Self-Control
According to Skinner, when a person controls themselves, they are not manipulating an internal "will." Instead, what are they manipulating?
A) Their unconscious desires
B) The variables of which their behavior is a function
C) Their genetic predispositions
D) The physical structure of their brain
(Hint: Go to Chapter 15, Section "The 'Self-Determination' of Conduct")
B) The variables of which their behavior is a function
When alternative courses of action are available but the outcome cannot be foreseen, the organism engages in supplementary behavior to strengthen one response. What is this behavior called?
A) Operant seeing
B) Making a decision (Deciding)
C) Trial-and-error
D) Conditioned seeing
(Hint: Go to Chapter 16, Section "Origin and Maintenance of the Behavior of Deciding")
B) Making a decision (Deciding)
Why is it difficult for a verbal community to teach a child to correctly say "My tooth aches"?
A) The child's vocal cords are undeveloped
B) The community lacks access to the private stimulus controlling the word "aches"
C) Toothaches are public events
D) The community uses positive reinforcement incorrectly
(Hint: Go to Chapter 17, Section "Verbal Responses to Private Events")
B) The community lacks access to the private stimulus controlling the word "aches"
A person drinks a large glass of water before going to a cocktail party so they will consume less alcohol. What specific self-control technique is this?
A) Deprivation
B) Using aversive stimulation
C) Satiation (Satiating)
D) Physical restraint
(Hint: Go to Chapter 15, Section "Depriving and Satiating")
C) Satiation (Satiating)
Why does Skinner say that simple "trial-and-error" learning is NOT true "problem-solving"?
A) Because it relies on public accompaniments
B) Because the organism isn't manipulating variables, just emitting highly probable responses until one works
C) Because it requires instrumental amplification
D) Because it is purely a respondent behavior
(Hint: Go to Chapter 16, Section "Problems and Solutions")
B) Because the organism isn't manipulating variables, just emitting highly probable responses until one works
Since the community cannot feel your internal pain, what is one major way they still manage to teach you words for private events?
A) By reading your mind
B) By ignoring the behavior
C) By relying on "public accompaniments" (e.g., crying, holding your jaw)
D) By changing your genetics
(Hint: Go to Chapter 17, Section "Verbal Responses to Private Events")
C) By relying on "public accompaniments" (e.g., crying, holding your jaw)
You put your alarm clock across the room so you must get out of bed on a cold morning to turn it off. This self-control technique involves setting up what?
A) Positive reinforcement
B) Physical restraint
C) Aversive stimulation
D) Drugs
(Hint: Go to Chapter 15, Section "Using Aversive Stimulation")
C) Aversive stimulation
When you forget someone's name and recite the alphabet (A, B, C...) to help yourself recognize it, you are using what behavior-analytic technique?
A) A self-probe
B) Deprivation
C) Extinction
D) Operant conditioning
(Hint: Go to Chapter 16, Section "The Behavior of Recall")
A) A self-probe
Hearing the "sound of the sea" when listening to a seashell, even though there is no actual sea present, is an example of what?
A) Operant seeing
B) Conditioned seeing (Conditioned sensing)
C) Trial-and-error
D) Making a decision
(Hint: Go to Chapter 17, Section "Conditioned Seeing")
B) Conditioned seeing (Conditioned sensing)
Why does Skinner argue that "self-punishment" (like physical self-flagellation) happens?
A) To decrease the probability of a behavior
B) To seek public attention
C) To escape an even more aversive private condition, like a sense of guilt
D) Because the person lacks any self-control
(Hint: Go to Chapter 15, Section "Punishment")
C) To escape an even more aversive private condition, like a sense of guilt.
How does a radical behaviorist define an "original idea"?
A) A random mutation in thinking
B) Imitating what someone else just did
C) A novel response resulting from manipulating variables in a way that hasn't been used before
D) Following a strict mathematical formula
(Hint: Go to Chapter 16, Section "Originality in Ideas")
C) A novel response resulting from manipulating variables in a way that hasn't been used before.
You are highly motivated to find a four-leaf clover. You look into a dark patch of grass and suddenly "see" one, even though there are only three-leaf clovers. Because this "seeing" is driven by deprivation and reinforcement, it is called:
A) Operant seeing
B) Respondent conditioning
C) Physical restraint
D) Satiation
(Hint: Go to Chapter 17, Section "Operant Seeing")
A) Operant seeing
A person claps their hand over their mouth to keep from laughing during a serious event. This is an example of which self-control technique?
A) Satiation
B) Physical restraint and physical aid
C) Manipulating emotional conditions
D) Using aversive stimulation
(Hint: Go to Chapter 15, Section "Techniques of Control")
B) Physical restraint and physical aid
According to Skinner, the phrase "having an idea" during problem-solving simply refers to what behavioral event?
A) The sudden activity of a non-physical mind
B) A random genetic mutation in the brain
C) The emission of a solution response after the organism manipulates variables
D) Purely trial-and-error behavior
(Hint: Go to Chapter 16, Section "'Having an Idea'")
C) The emission of a solution response after the organism manipulates variables.
From a behavior-analytic perspective, how is "covert" behavior (like talking silently to yourself) defined compared to overt behavior?
A) It occurs in a completely different mental dimension
B) It does not follow the laws of operant conditioning
C) It is executed on such a reduced scale that it cannot be observed by others without instrumentation
D) It is completely independent of the external environment
(Hint: Go to Chapter 17, Section "Varieties of Private Stimulation")
C) It is executed on such a reduced scale that it cannot be observed by others without instrumentation