A Professor Cleans the Whiteboard Before Every Class

question 52

Multiple Choice

A professor cleans the whiteboard before every class. He goes over the board at least three times before he considers it to be clean enough. Recently he has been late starting class because he is cleaning the whiteboard more and more. He is preoccupied with thoughts that previous markings are dirty and will contaminate his notes. A psychotherapist would say that this professor's _________ are compulsive.

• A)thoughts about previous markings contaminating his notes
• B)thoughts about what he will teach in class
• C)behaviours of cleaning the whiteboard
• D)habits of starting the class late

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Definitions:

Variable-interval Schedule

A reinforcement schedule in which rewards are given after an unpredictable time interval, leading to a steady, moderate response rate.

Fixed-ratio Schedule

A type of reinforcement schedule in operant conditioning where a response is reinforced only after a specified number of responses, leading to a high and steady rate of responding.

Classical Conditioning

Classical Conditioning is a learning process that occurs through associations between an environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus, famously illustrated by Pavlov's dogs experiment.

Unconditioned Stimulus

In classical conditioning, an unconditioned stimulus is something that naturally and automatically triggers a response without any learning process involved.