Question

Bubba, a very smart German shepherd, has learned that if he barks at the neighbors while they are grilling, they will throw him a candy. However, his owner, Paul, does not want Bubba to eat candies as it is not good for his health. He does not allow Bubba to eat candies from the neighbors. When Paul is in the yard, Bubba never barks at the neighbors. In operant conditioning terminology, Bubba is demonstrating that he can
Multiple Choice
a. manage with secondary reinforcers when primary reinforcers are not available.
b. learn a partial-reinforcement schedule.
c. generalize.
d. discriminate.

Answer 1

Answer:

The answer is d) discriminate.

Explanation:

Bubba, knows to discriminate, that is he knows the difference between his owner and the neighbors. By being careful, and making the correct choice if not barking when the owner is present Bubba shows that he can discriminate between situations and people.

Answer 2

Answer:

a. and b.

Explanation:

In operant conditioning terminology, the two first choices are your response as whenever there is a neighbor that will give a candy to Bubba, this is regarded as a secondary reinforcer. In other words, this is an incentive that has to be learned. A primary reinforcement does not need to be learnt in which case would be the normal feeding received by Bubba from his owner. Therefore, the occasional candy received by Bubba by the neighbors would act as a partial-reinforcement, stated in answer b.