Unit 3

Question 1

Behavior analysts reject ______________ explanations of behavior. Such “explanations” put the cause of behavior in the individual’s vaguely defined “mind.”

Answer 1

mentalistic

Question 2

If the only evidence for the cause (motivation) is the effect (performance), then the explanation is ______________.

Answer 2

circular

Question 3

There are two kinds of ______________ operations. These environmental and/or biological events temporarily alter the efficacy of a reinforcer, and change the probability of behaviors that produce that reinforcer.

Answer 3

motivating

Question 4

The first kind of MO is the ______________ operation. When these environmental and/or biological events occur, they temporarily increase the efficacy of a specific reinforcer, and they increase the probability of behaviors that produce that reinforcer.

Answer 4

establishing

Question 5

The second kind of MO is the ______________ operation. When these environmental and/or biological events occur, they temporarily decrease the efficacy of a specific reinforcer, and they decrease the probability of behaviors that produce that reinforcer.

Answer 5

abolishing

Question 6

Having a garden full of corn is an ______________ (establishing or abolishing) operation because it temporarily decreases the reinforcing value of a store-bought ear of corn, and it decreases the probability of purchasing one at the grocery store.

Answer 6

abolishing

Question 7

Spilling sriracha sauce on your shirt is an ______________ (establishing or abolishing) operation because it temporarily increases the reinforcing value of a clean shirt, and it increases the probability of going home to get one.

Answer 7

establishing

Question 8

Having an itchy back is an ______________ (establishing or abolishing) operation because it temporarily increases the reinforcing value of the stimulation produced by a good scratching, and it increases the probability that you will ask your partner to scratch your back.

Answer 8

establishing

Question 9

A _______________ ______________ is a structured interview or written survey that asks the individual to identify highly preferred activities.

Answer 9

reinforcer survey

Question 10

The reason for asking someone to complete a reinforcer survey is to identify something that might function as a ________________, if provided contingent upon a desired behavior.

Answer 10

reinforcer

Question 11

For individuals with limited or no language ability, or for nonhuman animals, a useful way of identifying potential reinforcers is the stimulus ____________ ______________.

Answer 11

preference assessment

Question 12

The final product of a stimulus preference assessment is a list of stimuli rank ordered from most to least preferred. This list is known as a preference ______________. Stimuli at the top of this list are most likely to function as reinforcers.

Answer 12

hierarchy

Question 13

The Premack principle states that access to a _____-probability behavior can function as a reinforcer if made contingent upon emitting a _____-probability behavior.

Answer 13

high; low

Question 14

A benefit of the Premack principle is that it allows us to predict what will function as a reinforcer _____________ we try it out. This allows us to avoid the circularity problem.

Answer 14

before

Question 15

When measuring reinforcer efficacy, an individual’s ______________ can tell us which of the available stimuli is most likely to be the most effective reinforcer.

Answer 15

choice/preference

Question 16

A second measure of reinforcer efficacy is __________________. This measure quantifies how much behavior can be maintained by a specific reinforcer.

Answer 16

breakpoint

Question 17

List the four dimensions of reinforcer efficacy.

Answer 17

contingency, size, quality, and immediacy

Question 18

The second graders will complete more math problems when working for a gold star than a silver star. Which of the four dimensions of reinforcer efficacy is most relevant in this example?

Answer 18

quality

Question 19

The second graders were less enthusiastic about working for gold stars after the gym teacher gave the children a sheet of gold stars for free. Which of the four dimensions of reinforcer efficacy is most relevant in this example?

Answer 19

contingency

Question 20

Research has shown that infants will babble more when a social reinforcer is provided contingent on this vocal response (Ramey & Ourth, 1971). However, if this reinforcer is delayed by as little as 3 seconds, it will lose its ability to reinforce this response (presumably because the delay makes it difficult for the baby to learn the IF babble → THEN social-reinforcer contingency). Which of the four dimensions of reinforcer efficacy is most relevant in this example?

Answer 20

immediacy

Question 21

When a behavior becomes habitual, an AO no longer has its twin effects. The AO no longer ______________ the efficacy of a specific reinforcer and it no longer decreases the _____________ that yields that reinforcer.

Answer 21

decreases; behavior, response, or something similar

Question 22

When a behavior becomes habitual, it is evoked by _____________ stimuli, even when the individual is not motivated to acquire the consequence.

Answer 22

antecedent

Question 23

Habits are formed when an operant behavior is ________________ hundreds, if not thousands, of times in the presence of an antecedent stimulus.

Answer 23

reinforced

Question 24

Behavior analysts define a __________________ as a contingent consequence that decreases the future probability of behavior below its pre-punishment level.

