LEARNING QUIZ III

Slot machines reward gamblers with money according to which reinforcement schedule?

• Variable Interval

• Fixed Interval

• Fixed Ratio

• Variable Ratio

Answer explanation

Correct. A variable ratio reinforcement schedule is unpredictable and addictive because each input scenario may require a different amount (ratio) of button presses to produce a win.

Myron is a waiter in a college restaurant. Sometimes he gets a tip and sometimes the students leave nothing. Whether the night is busy (Friday) or dead (Tuesday), on the average he gets a real tip from about 50% of his customers, but some nights everyone is generous and other nights everyone is stingy.

• Variable Interval

• Fixed Interval

• Fixed Ratio

• Variable Ratio

Answer explanation

That’s correct! On the average, every other customer (50%) tips him, so his tips come as a ratio of the total number of people he serves. He is never sure if the next customer will be a tipper or not, so his tips are variable, not fixed.

Ben has a job with a landscape service. He works about 35 hours each week. He is always paid on Friday afternoon, and his salary is always the same.

• Variable Interval

• Fixed Interval

• Fixed Ratio

• Variable Ratio

Answer explanation

That’s correct! Ben’s interval is always a week. This is not determined by how many days he works or how many shrubs he plants; the interval is always the same. If some Fridays he got paid and other Fridays he didn’t, his schedule would be variable, but Ben’s schedule is very regular.

Erma sells hotdogs for one dollar each in the stands at the local professional baseball stadium. For every hotdog she sells, she puts 25 cents in her pocket and 75 cents in her boss’s change purse. 

• Variable Interval

• Continuous

• Fixed Ratio

• Variable Ratio

Answer explanation

That’s correct! Every time Erma makes a sale, she is rewarded with 25 cents.

Don does remodeling for an old man who lives in the big house. He has been working there for eight months, and always puts in 25 hours a week. He is never sure when he is going to get paid. Sometimes the old man pays him twice in a single week and other times he doesn’t give him anything for three weeks. On the average, he gets paid about every 10 days.

• Variable Interval

• Continuous

• Fixed Ratio

• Variable Ratio

Answer explanation

That’s correct! Don is paid at unpredictable times. It is not based on how much he does—he always works the same amount—so this is not a ratio schedule. Notice that, over time, he ends up with the same amount of money he would have if he were paid every Friday, so the variable interval schedule does not mean that he is losing out in the long run. He just never knows if his pay is coming today or some time next week.

Sue makes simple fabric dolls for a local craft store. The store only takes the dolls in sets of 25. For every 25 dolls she delivers, the store pays her $10.

• Variable Interval

• Continuous

• Fixed Ratio

• Variable Ratio

Answer explanation

That’s correct! Sue is paid on a ratio of 25 dolls to one $10 reward. If she only finishes 24 dolls, she does not receive any money at all. Time is not a factor. If she can finish 25 dolls in one day she is paid the same as if she took a week to finish the 25 dolls. This is a completely predictable (fixed) ratio of dolls to payoff.

Jeffrey always enjoyed cooking simple meals for himself. When he was preparing a meal, he would frequently read new recipes and he liked to wander around the local Whole Foods store. When his friend Marsha asked that he help her with food for a party she was having, Jeffrey amazed everyone, including himself, when he prepared a feast that looked and tasted like it was done by a professional caterer. Jeffrey’s newfound skill is an example of ________.

• Observational Learning

• Latent Learning

• Intuition

• Trial-and-error learning

Answer explanation

That's correct! Jeffrey was obviously learning a great deal when he prepared meals at home and when he went shopping. But he didn’t really know how much he had learned until the opportunity arose. Learning through experience prior to putting it all together when the opportunity arises is Latent learning.

The person who performs a behavior that serves as an example is called a ________.

• Coach

• Model

• Instructor

• Teacher

Answer explanation

Correct. A model conveys information to the learner, with or without conscious effort.

Who proposed observational learning?

• John Watson

• Albert Bandura

• BF Skinner

• Ivan Pavlov

Answer explanation

Correct. Bandura believed learning involved cognitive processes, not just strict behaviorism.

In Bandura’s Bobo doll study, when the children who watched the aggressive model were placed in a room with the doll and other toys, they ________.

• Ignored the doll

• Kicked and threw the doll

• Played nicely with the doll

• Played with tinker toys

Answer explanation

Correct. The children modeled the behaviors they’d observed the aggressive model performing.