AP®︎ Psychology: Topic 3.8 Practice Test
Prepare for your quiz, test, or the AP exam with focused practice questions on Topic 3.8 of AP Psychology – Operant Conditioning.
Questions List
Topic 3.8
Question 1 Easy
This question tests the following: 3.8.A.1
What is operant conditioning primarily concerned with?
What You’re Being Tested On:
Explore the learning objectives taken directly from the College Board’s AP® Psychology Curriculum. Ensure you’re prepared for the exact topics covered on the AP® exam, in-class tests, and quizzes, and gain confidence in your mastery of the material.
Topic 3.8: Operant Conditioning
Learning Objective: 3.8.A
Explain how operant conditioning applies to behavior and mental processes.
Essential Knowledge: 3.8.A.1
Operant conditioning focuses on associating consequences (reinforcement and punishment) with behaviors. The Law of Effect states that behaviors with reinforcing consequences are more likely to be repeated while behaviors with punishing consequences are not as likely to be repeated.
Essential Knowledge: 3.8.A.2
Reinforcement and punishment can be positive or negative. Reinforcers can be primary or secondary. Reinforcement discrimination and generalization have been demonstrated in studies of operant conditioning.
Essential Knowledge: 3.8.A.3
Reinforcement can be used to shape behavior (“shaping”) gradually through rewarding successive approximations of the desired behavior. Research with animals shows that only certain behaviors can be shaped through reinforcement (known as instinctive drift).
Essential Knowledge: 3.8.A.4
Superstitious behavior occurs when consequences reinforce unrelated behaviors. Learned helplessness occurs when organisms learn that they have no control over their experience of aversive consequences in a given situation.
Essential Knowledge: 3.8.A.5
The schedule with which reinforcement is delivered can determine the strength of the association between the consequence and the response. The two main types of reinforcement schedules are continuous and partial. Each type of reinforcement behavior can be graphed, resulting in a distinctive pattern on the graph (e.g., fixed-interval schedule produces a scalloped graph).
Essential Knowledge: 3.8.A.5.i
Continuous reinforcement schedules deliver reinforcement for each and every correct behavior.
Essential Knowledge: 3.8.A.5.ii
The partial reinforcement schedules focus on whether reinforcement is delivered on a time-based schedule (fixed- or variable- interval) or for the number of behaviors performed (fixed- or variable-ratio).
