Mark and Kathy Take Their 2-Year-Old Son to the Supermarket

question 108

Multiple Choice

Mark and Kathy take their 2-year-old son to the supermarket every Saturday. Each week, the same sequence of events unfolds: Their son screams, demanding that they buy him treats. Although they refuse to give in to his demands, he continues to scream. Finally, either Mark or Kathy gets in their son's face and yells at the top of their lungs "Shut up!" He stops screaming instantly. What operant conditioning concepts are illustrated in this story?

• A) The parents are using negative reinforcement to increase their son's screaming.
• B) The parents are in a very dysfunctional marriage; their child's screaming is his way of trying to get his parents to remain married.
• C) The parents are using punishment to suppress the screaming; their use of punishment is negatively reinforced by the cessation of screaming.
• D) Their son probably learned how to scream by observing his parents at home, and now he is reinforced on a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement.

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Definitions:

Volume Variance

The difference between the expected volume of sales or production and the actual volume, which can impact costs and profits.

Denominator Level

In costing, refers to the level of activity or volume used to allocate fixed costs to units of production.

Standard Hours Allowed

The time allocated for a job or process to be completed, based on efficiency and productivity standards.

Actual Direct Materials

The actual amount of raw materials used in the production process.