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

question 167

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:

Buyer Agents

Professionals or agencies that assist individuals or companies in purchasing products or services.

Personal Agents

Software agents designed to perform tasks or services for an individual. They act semi-autonomously on behalf of a user and may perform tasks like managing information or schedules.

Shopping Bot

An automated software that searches and scans the internet for the best deals and prices on products for online shoppers.

AI

Artificial Intelligence refers to the development of computer systems that can mimic human intelligence, including learning, reasoning, and self-correction.