Answer 24

punisher

Question 25

Punishers are contingent consequences, so they happen __________________ (before/after) behavior.

Answer 25

after

Question 26

The effect of a reinforcer is that it _________________ the future probability of behavior, whereas the effect of a punisher is that it __________________ the future probability of behavior.

Answer 26

increases; decreases

Question 27

The process or procedure whereby a punisher decreases the future probability of an operant response is called ______________________.

Answer 27

punishment

Question 28

When a car thief is convicted and put in prison, they are unable to steal cars for the duration of their sentence. Based on this information alone, can we classify the prison sentence as a punisher?

Answer 28

No. To classify a consequence as a punisher, we need to know if the future probability of the punished behavior decreases. That is, after the consequence is over, does the problem behavior decline? In the case of the car thief, we need to know if stealing cars decreases after the individual is released from prison. If they continue stealing cars, then the time in prison did not function as a punisher. If car stealing decreases, then the prison sentence was a punisher.

Question 29

Positive reinforcers __________________ the future probability of behavior, and negative reinforcers __________________ the future probability of behavior.

Answer 29

increase; increase

Question 30

Positive punishers __________________ the future probability of behavior, and negative punishers __________________ the future probability of behavior.

Answer 30

decrease; decrease

Question 31

When a positive punisher is delivered, a stimulus is _________________. When a _________________ punisher occurs, a stimulus is removed, reduced, or prevented.

Answer 31

presented; negative

Question 32

Punishment is used in applied (clinical) settings when the behavior is _______________ to oneself or others.

Answer 32

dangerous

Question 33

When designing an effective intervention that will include punishment, it is important to identify the ___________________ that maintains the problem behavior.

Answer 33

reinforcer

Question 34

When the reinforcer maintaining problem behavior has been identified, the behavior analyst designing the punishment-based intervention will explore procedures that can _______________ the efficacy of those reinforcers. If the reinforcer can be weakened, the punisher will be more effective.

Answer 34

weaken

Question 35

An effective punishment-based intervention will combine punishment with _______________________ or ________________ ____________________.

Answer 35

extinction; differential reinforcement

Question 36

Punishers are more effective when delivered ______________________ after the problem behavior occurs.

Answer 36

immediately

Question 37

If it is impossible to deliver the punisher immediately, then the next best practice is to clarify the ________________ (IF→THEN) relation between the past behavior and the present punisher.

Answer 37

contingent

Question 38

Punishers are effective only when they are delivered __________________ on the problem behavior. Administering noncontingent punishers will not work.

Answer 38

contingent

Question 39

In the Oliver et al. (1974) study (see Figure 10.6), noncontingent punishment actually ___________________ the future probability of aggressive behavior.

Answer 39

increased

Question 40

Punishing a problem behavior every once in a while is not an effective way to use punishment. Instead, punishers should follow _________ instance of problem behavior.

Answer 40

every

Question 41

Arranging the least-restrictive punishment contingency means finding a punisher in the Goldilocks zone. That is, the punisher should not be too ______________, nor should it be so benign that it does not decrease problem behavior.

Answer 41

aversive

Question 42

A _________________ punisher is a contingent consequence that functions as a punisher because, in the evolutionary past of the species, this consequence decreased the chances of survival.

Answer 42

primary

Question 43

________________ punishers signal a delay reduction to a backup punisher.

Answer 43

conditioned

Question 44

A conditioned punisher will be more effective in decreasing problem behavior when (1) the backup punisher (US) is a phylogenetically important event, (2) the conditioned punisher (CS) is highly salient, (3) the conditioned punisher signals a large ___________ _____________ to the US, and (4) the conditioned punisher is not redundant with another stimulus that already signals the US is coming.

Answer 44

delay reduction

Question 45

A time-out from ________________ __________________ is a signaled response-contingent suspension of a positive-reinforcement contingency, the effect of which is to decrease the future probability of problem behavior.

Answer 45

positive reinforcement

Question 46

The data suggest one should never provide more than _________ verbal warning(s) before administering a time-out from positive reinforcement.

Answer 46

one

Question 47

Time-out from positive reinforcement will not reduce problem behavior if, during the time-out, the availability of ___________________ is not reduced.

Answer 47

reinforcement

Question 48

In applied settings, behavior analysts refer to negative punishers as _________________ ____________ punishers. These involve a response-contingent reduction or removal of a stimulus that functions as a positive reinforcer; the effect of which is to decrease the future probability of problem behavior.

Answer 48

response-cost

Question 49

When a stimulus signals that a behavior is very likely to be punished, the frequency of that behavior ___________________.

