     It has typically been reinforced on a variable interval schedule.

d.    The learner has no opportunity to learn that the situation is no longer aversive.

 

57.  Which one of the following alternatives best describes instrumental conditioning?

a.    Learning to use man-made tools in order to accomplish difficult tasks more easily

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

c.     Learning that certain stimuli in one’s environment often bring either physical or psychological pain

d.    Learning complex sequences of psychomotor behaviors (e.g., dribbling and then shooting a basketball)

 

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

a.    Kelly has been acting up in the classroom all year. Her teacher’s frequent reprimands haven’t made much of a difference in Kelly’s behavior.

b.    Leo is a real distraction to his classmates, often burping in a way that makes other students laugh. His teacher places him in a corner where others can’t hear him burping.

c.     Whenever Marvin has trouble sitting still, his teacher has him run up and down the hall three times to release pent-up energy.

d.    After Nora spends a few minutes in the time-out room for hurting a classmate’s feelings, she is more careful not to hurt her peers’ feelings in the future.

 

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

a.    Negative reinforcement is essentially the same as punishment, but without the negative connotations that punishment has.

b.    Negative reinforcement increases the frequency of behavior, whereas punishment decreases it.

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

d.    Both consequences decrease behavior, but punishment is more likely to make students angry and defiant.

 

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

a.    Positive reinforcement

b.    Negative reinforcement

c.     Punishment I

d.    Punishment II

 

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

a.    Positive reinforcement

b.    Negative reinforcement

c.     Punishment I

d.    Punishment II

 

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

a.    Reprimands rarely reduce inappropriate behavior.

b.    Reprimands are more effective when they’re brief and unemotional.

c.     Reprimands are effective only when they embarrass children to some extent.

d.    Severe reprimands are more effective than mild ones.

 

63.  Julie gets very upset when her mother will not let her help her bake cookies. Julie yells at her mother and throws flour all over the kitchen. Julie’s mother makes Julie clean up all of the flour and do all of the dishes Julie’s mother created from baking the cookies. Her mother’s punishment was a form of:

a.    Positive-practice overcorrection

b.    Response cost

c.     Restitutional overcorrection

d.    Punishment II

 

64.  When Rochelle has an on-the-road lesson as part of her driver education class, she fails to stop at a school crossing zone, as is required by law. Her instructor has her drive around the block several times and stop each time at the crossing zone. He also insists that, once she has stopped, she must wait at least eight seconds before proceeding. The instructor’s strategy illustrates the use of _______ as a way of bringing about behavior change.

a.    An intermittent reinforcement schedule

b.    Positive-practice overcorrection

c.     Response cost

d.    Restitution

 

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

a.    time-out

b.    systematic desensitization

c.     response cost

d.    in-house suspension

 

66.  Nadia is an only child who lives on a ranch that is located many miles from the homes of other children. Although she enjoys being with her peers at school, she is often physically aggressive toward them. School personnel have made many small attempts to curb Nadia’s aggression (for example, they have scolded her, kept her in from recess, and put her in a time-out situation) but always without success. They are now thinking about taking more drastic measures. According to the textbook, which one of the following is most likely to be effective?

a.    Putting Nadia in in-school suspension

b.    Giving Nadia extra classwork in school subjects she knows well

c.     Scolding Nadia in front of her peers about her inappropriate behavior

d.    Suspending Nadia from school

 

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

a.    time-out

b.    restitution

c.     response cost

d.    in-house suspension

 

68.  Which one of the following is the major reason why assigning extra schoolwork is not an appropriate punishment for classroom misbehavior?

a.    It gives students the message that classwork is an unpleasant task.

b.    It decreases the likelihood that students will do their assignments appropriately.

c.     It asks students to perform tasks without the support they need to complete those tasks successfully.

d.    It is negative reinforcement rather than punishment.

 

69.  Jimmy misbehaved in class and his teacher punished him by forcing him to skip recess. Withholding recess is generally an ineffective form of punishment because:

a.    teachers do not consider recess a pleasant stimulus.

b.    many arguments arise during recess making it a negative situation for most children.

c.     recess provides a break from academic activities, which improves children’s concentration.

d.    recess is too short of a time interval.

