Exam 3: Behaviorist Principles and Theories

When behaviorists describe an organism as a "black box," they mean that:

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

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:

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:

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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.

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

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:

Which one of the following best describes contemporary theorists' perspective on classical conditioning?

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. 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.

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:

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

Which one of the following alternatives best describes instrumental conditioning?

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?

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.

Mr. 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.