Blog

Chanae bakes a cake for Brandon’s birthday. She pours a cup of milk over the cake mix in a mixing bowl (FR-1).  This results in the sight of a milky mix. Second, she cracks 2 eggs over the mix (FR-2). This results in the sight of eggs in the mix. Third, she stirs the mix about 30 times (VR-30). This results in the sight of a smooth batter. Fourth, she pours the batter into an oven pan (FR-1) and places that pan in the oven (FR-1). This sequence of events indicates Chanae’s baking a cake behavior is on what kind of complex schedule of reinforcement?

Frank screams obscenities in class. His teacher starts a timer, during which time she will not deliver any attention to Frank no matter what he does. This procedure is designed to be:

 J.D. eats only two slices of an extra cheese pizza for lunch because last time he ate a whole medium sized pizza he fell asleep and missed an important meeting.  J.D. only eating two slices of pizza as the result of falling asleep and missing an important meeting in the past when he ate more is an example of:

Sometimes Judi has to host four home-based sales parties before she sells a single candle warmer.  At other times she sells a candle warmer during her first home-based sales party.  She wishes it was more predictable.   Assuming that making sales is a reinforcer, what schedule of reinforcement does this exemplify?

In extinction, the target behavior never produces specific ___________. In time-out, the opportunity to receive positive reinforcement is ___________ for a short time.

Scotty nagged, picked his nose, pushed pencils into the drywall, made self-disparaging comments, and pulled his own hair.  These behaviors were maintaining over time, and all resulted in him getting attention from his parents (usually, their repeated pleadings to “Stop that, Scotty!”).  These behaviors all seemed to have the same   X  , but have very different    Y  .

Jane works from home. One of her duties is writing reports for companies. Once she is assigned the task of writing the report she is always given 3 weeks to complete the report. Jane typically puts the task off for a while, and then her time spent on the report gradually increases as the deadline approaches. Jane’s report writing is likely on what type of schedule?

  X   behavior is under the control of antecedents and consequences, while   Y   behavior is under the control of antecedents only. 

I drop a hammer on my toe and scream obscenities. My mother, who was standing behind me, slaps me on the shoulder. In the future when I am hurt I am less likely to scream obscenities. This is an example of:

Which of the following is most likely to function as an unconditioned reinforcer?