Behavior Analysis and Learning, Fourth Edition

Study Questions - Chapter 5

Behavior Analysis and Learning, Fourth Edition is an essential textbook covering the basic principles in the field of behavior analysis and learned behaviors, as pioneered by B. F. Skinner.

  1. Define a schedule of reinforcement. Compare humans and other organisms on similar schedules of reinforcement. (p. 93)
  2. C. B. FERSTER: C. B. Ferster played an important role in the investigation of schedules of reinforcement. Describe Ferster's contribution, referring to the personal and natural consequences that maintained his scientific behavior. How did Ferster and Skinner insure that Schedules of Reinforcement (1957) was published before Ferster departed from Harvard for a new appointment at Yerkes Laboratories? (pp. 94-95)
  3. According to Reynolds (1966b), why is the study of schedules of reinforcement central to understanding behavior regulation? Why are the early studies of schedule performance still important? (p. 95)
  4. FOCUS ON: Discuss the behavior analysis approach to science. In your answer, refer to the use of highly controlled settings, discouragement of speculation about the organism, study of behavior for its own sake, biological status as context, search for principles of behavior, accumulation of research, and integration of research by behavioral theory. (p. 96)
  5. Describe how orderly patterns of response develop on schedules of reinforcement. Use the terms contingency of reinforcement and steady-state performance in your answer. (p. 97)
  6. What happens when a hungry rat presses a lever for food and obtains a pellet for every 10 responses? (p. 97)
  7. COMMENT ON: Discuss how schedules of reinforcement and response patterns can replace inferred inner causes of behavior such as motivation and habit. (pp. 97-98)
  8. Be able to discuss schedules of reinforcement in everyday life. How does a bird's foraging relate to schedules of reinforcement? Refer to the Cheney, Bonem, and Bonem (1985) experiment in your answer. (p. 98)
  9. What role does intermittent reinforcement play in the regulation of human interaction? (p. 99)
  10. Based on Azrin (1959), how does punishment affect behavior maintained on a fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement? (p. 99)
  11. Why did Azrin's findings (Azrin, 1959; Azrin & Holz, 1961) on schedule effects and punishment lack generality? Refer to behavior reinforced after a fixed amount of time in your answer. (p. 99)
  12. What does Mechner notation describe? Write the notation for nine event symbols. Do the same for time and number symbols. What does R ? Sr mean? What about Ra ? Rb? Write in Mechner notation: (a) A and B occur at the same time, and B produces C; (b) A and B occur at the same time, A produces C, and B prevents C; (c) A and B occur at the same time, and B repeatedly produces C. (pp. 99-100)
  13. Define CRF and discuss resistance to extinction on this schedule. Compare CRF with intermittent reinforcement in terms of resistance to extinction. Refer to an experiment by Hearst (1961) in your answer. (pp. 101-102 )
  14. Discuss response stereotypy on CRF using a classic study by Antonitis (1951). Indicate how reinforcement rate is related to response variability, referring to the experimental evidence with pigeons. Give an interpretation of the findings based on the textbook. How would you produce a performance that is variable in form and resistent to extinction? (p. 102)
  15. Define ratio and interval schedules. Name the four basic schedules of reinforcement. Write the Mechner notation for an FR 25 schedule of reinforcement. Describe the characteristic effects of fixed ratio (FR) schedules, using run of responses and postreinforcement pause (PRP) in your answer. Discuss the preratio pause as a more accurate descriptor of pausing on FR schedules than the postreinforcement pause. (pp. and relevant figures)
  16. What is a variable-ratio (VR) schedule of reinforcement? Write the Mechner notation for a VR 10 schedule. Compare FR and VR schedules in terms of behavioral effects. Give examples of VR schedules in everyday life. (pp. and relevant figures)
  17. Define a fixed-interval (FI) schedule. Give the Mechner notation for FI 90 s. Describe the characteristic effects of FI schedules. Outline a hypothetical experiment with humans responding for money on an FI schedule. What pattern of behavior is likely to occur at steady state? What happens to FI performance if mediating behavior times out the interval?
  18. FOCUS ON: Discuss the generality of FI performance by referring to Figure 5.15 and the research of Lowe and colleagues. What are two possible explanations for the performance of adult humans on FI schedules? (pp. 106-107)
  19. Define a VI schedule of reinforcement and give some common examples. What is the effect of adding a limited hold contingency? Discuss the rate of response on VIR, referring to Figure 5.17 and the text. (pp. 108-109)
  20. NOTE ON: Define behavioral momentum and outline Nevin's (1974) experiment. How can momentum analysis be used in helping people with mental retardation? (pp. 109-110)
  21. Distinguish steady-state performance and performance during transition from one schedule to another (transition state). Why do behavior analysts study steady-state performance more than transition-state behavior?
  22. Discuss ratio strain and the transition from CRF to FR 100 schedule. Show how a slow progression to higher FR values can make use of the extinction burst to support the transition. What exactly is meant by ontogenetic selection? Relate transitions between schedules of reinforcement to important human behavior, referring to transitions from childhood to adolescence, and work to retirement. (pp. 110-111)
  23. ON THE APPLIED SIDE: Outline the experiment by Roll, Higgins, and Badger (1996) concerned with abstinence from cigarette smoking and schedule of reinforcement. What schedule of reinforcement for abstinence was most effective? Why was this schedule the most effective? (pp. 112-113)
  24. ADVANCED SECTION: Distinguish between molar and molecular accounts of schedule performance. Provide an IRT molecular analysis of differences in rate of response on interval and ratio schedules of reinforcement. (pp. 114-116)
  25. Give a molar account of the rate differences on interval and ratio schedules. Analyse the PRP on fixed schedules using an IRT molecular perspective. Give a molar analysis of pausing on these schedules. (p. 116)

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