Discuss What Information, Specifically About Timing, Is Provided by the State

question 107

Essay

Discuss what information, specifically about timing, is provided by the state of the following searched crime scenes.
a. A young woman is found dead near the front door of her home. She had not reported to work at 8 am. The morning newspaper is on the kitchen table next to a clean, empty plate. The decedent is found wearing pajamas and messy hair. Burned toast is found in the toaster.
b. A backpack and empty lunchbox belonging to a missing child is found on a couch in a mobile home owned by a 47-year-old single man with no family in the area. The backpack contains blank homework assigned to the child that day in school. The search reveals action movie posters, three video game systems, 25 video games, and drawers filled with candy bars.

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Definitions:

Fixed-Interval

In operant conditioning, a fixed-interval schedule is a reinforcement pattern where a response is rewarded only after a specified amount of time has elapsed, leading to a response pattern where actions are more frequent as the time for reward approaches.

Punishment

An event that decreases the behavior it follows.

Negative Reinforcers

Stimuli that, when removed after a behavior, increase the likelihood of that behavior being repeated in the future.

Generalization

The process of applying the outcome of a particular instance to a broader range of similar instances.