Using an operant chamber, Skinner timed food pellets to drop every 15 minutes. If a rat was in a certain location just before the food was presented, the rat went to that location more frequently even though it was not directly tied to the appearance of food. Which of the following best explains this superstitious behavior? a. Reinforcement for a task already enjoyed can backfire, reducing intrinsic motivation. b. A continuous reinforcement schedule will lead to the most rapid learning. c. Any behavior that is accidentally reinforced is more likely to be repeated. d. Conditioned reinforcers get their power through learned association with primary reinforcers. e. Learning sometimes becomes apparent when there is some incentive to demonstrate it.

Question

Angie Glover

English

16 November, 20:34

Using an operant chamber, Skinner timed food pellets to drop every 15 minutes. If a rat was in a certain location just before the food was presented, the rat went to that location more frequently even though it was not directly tied to the appearance of food. Which of the following best explains this superstitious behavior? a. Reinforcement for a task already enjoyed can backfire, reducing intrinsic motivation. b. A continuous reinforcement schedule will lead to the most rapid learning. c. Any behavior that is accidentally reinforced is more likely to be repeated. d. Conditioned reinforcers get their power through learned association with primary reinforcers. e. Learning sometimes becomes apparent when there is some incentive to demonstrate it.

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Aubrey · Answer 1

- Any behavior that is accidentally reinforced is more likely to be repeated.

Explanation:

Superstitious behavior could be described as 'a behavior that is reinforced coincidentally due to temporal contiguity/closeness between an independent behavior and the distribution of reinforcer.' Skinner, the famous psychologist, showed this through his experiment in which the 'rats were susceptible to human behavior as they knew that arriving at that place would assist them in getting the food' (however, not being related directly). Such behavior exemplifies the superstitious behavior (that has been reinforced on rats accidentally) which makes them behave in a certain way to get the desired results (food).