Psychologists Have Noted That People Tend Make Classifications Based on Their

question 11

Essay

Psychologists have noted that people tend make classifications based on their "typicality." For example, a dog is more readily classified as a mammal than is a whale, because dogs are "more typical" of mammals than are whales.Previous large- scale studies have established the following for songbirds such as robins: when young children are shown a picture of a songbird and asked if it is a bird they respond "yes" in an average of 750 milliseconds.Do children regard chickens as representative of birds? If so, are they more representative or less representative of birds than are songbirds? Let m represent the mean time it takes children to respond to a question about whether a chicken is a bird.The investigators wish to determine whether the classification time differs from the time needed to classify songbirds. a)What is the appropriate null hypothesis? b)What is the appropriate alternative hypothesis? c)In your own words, distinguish between a Type I and a Type II error in this context.

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Definitions:

Contingency Contract

A behavioral strategy in which two parties agree on a specific change that will occur when certain conditions are met.

Group Extinction

The phenomenon when a species, cultural group, or language ceases to exist as a distinct entity.

Token Economy

A behavior modification system that utilizes tokens as rewards for desirable behaviors, which can later be exchanged for privileges or items.

Negative Reinforcement

Negative Reinforcement is a concept in behaviorism where the removal of an adverse stimulus following a desired behavior increases the likelihood of the behavior being repeated.