Exam 5: Applications of Instrumental Conditioning

The director of the local boys' club is concerned about the hostility exhibited by Jeremy, a 14-year-old boy who comes to the club frequently with his friends. Jeremy uses obscene language at the club, and he sometimes displays physical aggression toward the club facilities (he kicks furniture, punches the walls, and so on). Use an instrumental conditioning framework to address the following questions. a. The director first decides to eliminate Jeremy's hostile behaviors by ignoring them. In behaviorist terminology, what is the director trying to do? b. This ignoring strategy does not seem to lead to any reduction in Jeremy's hostility. Using an instrumental conditioning framework, give at least two possible explanations for the failure of the director's approach. c. The director then begins to praise Jeremy on those rare occasions when he does behave appropriately. In behaviorist terminology, how is the director now trying to eliminate the hostility? d. This second approach does not seem to work any better than the first one did. Using an instrumental conditioning framework, give at least two possible explanations for the failure of this approach.

Ursula is always getting out of her seat at inappropriate times. As her teacher, you scold Ursula every time she does this, but her behavior seems to be getting worse rather than better. a. From a behaviorist perspective, why is Ursula's getting-out-of-seat behavior increasing rather than decreasing? b. How might you decrease her behavior by reinforcing an incompatible behavior? Describe your procedure in detail, specifying the reinforcer and the behavior you will reinforce.

"Given a tennis ball, racket, and standard tennis court, the student will demonstrate reasonable accuracy in serving the ball into the opponent's court." This objective is missing one of the three components of behavioral objectives. Which component is missing?

Judging from the brief descriptions below, which of these four teachers is most likely to be using a mastery learning approach?

From the standpoint of criteria described in the textbook, which one of the following objectives should be most useful?

Three of the following are typical components of positive behavior support in classroom settings. Which one is not typical?

The major advantage of using Bloom's taxonomy in developing objectives is that the taxonomy:

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

Ms. Smythe keeps Eric after school whenever he swears in class. Even though Eric has been kept after school each day for the past three weeks, his swearing has increased rather than decreased. Given what we know about the effects of punishment on behavior, Ms. Smythe should probably conclude that:

Which one of the following alternatives best describes schoolwide positive behavioral support?

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.

An instructional objective that requires students to rephrase a definition in their own words is at the ________ level in Bloom's taxonomy.

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 mastery learning approach would probably be most suitable for teaching:

One of the following strategies, in addition to suppressing the punished behavior, is likely to suppress similar misbehaviors as well. Furthermore, it is likely to be effective even when punishment does not occur immediately. Which strategy best fits this description?

Which one of the following objectives meets criteria described in the textbook?

Vanessa frequently complains of getting terrible headaches and so ends up at the nurse's office several times a week. Yet two different physicians have been unable to find a cause for Vanessa's headaches, and Vanessa's parents report that their daughter rarely has headaches at home. Vanessa is falling further and further behind in her schoolwork, so Vanessa's teacher and parents meet with the nurse and school psychologist to brainstorm possible solutions to Vanessa's problem. The school psychologist suggests that the teacher keep track of the occasions when Vanessa complains about a headache. Two weeks later, the teacher reports that all of Vanessa's complaints occur just before a test or difficult assignment. Suddenly the teacher and parents begin to suspect that perhaps Vanessa complains of headaches as a way of getting out of having to do difficult assignments. Here we see the initial steps in a process known as:

Describe at least three benefits of instructional objectives for teachers, students, or both. Also identify at least one downside of using instructional objectives to evaluate students' achievement, especially when used in conjunction with high-stakes tests.

Develop an applied behavior analysis program to teach a 13-year-old girl to be more assertive. In your description, be sure to include and identify: a. The target behavior b. The method of measuring the target behavior c. How an appropriate reinforcer will be selected d. The treatment plan

For which of the following students would behaviorist approaches to instruction be least helpful?