Psychology Homework Questions NEED BY TONIGHT

For each of the following, identify the UCS, UCR, CS, and CR. Keep in mind that the UCS is the unlearned or unconditioned stimulus that elicits the unlearned or unconditioned response without any learning having happened (thus the unlearned part). The CS starts off neutral as it doesn’t elicit a response until repeated pairings have created the association between the two stimuli (UCS and neutral stimulus), the CR is the learned response and is typically similar/or the same as the UCR, it is just that it is elicited by the CS. See the example for how to complete it.

EXAMPLE:

1. Candy and Bob have been dating for several months. Candy finds that every time Bob gives her a passionate kiss, she feels a wave of sexual arousal in response to this kiss. Bob loves eating onions, he eats them just like apples, and thus he ends up having horrid onion breath. Candy has gotten quite used to this, in fact when she gets just a whiff of his onion breath, she has found herself feeling a wave of sexual arousal, even though she really doesn’t care for onions personally.

Step 1.	Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)	Passionate kiss from Bob		Unconditioned Response (UCR)	Sexual arousal
Step 2.	UCS “paired with”	Bob’s onion breath paired with the Passionate kiss
	Conditioned Stimulus (CS)	Bob’s onion breath		Conditioned Response (CR)	Sexual arousal

2. Fred has a fluffy down pillow with some of the down sticking out of the fabric. When he first tries out the pillow, a piece of down tickles his nose and he sneezes. This happens every time he goes to bed. Soon he sneezes every time he lays down on any kind of pillow.

Step 1.	Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)			Unconditioned Response (UCR)
Step 2.	UCS “paired with”
	Conditioned Stimulus (CS)			Conditioned Response (CR)

3. Scott’s dog waits every afternoon in the front room for Scott to come home. He knows that when he hears the garage door open, Scott will come in and take him out for a walk. One evening Scott leaves to go for something at the grocery store. As he is leaving, he hits the garage door opener and the dog starts running around like crazy.

Step 1.	Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)			Unconditioned Response (UCR)
Step 2.	UCS “paired with”
	Conditioned Stimulus (CS)			Conditioned Response (CR)

4. It is springtime and the pollen from the flowers causes you to sneeze. Soon you are sneezing every time you see a flower.

Step 1.	Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)			Unconditioned Response (UCR)
Step 2.	UCS “paired with”
	Conditioned Stimulus (CS)			Conditioned Response (CR)

5. In order to treat bedwetting, a pad that is sensitive to dampness is placed under sheets. When this pad becomes wet, it sounds an alarm and you wake up. Eventually you don’t need the alarm to wake up and your bladder will wake you up.

Step 1.	Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)			Unconditioned Response (UCR)
Step 2.	UCS “paired with”
	Conditioned Stimulus (CS)			Conditioned Response (CR)

6. People receiving chemotherapy often vomit during or shortly after the procedure. After several chemotherapy sessions, people begin feeling sick at the sight of the treatment room

Step 1.	Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)			Unconditioned Response (UCR)
Step 2.	UCS “paired with”
	Conditioned Stimulus (CS)			Conditioned Response (CR)

7. Oftentimes physicians will give treatments that make people feel uncomfortable (a shot for example). After this happens several times, people will begin feeling uncomfortable at the sight of anyone in a white lab coat.

Step 1.	Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)			Unconditioned Response (UCR)
Step 2.	UCS “paired with”
	Conditioned Stimulus (CS)			Conditioned Response (CR)

8. The smell of food makes you hungry. Soon every time you go into the kitchen, you feel hungry.

Step 1.	Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)			Unconditioned Response (UCR)
Step 2.	UCS “paired with”
	Conditioned Stimulus (CS)			Conditioned Response (CR)

9. Whenever you see a scary movie, you always eat a box of thin mints. Now you find that eating a box of thin mints makes you feel scared.

Step 1.	Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)			Unconditioned Response (UCR)
Step 2.	UCS “paired with”
	Conditioned Stimulus (CS)			Conditioned Response (CR)

10. You always give your cat a treat at the same time you take your medicine. Your cat really loves the treats and will come running from the darkest corners of your house to get one. The sound of the medicine bottle has alerted your cat that you are about to take your medicine, and your cat knows what that means!

Step 1.	Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS)			Unconditioned Response (UCR)
Step 2.	UCS “paired with”
	Conditioned Stimulus (CS)			Conditioned Response (CR)

OPERANT CONDITIONING: (a review/information for you then the part you complete follows):

· B. F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning involves learning to ASSOCIATE our BEHAVIOR with a CONSEQUENCE

· An example is our paycheck, we learn that if we go to work on a regular basis and do our jobs right, our behavior is reinforced with a paycheck at regular intervals. This serves to INCREASE the likelihood of our behavior and is called POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT = +

· This motivates us to KEEP going to work, we WANT the MONEY!