 

70.  Three of the following statements reflect contemporary perspectives of instrumental conditioning and reinforcement. Which one does not?

a.    Punishment has a more pronounced effect on behavior than reinforcement does.

b.    Behavior can sometimes be better understood if we look at complex environmental conditions rather than at simple, specific stimuli.

c.     Instrumental conditioning can more adequately be explained when we talk about mental processes as well as observable events.

d.    Any single consequence may be more or less reinforcing depending on a learner’s particular motives at the time.

 

71.  A mother has been paying her daughter Melissa one dollar an hour to shovel snow off the driveway. At the end of January, the mother raises the rate to two dollars an hour. Based on research related to contrast effects, we can predict that Melissa will probably:

a.    Shovel half as much snow as she would have otherwise, and then she’ll quit.

b.    Shovel the same amount of snow as she would have at a dollar-an-hour rate.

c.     Shovel less snow than if the pay for shoveling snow had always been two dollars an hour.

d.    Shovel more snow than if the pay for shoveling snow had always been two dollars an hour.

 

Essay Questions

 

1.    Behaviorist theories tend to share a number of common underlying assumptions. In five short paragraphs, describe five of these assumptions.

 

1.    On several occasions, Edward is yelled at by his soccer coach. Before long, Edward begins to shake whenever he drives to soccer practice.

a.    Explain this situation in terms of classical conditioning, identifying the UCS, UCR, CS, and CR.

b.    Edward soon shows signs of fearing other men in addition to his soccer coach, even though they have never yelled at him. Identify and describe the classical conditioning process that accounts for Edward’s fear of men.

c.     Explain how you might eliminate Edward’s fear of men through a process of counterconditioning.

 

1.    Last week Gretel was accidentally hurt in her physical education class when a much larger student ran into her and knocked her to the floor. Gretel is now afraid to go to physical education. Explain this situation in terms of classical conditioning, identifying the UCS, UCR, CS, and CR.

 

1.    Shelby rarely interacts with her peers. She is obviously quite lonely but apparently has no confidence in her ability to make friends. Using a behaviorist perspective, describe how you might help Shelby develop social skills through shaping. In your discussion, be sure to include:

a.    The specific behavior(s) you would shape

b.    A specific reinforcer you might use, and why you make the choice you do

c.     The sequence of steps you might take as you shape the desired behavior

 

1.    Explain the difference between continuous reinforcement and intermittent reinforcement. When is each most useful?

 

1.    You are giving tennis lessons to a beginning tennis player. Describe how you would teach the proper tennis swing. Specify:

a.    A reasonable end result toward which you would work

b.    A reinforcer you might use

c.     When you would use continuous reinforcement

d.    When you would use intermittent reinforcement

 

1.    Distinguish among positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, Punishment I, and Punishment II. Give an example of each.

 

1.    Classify each of the following situations as involving either classical conditioning or operant conditioning. In each case, defend your answer by analyzing the situation within the context of the learning paradigm you have chosen.

1.     

a.    A father reminds his son James to be quiet at the dinner table. James stops talking, and his father smiles at him.

b.    Ralph’s friend offers him an illegal drug. Ralph takes the drug and finds that it makes him feel euphoric. Ralph begins to buy the drug himself and takes it more and more frequently.

c.     Linda is a bright, academically capable girl. Once, when she was sick, she failed an important test. Now she is very anxious whenever she takes a test.

 

1.    In each of the following situations, a person is learning through either reinforcement or punishment. Classify each situation as involving one of these four consequences: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, Punishment I, or Punishment II. Then explain why you chose the answer you did.

a.    Because Danielle fails her math class, she is taken off the school dance squad.

b.    Joe always does his homework assignments as soon as he gets them so he won’t have to worry about them anymore.

c.     Lisa and Fran are giggling together in the back of the classroom. Their teacher scowls at them. They are embarrassed and shut up.

d.    A teacher finds that by yelling at her students when they get too rowdy, they will settle down and be quiet for a while. (Focus on what is happening to the teacher.)

 

1.    Stacey dislikes physical education class because her classmates tease her about her lack of strength and coordination. One day Stacey unintentionally hits one of her classmates, and the teacher sends her to the principal’s office for the remainder of the class time. Stacey becomes increasingly aggressive in class and so spends more and more time in the principal’s office. Use one or more concepts and/or principles from behaviorism to explain why Stacey has become more (rather than less) aggressive.

