Reinforcement & Punishment

At what point in relation to the behavior should a reinforcer be presented to be most effective.

• right afterwards

• before and during behavior (delay presentation)

• simultaneously

• trace conditioning

Speaking of delay, which of the following are true?

• delay of a REINFORCER mainly impairs learning

• delay of a PUNISHER mainly impairs retention

• delay of a REINFORCER improves stimulus identification

• delay of a PUNISHER improves learning

• delay of a REINFORCER leads to slower behavior change, delay of a PUNISHER does not.

In an experiment (Lepper et al, 1973), kids that had been reincorced for drawing later chose to spend...

• twice as much time on it.

• four times as much time on it.

• half as much time on it.

• no time on it

How do you call the principle that urges to reinforce with the least powerful reinforcer, that is still effective?

Just as for reinforcement, punishment works best with a variable and partial schedule

• True

• False

What is arguably the greatest difference between humans and animals regarding operant conditioning

• disposition (animals prefer punishment, humans don't)

• attention (animals follow the Yerkes-Dodson-Law, humans don't)

• explanation (humans can be helped by explanations, most animals cannot)

• interest (humans are more interested in punished, forbidden tasks)

What is a sensible reason for the ability to perservere at difficult tasks.

• an innate willforce

• learned stimulus control

• self-reinforcement