· Another example is our seatbelt buzzer, we learn that if we buckle up, the obnoxious noise goes away – this is NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT = -

· This motivates us to KEEP buckling up thus serving to INCREASE the likelihood of our behavior, our behavior is reinforced by the removal of the NOXIOUS STIMULUS.

· A third example of associating our behavior with a consequence is a speeding ticket, we exceeded the speed limit, we get the opportunity to interact with law enforcement, we have a huge fine to pay, in the future, we reflect on this, IF we have effectively learned to ASSOCIATE our BEHAVIOR with the CONSEQUENCE, it will reduce the likelihood that we will speed again, the ticket serves to DECREASE the likelihood of our behavior again.

· This is called POSITIVE PUNISHMENT = +

· The final example of Operant Conditioning is RESTRICTION – when we were younger and didn’t get our room cleaned by a certain time, we are not allowed to watch television for a week. We quickly learn that when we do a certain behavior, things we like are taken away from us.

· Its purpose is to DECREASE the likelihood of this behavior.

· This is called NEGATIVE PUNISHMENT = -

· POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT = + (adding something positive to INCREASE behavior)

· NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT = - (removing something negative to INCREASE behavior)

· POSITIVE PUNISHMENT = + (adding something negative to DECREASE behavior)

· NEGATIVE PUNISHMENT = - (removing something positive to DECREASE behavior)

For each of the following, indicate whether each of the following examples illustrates positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, or negative punishment and EXPLAIN WHY it is the one you believe it to be!

1) Henrietta smokes cigarettes because she likes how they relax her, and finds that she smokes more now than she used to. Her smoking behavior is controlled by which contingency?
2) A school bus driver plays a radio station the students like a lot as long as the children are behaving on the bus. If anyone starts running around, yelling, or otherwise misbehaving, she turns off the radio. Assuming this works to reduce the students’ misbehavior, this is being controlled by which contingency?
3) Marco is lactose intolerant. He loves drinking milk, but when he does, he becomes miserably ill. If Marco stops drinking milk, his behavior is controlled by which contingency?
4) Marco has discovered a pill that counteracts the effects of lactose intolerance. Whenever he wants to drink milk, he remembers to take the pill beforehand, and he does not become ill. Marco’s pill-taking behavior is controlled by which contingency?
5) Rowdy teens used to hang out in the parking lot of a convenience store and cause problems. The store owner found that, by playing classical music in the parking lot, he could reduce the number of teens hanging out there. The teens’ behavior of hanging out in the parking lot is controlled by which contingency?
6) Raffio is allergic to paint fumes. Whenever he paints his house, he is careful to wear a mask to keep the fumes out because, otherwise, he gets a terrible headache. His behavior of wearing the mask is controlled by which contingency?
7) Bonnie works as a waitress and has discovered that, if she squats down while taking the customers’ order so that her head is at the same level as theirs, she gets better tips. Her behavior of squatting down is controlled by which contingency?
8) Marco likes popcorn, but he hates the way it makes his kitchen smell. These days, he almost never cooks popcorn. His popcorn-cooking behavior is controlled by which contingency?
9) Fred’s car has started to make an annoying noise occasionally, but it doesn’t seem to be anything serious. When the noise starts, he turns his radio up to drown it out. His behavior of turning up the radio is controlled by which contingency?
10) When birds come to Sabrina’s bird feeder, she loves to watch them. Every time she tries to take a picture of them, though, they fly away. She doesn’t try to take any more pictures because she would rather see the birds. Her picture-taking behavior is controlled by which contingency?

Source: Reprinted with permission from Dr. Celia Reeves and the Department of Psychology at Monroe Community College, Rochester, NY.

SCROLL DOWN for the last section!!

SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT:

For each of the following items, please:

· Label each of the following scenarios as to which schedule of reinforcement is being used and

· be sure to EXPLAIN why you think it is the schedule of reinforcement you selected, what is it that you know about the scenario that helps you be certain of your selection:

Fixed Ratio (FR)

Variable Ratio (VR)

Fixed Interval (FI)

Variable Interval (VI)

1.) An office worker glances at his watch to see if it is 5 PM yet (i.e., going home is the reinforcer)
2. An employee is paid an hourly wage.
3. A charitable organization makes an average of 8 calls for each donation it receives.
4. A chef checks the oven to see if a casserole is done, when the baking time is known.
5. A hotel maid takes a break after having cleaned three rooms.
6. A person checks the front porch for a newspaper when the delivery person is extremely unpredictable.
7. There is a test in a class every three weeks (i.e., doing well is the reinforcer).
8. A professional baseball player gets a hit approximately every third time at bat.
9. A gambler at the slot machine receives a payoff approximately every 30th pull of the lever.
10. Buying lottery tickets and winning.