 

1.    Avoidance responses are extremely difficult to eliminate. Explain why this is so, and describe two different procedures that can effectively reduce or eliminate avoidance behavior.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 4

APPLICATIONS OF BEHAVIORIST PRINCIPLES

 

Multiple Choice Questions

 

1.    F. Skinner has criticized traditional educational practices for:

a.    Failing to teach students to work for delayed reinforcement

b.    Using concrete reinforcers more often than social reinforcers

c.     Using intrinsic reinforcers more often than concrete reinforcers

d.    Relying heavily on artificial reinforcement for mastery of classroom topics

 

2.    Three of the following common criticisms of using behaviorist approaches in the classroom are valid ones. Which one usually is not true about behaviorist approaches?

a.    When a student who enjoys an activity is given extrinsic reinforcement for doing it, the student’s intrinsic interest in the activity may decrease.

b.    If some misbehaviors are reduced through reinforcement or punishment, other misbehaviors will always spring up to replace them.

c.     Reinforcing a student simply for doing a task, without regard for the quality of performance, can encourage the student to do it quickly rather than well.

d.    When a student has cognitive deficits that interfere with performance, simply reinforcing desired behaviors will be insufficient to bring about important changes.

 

3.    In Mr. Greene’s third-grade class, math problems are easy enough that students always solve them quickly and correctly. From the textbook’s perspective, is this a good situation? Why or why not?

a.    Yes, this is the ideal situation for learning math: Although the students may not move as quickly through the school’s math curriculum as students in other classes do, they will learn that math is an easy and enjoyable activity.

b.    Yes, this is a good situation provided that Greene also warns students that the math curriculum will be more difficult for them once they reach high school.

c.     This might be a good situation if students are solving problems in small, cooperative groups. However, if they’re working on the problems individually, they need harder problems to help them discover whether they have a natural aptitude for math.

d.    If students never have any trouble with math problems, they won’t know how to handle the occasional failure and frustration they’re likely to encounter when they tackle more challenging problems at higher grade levels.

4.    Tracy enjoys reading mystery novels and reads at least two a week. Her mother wants to encourage Tracy’s reading and so begins to pay her daughter one dollar for each completed mystery novel. Considering research regarding the extrinsic reinforcement of intrinsically reinforcing activities, we would expect Tracy eventually to:

a.    Double her rate of reading mystery novels

b.    Triple her rate of reading mystery novels

c.     Lower her rate of reading mystery novels

d.    Stop reading mystery novels altogether

 

5.    Matthew knows his teacher will give him credit for each assignment he completes on time, without regard for the accuracy of what he does. As a result, Matthew often completes his work quickly, sloppily, and sometimes incorrectly. This situation illustrates which one of the following concerns regarding the use of behaviorist techniques in the classroom?

a.    Reinforcement is a form of bribery.

b.    Reinforcement of some behaviors may impede optimal learning.

c.     Even very mild punishment adversely affects his self-esteem.

d.    Applied behavior analysis ignores the cognitive factors that affect learning.

 

6.    Teachers and other practitioners must be very careful in their use of punishment as a means of changing behavior. Three of the following are potential disadvantages in using punishment. Which statement about punishment is false?

a.    Punished behaviors typically decrease slowly, if at all.

b.    Punishment can in some instances lead to increased aggression.

c.     Harsh psychological punishment can adversely affect emotional well-being.

d.    Punishment in the classroom can make students fearful of school and/or their teacher.

 

7.    and Mrs. Mercado don’t allow their daughter Maggie to chew gum at home and have punished her severely on the few occasions they have found her with gum in her mouth. Now Maggie rarely chews gum at home but chews it almost constantly at school, where she is not punished for doing so. Maggie’s different behaviors at home and at school illustrate an effect of punishment known as:

a.    emotional arousal

b.    reversal

c.     behavioral contrast

d.    restitution

 

8.    Berk gives extra credit to each of his students who pick up 5 pieces of trash in the classroom before the bell rings at the end of the day. Despite the fact that most of the students pick up 5 pieces of trash before the end of the day, some students never participate in the cleanup. Which of the following statements explains why some students do not participate in the cleanup at the end of the day.

a.    The classroom context is a context in which only some children are reinforced.

b.    One reinforcer does not reinforce behavior for every learner.

c.     Some students will never produce socially desirable behaviors.

d.    When a group of students are reinforced together, the reinforced behavior is acquired more slowly than if the students are reinforced individually.