Answer 49

decreases

Question 50

When humans observe a stimulus that suggests the dominant god(s) of their culture is(are) watching, anti-social behavior ___________________.

Answer 50

decreases

Question 51

Using punishment to reduce problem behavior is itself an operant behavior. That is, this behavior is ____________________ when the problem behavior decreases.

Answer 51

reinforced

Question 52

In cooperation/competition games, humans increasingly prefer the version of the game that allows them to use _____________________. The reason why is that they experience the benefits of this behavior-influencing consequence.

Answer 52

punishment

Question 53

When the reinforcer is provided after every response, the contingency is described as ________________ (continuous or intermittent) reinforcement.

Answer 53

continuous

Question 54

When the reinforcer is only provided after some responses, or only after a response is made after some time has passed, the contingency is described as ________________ (continuous or intermittent) reinforcement.

Answer 54

intermittent

Question 55

A _______________of reinforcement precisely specifies the nature of the contingent relation between a response and its reinforcer.

Answer 55

schedule

Question 56

A _______________ schedule of reinforcement specifies the number of responses that must be made in order for the reinforcer to be delivered.

Answer 56

ratio

Question 57

In a ratio schedule of reinforcement, the term “ratio” refers to the ratio of responses to ________________.

Answer 57

reinforcers

Question 58

A __________-ratio schedule is operating when the number of responses required per reinforcer is the same every time.

Answer 58

fixed

Question 59

In a __________-ratio schedule, the number of responses required per reinforcer is not the same every time.

Answer 59

variable

Question 60

A graph that shows responding as it unfolds over of time is known as a ________________ ________________.

Question 61

Under a __________-ratio schedule, nonhumans animals will respond with a __________ and __________ pattern.

Answer 61

fixed; break; run

Question 62

In this FR pattern, the “break” refers to a post-reinforcement ________________ and the “run” refers to a _______________ rate of responding.

Answer 62

pause; high-constant

Question 63

Under a __________-ratio schedule, the usual response pattern is a high rate of responding with infrequent pausing.

Answer 63

variable

Question 64

As response requirements (or prices) increase, subjects prefer __________-ratio schedules over __________-ratio schedules.

Answer 64

variable; fixed

Question 65

When reinforcers are probabilistic, as they are when we roll the dice, play the odds, or gamble, our behavior is operating under a ________ schedule of reinforcement.

Answer 65

VR

Question 66

All else being equal, _______-ratio schedules maintain higher peak response rates than _______-ratio schedules.

Answer 66

variable; fixed

Question 67

In a(n) _____________ schedule of reinforcement, the first response emitted after the timer elapses is reinforced.

Answer 67

interval

Question 68

Under a(n) ___________ schedule of reinforcement, the faster one responds, the faster the reinforcer will be obtained. However, this is not true under _________-schedules. Under the latter, all responses made before the timer elapses are wasted – they will never be reinforced.

Answer 68

ratio; interval

Question 69

There are two kinds of interval schedules: the _______-interval schedule and the ________-interval schedule.

Answer 69

fixed; variable

Question 70

Under a _________-interval schedule, the amount of time that must elapse before the first response is reinforced is not the same every time

Answer 70

variable

Question 71

When nonhuman animals and preverbal humans respond on a _________-interval schedule, the response pattern is described as “scalloped.”

Answer 71

fixed

Question 72

Under a __________-interval schedule, pausing is infrequent; instead a steady, moderate response rate is maintained.

Answer 72

variable

Question 73

In an interval schedule, a single _____________ produces the reinforcer after the FI or VI elapses.

Answer 73

response

Question 74

The FI schedule is primarily used to study an individual’s perception of the passage of _____________.

Answer 74

time

Question 75

Under a ________-_________ schedule, it is impossible to predict exactly when the next reinforcer will become available.

Answer 75

variable-interval

Question 76

Suppose an FI 1-minute schedule is in place. After 10 minutes of no responding, the organism finally emits a single response. How many reinforcers will be delivered?

Answer 76

1

Question 77

Suppose an FI 1-minute schedule is in place. In the first 50 seconds, the individual makes 152 responses. How many reinforcers will be delivered?

Answer 77

0

Question 78

Higher response rates are maintained by variable-__________ schedules than variable-____________ schedules.

Answer 78

ratio; interval

Question 79

After a new skill has been acquired, it is important to transition from continuous to intermittent reinforcement. To do this, behavior analysts use a technique known as schedule _____________.

Answer 79

thinning

Question 80

Early in training, the desired behavior was maintained with continuous reinforcement (FR 1). Then, the ratio schedule was thinned. Name one of the many possible FR values that could be used to thin the schedule.

Answer 80

FR 2 or higher