Situational Interventions - Behavioral Function
A student screams when given a writing assignment. Each time they scream, the teacher sends them to the hallway to calm down. Lately, the screaming is increasing in frequency and intensity.
What is the most likely function of screaming behavior?
A. Attention
B. Access to Tangibles
C. Escape
D. Self-Stimulatory (Sensory)
C. Escape
If a behavior increases following a consequence, what has occurred?
A. Punishment
B. Reinforcement
C. Extinction
D. Ignoring
B. Reinforcement
A child is learning to brush their teeth. An adult moves the child's hand through the brushing motion.
What type of prompt is being used?
A. Verbal
B. Gestural
C. Physical
D. Visual
C. Physical
If the Philadelphia Eagles lose on Sunday, they must participate in an un-paid practice. In turn, the Eagles practice hard all week leading up to the game.
What type of reinforcement system are they operating on?
A. Positive Reinforcement
B. Negative Reinforcement
C. Punishment
D. Extinction
B. Negative Reinforcement
WHY: They are increasing behavior (paid practicing) to avoid something aversive (un-paid practicing).
Anna smokes weed after a stressful workday. Her stress decreases afterward. She continues smoking most evenings.
What is most likely occurring?
A. Positive Punishment
B. Negative Reinforcement
C. Extinction
D. Positive Reinforcement
B. Negative Reinforcement
WHY: Stress (aversive stimulus) is reduced/eliminated, leading to an increase in smoking weed.
A child cries when their sibling takes their toy. The parents immediately give the toy back to the screaming child.
What is the most likely function of screaming behavior?
A. Attention
B. Access to Tangibles
C. Escape
D. Self-Stimulatory
B. Access to Tangibles
A student talks during class. The teacher assigns detention. Talking decreases.
What occurred?
A. Positive Reinforcement
B. Negative Reinforcement
C. Positive Punishment
D. Extinction
C. Positive Punishment
A teacher provides students with a reminder, "Remember to raise your hand!"
What type of prompt is this?
A. Verbal
B. Physical
C. Modeling
D. Fadinng
A. Verbal
A person is playing a slot machine at a casino. What system of reinforcement does the slot machine operate on?
A. Fixed Ratio
B. Fixed Interval
C. Variable Ratio
D. Variable Interval
WHY: Reinforcement occurs at random. No set number of responses/time is required.
At night, Mom eats M&M's while watching Law & Order. The M&M's taste good and bring comfort. This behavior happens most evenings.
What type of reinforcement is most likely maintaining this behavior?
A. Negative Reinforcement
B. Positive Reinforcement
C. Punishment
D. Extinction
B. Positive Reinforcement
WHY: M&M's serve as a pleasurable stimulus, leading to an increase in behavior.
A student constantly taps their pencil during English class. Pencil tapping continues even when the student is ignored or is provided with access to a break.
What is the most likely function of tapping behavior?
A. Attention
B. Access to Tangibles
C. Escape
D. Self-Stimulatory
D. Self-Stimulatory
Which of the following is true about extinction?
A. It always works immediately
B. It may initially cause an increase in behavior
C. It is the same as punishment
D. It removes a behavior instantly
B. It may initially cause an increase in behavior
A teacher reinforces closer and closer attempts at independently writing a full sentence.
What strategy is this?
A. Chaining
B. Shaping
C. Token Economy
D. Extinction
B. Shaping
WHY: The teacher is reinforcing successive approximations of the correct response (writing a full sentence).
The nail salon offers a "Pay for 10 manicures, get 1 free" punch card. In turn, customers keep up with their nail appointments.
What schedule of reinforcement is this?
A. Fixed Interval
B. Variable Ratio
C. Fixed Ratio
D. Continuous Reinforcement
C. Fixed Ratio
WHY: Reinforcement is provided after a set number of responses.
Mom binge eats M&M's while watching Law & Order SVU at night. She says she wants to cut back but struggles once the show starts.
What is the BEST intervention?
A. Punish candy eating
B. Remove all candy from the house
C. Change the environment
C. Change the environment
A student rocks in their chair during work periods. The behavior continues even when no one responds. The student performs well academically and does not disrupt the class.
What is the BEST intervention?
A. Implement a token economy for sitting still
B. Provide scheduled movement or sensory input
C. Remove the chair and have the child sit on the carpet
D. Ignore the behavior
B. Provide scheduled movement or sensory input
A behavior is reinforced every single time it occurs. What type of reinforcement schedule is this?
A. Variable Ratio
B. Fixed Interval
C. Continuous Reinforcement
D. Variable Interval
C. Continuous Reinforcement
A student uses their break card with full physical prompting from their teacher. Over time, the teacher reduces physical prompts to gestural prompts, and eventually to independent use.
What process is occurring?
A. Extinction
B. Fading
C. Shaping
D. NCR
B. Fading
Sam checks his fantasy football lineup repeatedly every Sunday throughout the day. Occasionally, he sees his player's scores increase following a touchdown or completed catch.
What principle is maintaining Sam's 'checking' behavior?
A. Continuous Reinforcement
B. Fixed Ratio
C. Variable Interval
D. Variable Ratio
C. Variable Interval
WHY: The reinforcement (player score update) becomes available after an unpredictable amount of time.
Dad plays Poker on Xbox for 6 hours straight. He says he loses track of time.
Which intervention is MOST appropriate?
A. Set a timer with planned breaks
B. Remove the Xbox and place it on extinction
A. Set a timer with planned breaks
A student leaves their seat during independent work. Observation shows:
- It happens most often during long writing tasks
- It decreases following gym/recess
- It increases when a task is difficult
What is the BEST intervention plan?
A. Provide scheduled sensory breaks
B. Reduce writing demands for 1-2 weeks
C. Teach student to request breaks and provide scheduled movement breaks
D. Implement response cost and start taking away gym/recess
C. Teach the student to request breaks and provide scheduled movement breaks
A child cries when asked to clean up. The parent ignores the crying and continues the cleanup routine. The crying gets louder and more intense for a week.
What is most likely happening?
A. The intervention is failing and needs to be adjusted
B. The child is seeking sensory input
C. The child is experiencing extinction burst
C. The child is experiencing extinction burst
A child can put on their shoes but struggles with tying them. The teacher reinforces independent shoe placement first, then reinforces attempts at looping laces, gradually requiring more complete tying before reinforcement.
What teaching strategy is this?
A. Chaining
B. Fading
C. Shaping
D. Differential Reinforcement
C. Shaping
David places bets during football games. He loses several bets in a row, but then wins a large payout unexpectedly. After he wins, he begins betting even more frequently and for higher amounts.
Why does betting increase despite David's frequent losses?
A. The behavior is being continuously reinforced
B. The large win functioned as punishment
C. The behavior is maintained by intermittent reinforcement
D. The large win functioned as non-contingent reinforcement
C. The behavior is maintained by intermittent reinforcement
John plays poker every week with his friends. They hangout and drink beers while playing. Even when he loses money, he keeps attending these weekly events.
Which intervention would reduce excessive poker playing without eliminating the social aspect?
A. Implement a token economy for limiting poker sessions
B. Use extinction by refusing to attend poker nights
C. Set a predetermined monetary limit and transition to a non-gambling social activity once the limit is reached
D. Punish himself financially before attending/following a loss
C. Set a predetermined monetary limit and transition to a non-gambling social activity once the limit is reached.