Tim Is Doing Poorly in Math

question 33

Multiple Choice

Tim is doing poorly in math.Although he knows he's not a very good math student,it does not concern him greatly.He spends most of his time after school playing hockey,a sport at which he excels.Tim's 5th grade math teacher tries to motivate him to stay after school for tutoring,but Tim doesn't want to miss hockey practice.Furthermore,he reasons,two of his teammates have even lower marks in math than he does.Which of the following statements about Tim's self-esteem is most accurate?

• A)Tim's global self-esteem is likely to be high because he excels in an area of importance to him.
• B)Tim's global self-esteem is likely to be low because he is failing in an important academic area.
• C)Tim's global self-esteem is higher in the academic than in the nonacademic area.
• D)Tim's global self-esteem is higher in the non-academic than in the academic area.

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Definitions:

Operant Conditioning

A way of changing the force of a behavior using rewards or penalties as influencing factors.

Shaping

A method in behavioral psychology where reinforces guide an organism's behavior towards a desired goal through successive approximations.

Successive Approximations

A behavioral training process that rewards actions that progressively more closely resemble the desired behavior.

Generalization

The tendency to respond in the same way to different but similar stimuli.