Principles – Final Exam Practice | 113
Questions and Answers | Athabasca
University | 2026–2027
Description: This comprehensive set of 113 multiple-choice questions and answers
covers the core principles of behaviour modification as taught in PSYC 365 at
Athabasca University. It is designed for final exam revision and includes
reinforcement, punishment, extinction, shaping, chaining, fading, prompting,
generalization, discrimination, token economies, contingency contracting,
functional assessment, and ethical considerations. Each question has one correct
answer marked with ✅, and correct answers are mixed across A, B, C, and D to avoid
patterns.
Keywords: PSYC 365, behaviour modification, final exam, revision, Athabasca University,
reinforcement, punishment, extinction, shaping, chaining, prompting, fading,
generalization, discrimination, token economy, functional assessment, ethics, MCQs,
practice questions.
1. What is the primary focus of behaviour modification?
A. Unconscious conflicts
B. Observable and measurable behaviour ✅
C. Personality traits
D. Childhood memories
2. Which principle states that behaviour is influenced by its consequences?
A. Cognitive dissonance
,B. Operant conditioning ✅
C. Classical conditioning
D. Social learning theory
3. What is positive reinforcement?
A. Adding a stimulus to increase behaviour ✅
B. Removing a stimulus to increase behaviour
C. Adding a stimulus to decrease behaviour
D. Removing a stimulus to decrease behaviour
4. What is negative reinforcement?
A. Adding a punisher
B. Removing an aversive stimulus to increase behaviour ✅
C. Removing a reinforcer
D. Ignoring behaviour
5. What is positive punishment?
A. Adding an aversive stimulus to decrease behaviour ✅
B. Removing a reinforcer to decrease behaviour
C. Adding a reinforcer to increase behaviour
D. Removing an aversive stimulus to increase behaviour
6. What is negative punishment?
A. Adding an aversive stimulus
B. Removing a reinforcer to decrease behaviour ✅
C. Removing an aversive stimulus
D. Adding a reinforcer
7. Extinction involves:
A. Reinforcing a behaviour
B. Withholding reinforcement for a previously reinforced behaviour ✅
C. Punishing a behaviour
D. Shaping a behaviour
, 8. What is a reinforcer?
A. Any stimulus that decreases behaviour
B. Any stimulus that increases behaviour ✅
C. Any stimulus that has no effect
D. Any stimulus that causes fear
9. What is a punisher?
A. Any stimulus that increases behaviour
B. Any stimulus that decreases behaviour ✅
C. Any stimulus that is neutral
D. Any stimulus that is reinforcing
10. Which schedule reinforces every occurrence of a behaviour?
A. Fixed ratio
B. Variable ratio
C. Continuous reinforcement ✅
D. Intermittent reinforcement
11. Which schedule reinforces after a fixed number of responses?
A. Fixed interval
B. Fixed ratio ✅
C. Variable interval
D. Variable ratio
12. Which schedule reinforces after a fixed amount of time?
A. Fixed ratio
B. Variable ratio
C. Fixed interval ✅
D. Variable interval
13. Which schedule reinforces after an unpredictable number of responses?
A. Fixed ratio
B. Variable ratio ✅