DP 4 - Operant Conditioning

As a result of learning and new experiences, the brain modifies its neural pathways by:

• increasing the number of neurons.

• decreasing the number of neurons.

• changing the structure of the axons within neurons.

• changing the strength of the synaptic connections between neurons.

In operant conditioning an important connection forms between the

• unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus.

• stimulus and whatever occurs before it.

• unconditioned stimulus and the unconditioned response.

• behaviour and the reinforcement that follows it.

Nguyen’s dog, Yap, barks whenever he sees a cat. Nguyen yells at the dog.

Nguyen is hoping to change the dog’s behaviour through applying

• punishment.

• negative reinforcement.

• positive reinforcement.

• observational learning.

When Jason completes his homework without his teacher’s nagging, his Saturday detention is removed.

This is an example of

• positive reinforcement.

• negative reinforcement.

• punishment.

• response cost reinforcement.

Which of the following is an example of negative reinforcement?

• grounding a teenager for misbehaving

• giving a student extra credit for class participation

• allowing a student to take an extra examination to gain a pass in the subject

• making a child sit in the corner until they say 'I am sorry'.

Skinner demonstrated that organisms tend to repeat responses that are followed by favourable consequences.

Skinner termed these favourable consequences

• unconditioned stimuli.

• rewards.

• reinforcements.

• learning sets.

The Skinner box is

• commonly known as the Puzzle Box.

• a chamber in which dogs are taught to salivate at the sound of a bell.

• a chamber in which animal responses can be recorded and the consequences can be systematically controlled.

• a cage in which animals transfer information from previous learning when solving a new problem.

Which of the following is seen as discouraging bad behaviour instead of encouraging positive behaviour?

• positive reinforcement

• trial and error learning

• negative reinforcement

• punishment

Which one of the following statements is true regarding positive and negative reinforcement?

• Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement both decrease the likelihood of a response occurring.

• Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement both increase the likelihood of a response occurring.

• Positive reinforcement increases the likelihood of a response occurring; negative reinforcement decreases

  the likelihood of a response occurring.

• Positive reinforcement delivers a pleasant consequence for a response; negative reinforcement delivers an

  unpleasant consequence for a response.

An animal learns to press a button in order to turn off an aversive noise.

This is an example of

• negative reinforcement.

• positive reinforcement.

• learned helplessness.

• punishment.