 

9.    If you were to apply the concept of terminal behavior in teaching a lesson, which one of these things would you do?

a.    Identify the things students should be able to do at the end of the lesson.

b.    Identify the sequence in which you should teach various parts of the lesson.

c.     Reward students who successfully complete the lesson.

d.    Make sure all students have mastered the prerequisite skills on which the lesson depends.

 

10.  Delahanty has several students who are chronic misbehavers. She meets individually with each student, and together the teacher and student agree to a plan for improving the student’s behavior and a suitable reinforcement for appropriate behavior change. Ms. Delahanty is using:

a.    a contingency contract

b.    Keller’s personalized system of instruction

c.     a token economy

d.    a group contingency

 

11.  An essential element of a contingency contract in the classroom is that:

a.    Behaviors are reinforced at least once a day.

b.    Every student receives the same reinforcer.

c.     Both teacher and student agree upon the desired behavior and its consequence.

d.    Every student has a contract concerning the same behavior.

 

 

12.  Hernandez is concerned about Brian, a student in her high school chemistry class who rarely interacts with other students. Ms. Hernandez decides to smile at Brian on those occasions when she happens to notice him talking with another student. Yet after three weeks she sees little change in his behavior. Based on this information, which one of the following is definitely wrong with Ms. Hernandez’s approach?

a.    Brian has little to gain by changing his behavior.

b.    Brian is receiving intermittent rather than continuous reinforcement.

c.     Social interaction is not an intrinsically reinforcing activity.

d.    A smile is not an effective reinforcer.

 

13.  In Marcia’s first tennis lesson, her instructor Keith is trying to teach her the correct way to swing a tennis racket. Keith praises Marcia every time she hits the tennis ball over the net and into the “in bounds” area of the opponent’s side of the court using the correct body position. Marcia shows little improvement during the one-hour lesson. From a behaviorist perspective, what mistake is Keith probably making in teaching Marcia to play tennis?

a.    He fails to realize that Marcia has little to gain by changing her behavior.

b.    He is using intermittent rather than continuous reinforcement.

c.     He should shape the behavior rather than expect immediate mastery.

d.    Praise is rarely an effective reinforcer.

 

14.  Healthier eating habits make people feel better and give them more energy over the long run. Yet many people do not improve their eating habits, especially if healthful foods are difficult and time-consuming to prepare. Three of the following are possible explanations for the lack of improvement (i.e., behavior change) in people’s eating habits. Judging from what you have learned about instrumental conditioning, choose the alternative that is not a likely explanation.

a.    Extrinsic reinforcers are usually more effective than intrinsic reinforcers.

b.    Eating junk food also has its reinforcers.

c.     From a cost-benefit perspective, change is not worthwhile.

d.    Reinforcement (in the form of feeling healthier) is delayed.

 

15.  Which one of the following examples best illustrates the concept of baseline as behaviorists use the term?

a.    After Louisa notices the attention she gets from boys on days she wears tight clothes, she often wears tight sweaters

b.    Justin talks in class all the time, even though his teacher and classmates do nothing to encourage him.

c.     Dimitri is afraid of the school swimming pool after he almost drowns in it during a swimming lesson.

d.    Marsha starts copying her best friend’s homework assignments regularly after she finds out that she gets better grades if she does so.

16.  If you wanted to encourage kindergartners to delay gratification, research indicates that an effective strategy would be to:

a.    Tell them that how well they behave at the end of the day is really what counts

b.    Ask them to focus on how good it feels to do something nice for a classmate

c.     Talk about how their learning efforts today will pay off in the years to come

d.    Occasionally remind them that they will get a bigger reward if they wait for an hour or two

 

17.  Sean is a high school student who is angry much of the time. He often vents his anger by swearing at his teacher. One day his teacher decides to extinguish Sean’s swearing by ignoring him whenever he swears. Yet over the next few weeks, Sean continues to swear as frequently as he always has. Three of the following are possible explanations as to why, from a behaviorist perspective, the teacher’s “extinction” strategy is not working. Which alternative is the least likely explanation?

a.    Other students are reinforcing Sean’s swearing.

b.    Sean’s swearing has previously been reinforced on an intermittent basis.

c.     Swearing allows Sean to release pent-up anger, so he is being negatively reinforced.

d.    Sean is being reinforced for swearing by means of the Premack Principle.