Question 1

Skinner stated that behavior (including human behavior) resulted from _________________.

Accepted Answer

A)  Genes 
B)  Environment 
C)  Self-determination 
D)  Both (a) and (b)

Question 2

_______ is the alteration (or maintenance) of an organism's behavior due to ________.

Accepted Answer

A)  Behavior; causes 
B)  Learning; lifetime events 
C)  Culture; social norms 
D)  Evolution; genes

Question 3

The behavior of an organism:

Accepted Answer

A)  Focuses only on overt actions that can be measured by an outsider 
B)  Is everything an organism does, including thinking and feeling 
C)  Is everything an organism does, including biological processes such as digestion 
D)  Includes the behaviors of organisms around the target organism

Question 4

Behavior analysts define culture as:

Accepted Answer

A)  The ideas, values, and behaviors that are passed from generation to generation 
B)  Traditions passed from one person to another through written or oral communication 
C)  All the conditions, events, and stimuli arranged by other people that regulate human action 
D)  Social influences on people that influence how they think, feel, and act

Question 5

Neural plasticity is:

Accepted Answer

A)  Alterations in the brain that accompany behavior change 
B)  Changes in the brain due to physical trauma such as a blow to the head 
C)  Changes in the brain that occur during growth and development 
D)  The brain becoming hardened as the organism gets older

Question 6

Analysis of behavior becomes experimental when it involves:

Accepted Answer

A)  The observation of behavior 
B)  The organism changing its behavior 
C)  A component of learning 
D)  The manipulation of a condition to see how behavior is affected

Question 7

The neural basis of reward most closely involves:

Accepted Answer

A)  Serotonin; dopamine 
B)  Dopamine; endogenous opiates 
C)  Serotonin; endogenous opiates 
D)  Serotonin; dopamine; endogenous opiates

Question 8

The problem with astrology and other primitive accounts of behavior is:

Accepted Answer

A)  They are not objectively verifiable 
B)  They are not replicable 
C)  They are not scientifically valid 
D)  All of the above

Question 9

A _______ is behavior that is elicited by a biologically relevant stimulus while a/an ______ is behavior controlled by its consequences.

Accepted Answer

A)  Reflex; respondent 
B)  Reflex; operant 
C)  Respondent; voluntary 
D)  Operant; respondent

Question 10

Which of the following statements are true of the new-style behaviorists (behavior analysts) and their views?

Accepted Answer

A)  They adopted the behaviorism of John B. Watson 
B)  They studied behavior for its own sake 
C)  They rejected genetic influences 
D)  All of the above are true

Question 11

The principle of discrimination:

Accepted Answer

A)  States that an organism will respond differently in two situations 
B)  States that an organism will respond the same in the same situation 
C)  States that an organism will respond differently in the same situation 
D)  States that an organism will respond differently with different organisms

Question 12

Selection by consequences occurs at three levels. What are these?

Accepted Answer

A)  Artificial selection, culture, and linguistic selection 
B)  Natural selection, artificial selection, and cultural selection 
C)  Natural selection, behavior selection, and cultural selection 
D)  Artificial selection, natural selection, and linguistic selection

Question 13

Skinner's model of selection by consequences assumes that behavior:

Accepted Answer

A)  Typically occurs the same way each time 
B)  Naturally varies in form and frequency 
C)  Varies across species, but is rigid within a species 
D)  Tends to vary only in frequency, not in form

Question 14

According to a behavior analyst, thinking is:

Accepted Answer

A)  A variable that can directly influence behavior, independent of what is going on in the environment 
B)  A reflexive response to an external environmental stimulus only 
C)  Private behavior that can be explained using the same principles as public behavior 
D)  A special case of behavior that is controlled entirely by stimuli inside the organism

Question 15

The context of behavior can be defined as:

Accepted Answer

A)  Both the physiological and environmental conditions that surround behavior 
B)  The physiological conditions that surround a behavior 
C)  The environmental conditions that surround behavior 
D)  The environmental conditions independent of the physiological conditions, that surround behavior

Question 16

What does a duckling inherit in terms of imprinting?

Accepted Answer

A)  The behavior of following its mother 
B)  The capacity to be reinforced by reducing the distance between itself and a moving object 
C)  The behavior of following a "duck-sized" object 
D)  The capacity to follow its mother as she obtains food in an ecological area

Question 17

Which of the following is not an example of operant conditioning:

Accepted Answer

A)  Flinching slightly when the nurse tells you that they are about to give you a shot 
B)  A baby smiling at its parent after having been picked up for smiling in the past 
C)  A rat pressing a lever that has produced food in the past 
D)  Pressing the keys on the joystick in a pattern that produces a "combo" on a video game

Question 18

According to Baer, Wolf, and Risley (1968), what is the difference between basic and applied behavior analysis?

Accepted Answer

A)  Basic research is likely to look at any behavior and any variable, and applied research looks at variables that could improve behavior 
B)  Basic research is likely to look at any behavior and any variable 
C)  Applied research looks at variables that could improve behavior 
D)  None of these

Question 19

Behavior theory states that all behavior is due to complex interaction between __________________ influence and ______________________ experience.

Accepted Answer

A)  Cultural; environmental 
B)  Genetic; cultural 
C)  Cultural; environmental. 
D)  Genetic; environmental

Question 20

When Whitehead challenged behaviorist B. F. Skinner to address the sentence, "No black scorpion is falling upon this table," he was making the point of:

Accepted Answer

A)  The predictability of linguistics 
B)  The dysfunction present in sentence structure 
C)  The spontaneity of human language that theoretical systems fail to account for 
D)  The inability of behaviorism to help people suffering from speech disorders

Exam 1: A Science of Behavior: Perspective, History, and Assumptions