Learning Self-Test
For the examples below, identify the behavior that is the focus of the
conditioning and if positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment,
negative punishment/deprivation, or extinction is being demonstrated.
- Until she was 8, Barbara liked cats. When she was 8 she was bitten through the hand by a
cat as she tried to get it out from under a bed. This was an upsetting experience. Since
that time, Barbara experiences anxiety whenever she is near a cat.
Because of that, she no longer visits her grandmother who owns 12
cats. The behavior of avoiding her grandmother's house has been
reinforced through positive or negative reinforcement?
- Alison, four, needs to learn to speak up louder in class. Her parents and teacher agree
that whenever Alison speaks up loudly in class she will get a star on her chart. Whenever
she accumulates 25 stars, she will get to go to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream. Alison
starts speaking up in class more frequently.
- Jimmy, age 13, is late coming home—again. His parents take away his generous
allowance for 2 weeks hoping to reduce his late behavior.
- Tom is hammering nails into planks to build a fence. He experiments with holding the
nail a different way and immediately hits his thumb with the hammer. OUCH! He continues
his work, but he never holds the nail that way again.
In the following examples (#1-7), identify which is being used to control behavior:
a. positive reinforcement
b. negative reinforcement
c. (positive) punishment
d. negative punishment/deprivation
e. extinction
- The smoke detector in Jesse's house is low on batteries. It emits an annoying chirp
every few seconds. Jesse installs a new battery so it will stop making that noise.
- Dr. Smith, a Doe College instructor, is having difficulty getting students to turn in
papers. Previously he had not assigned credit for homework; he had simply assumed that
students would do it for the practice. Dr. Smith establishes a policy that all students
who turn in papers will get full credit for their work. Students now turn in papers much
more often.
- Robert puts $0.55 in the Coke machine to buy his daily Coke. Today, nothing comes out,
and he does not get his money back. Robert does not put any more money in the machine.
- Jeff is playing with his food at the dinner table while his parents are trying to carry
on an adult conversation. When his mother notices what Jeff is doing, she stops talking
with her husband and directs her attention to Jeff. She yells at him to stop playing with
his food, and says that playing with his food is a horrible and disgusting habit. Jeff
plays his food again several times during that meal, and even more frequently the next
night.
- Jeff is playing with his food at the dinner table. His mother tells him to stop playing
with his food; when he does not stop, she takes his food away, leaving Jeff hungry all
night. Jeff never plays with his food again.
- George is diligently working on an art project at school. His teacher notices how nicely
he is working and praises him loudly for his efforts. George immediately seems less
interested working on his project. The teacher praises the little bits he completes as
time goes on, and George stops working on the art project entirely.
- A dog is in a cage with an electrified floor. When the shock comes on in one half of the
cage, the dog can jump a low wall to get to the shock-free half of the cage. Jumping the
wall is being reinforced by
a. positive reinforcement
b. negative reinforcement
c. response cost
d. (positive) punishment
