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PSYC 387 QUIZ 3 REVIEW QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS

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PSYC 387 QUIZ 3 REVIEW QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS

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Describe the essential components of a Skinner box. How did the Skinner box get its
name?


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This box is an experimental chamber that was designed so that when an
animal is placed in the Skinner box, and they pressed the lever in that box,
it would trigger a food dispenser, which would drop a few pellets of food
into the try. The box was dubbed the Skinner box, after its creator, B.F.
Skinner.




Explain how adults often unwittingly shape undesirable behaviour in children.


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, A tired parent may give into their child's demands to "shut them up." The
next time, the parent may resist giving into the child's demands, which the
child responds to by becoming louder or crying, and the parent responds
to this by giving into the child's demands to avoid causing a scene. And so
on. The parent gradually demands more and more outrageous behavior for
reinforcement (giving into their demands) and the child obliges, eventually
having full tantrums.




What is a chaining procedure? What is the first step?


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A chaining procedure is when an animal or human is taught to perform a
behavior chain. The first step of the chaining procedure is to break the
behavior chain into its component elements, which is called task analysis.




Describe Thorndike's work in which he tried to separate the effects of reinforcement
from those of practice.


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, Thorndike conducted a series of experiments to demonstrate that
reinforcement (performing the same skill over and over again) is not
equivalent to practice. In other words, reinforcement does not inevitably
lead to mastery of a skill. In one experiment, Thorndike made 3,000
attempts to draw a 4-inch line with his eyes closed. WIth each attempt,
there was no improvement. Then Thorndike had students draw a 4-inch line
with their eyes closed and with no feedback 400 times, and again, there
was no improvement. Then he had students draw the line 25 more times,
but this time, he allowed them to open their eyes after each attempt to see
the results of their effort, and this time, there was marked improvement.
Thorndike concluded from these experiments that practice is important to
the extent that it provides an opportunity for reinforcement.




What are two basic types of reinforcement? What are their similarities and
differences? Provide original examples of each type.


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(1) positive reinforcement, where the behavior is strengthened by the
appearance of, or increase in the intensity of a stimulus. It also known as
reward learning, because the positive reinforcers in positive reinforcement
are usually things that people find rewarding. However, things that can be
unrewarding can also serve as a positive reinforcer.
(2) negative reinforcement, where the behavior is strengthened by the
removal, or a decrease in the intensity of a stimulus. It has also been called
escape learning or escape-avoidance learning because the behavior
exhibited in negative reinforcement is usually aiming to escape or avoid the
stimulus.
-While both positive and negative reinforcement strengthen behavior,
positive reinforcement does so by presenting a stimulus, or increasing its
intensity, and negative reinforcement does so by removing a stimulus, or
decreasing its intensity.

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