EXAMPLE CPDT – LEARNING THEORY QUESTIONS AND
VERIFIED ANSWERS
A dog learns not to nip when his owner removes a goodie. Here's an example:
A dog learns not to nip when his owner removes a goodie. This is an example of
ANSWER D! You remove the treat to reduce nipping and hard mouth.
A dog learns to keep his feet on the ground to avoid getting his toes pinched.
Here's an example of
A. Positive reinforcement.
B. Negative Reinforcement
C. Positive Punishment
D. Punishment with a negative outcome
(Hint: Focus on your target behaviour as a starting point; we'll perform a
number of these today.) - ANSWER B! The target behaviour is keeping his feet
on the floor, which he learns TO perform (reinforcement) by avoiding
(removing/negative) toe pinches. This, along with the entire kneeing the dog in
the chest thing, is such a cruel and inefficient method to teach four on the floo.
A dog learns not to door dash since his owner's body prevents such efforts.
Here's an example of
A. Positive reinforcement.
B. Negative Reinforcement
C. Positive Punishment
D. ANSWER C: Negative penalty! You use the body block to reduce door
dashing. I see how you got D, and I must admit that I had to think hard about
this one before posting it. However, due to the language of the question, we are
including a stimulus (the body block). If the question stated that the owner
withdrew the dog's access to the door or removed the possibility for freedom,
that would be negative punishment.
,The owner has a new washing machine that beeps when a load is finished. Her
dog barks every time the machine beeps, but she deliberately ignores both the
dog and the beep. The dog gradually stops barking in ANSWER to the beep.
What has happened?
A. I learned irrelevance.
B. Habituation
C: Desensitization
D. Adaptation - The answer is B! Habituation. This is a novel stimulus, and the
barking indicates that he responded to the new sounds. However, because the
owner was so cautious not to provide it any meaning, he "got used to it" and
began to ignore it on his own.
What is the definition of the Premack Principle?
A. A less likely behavior may reinforce a more likely conduct.
B. A more likely behavior may reinforce a less likely behavior.
C. A less likely activity can penalize a more likely behavior.
D. A more likely activity can penalize a less likely behavior. - Answer B! A
more probable activity (something the dog wants to do) might reinforce a less
likely behavior (something they are not interested in). This is Grandma's Law:
eat your peas and you can have ice cream.
An owner works hard to ignore her dog's demand barks until he stops exhibiting
the behavior. She calls because, following a visit from a family member who
thought it was adorable to provide treats when the dog "spoke," the barking has
resumed in full force. What happened?
A. spontaneous recovery
B. Extinction
C. Learned irrelevance.
D. Descrimination: ANSWER A
A client is concerned about her dog's on-leash conduct, which includes barking
and lunging at passersby. As a result of his behavior, none of her neighbors
,want to approach. Her coworker recommends a prong collar and advises her to
simply "pop it" anytime he barks. However, after being alerted to the prong
collar correction, the dog rapidly resumes barking and lunging, and eventually
does so regardless of the collar punishment.
Here's an example:
A. Habituation
B. Desensitization.
C. Learned Helplessness.
D. Learned Irrelevance ANSWER D
Assuming proper puppy-raising procedures, at what stage of development is
bite inhibition first learned?
A. First Socialization
B. Second Socialization
C. juvenile
D. Adolescence - the answer is A. Most bite inhibition is taught by the mother
and littermates during the first stage of socialization. We frequently think of it
in the second because that's when clients call us with a nipping puppy.
However, if the breeder was a competent breeder and allowed the littermates to
stay together for the full 7-8 weeks, they should not be leaving with hard lips.
All of the following are healthy phases of a dog's agonistic display (ritualized
aggression), except:
A. Growling.
B. Agonistic pucker.
C. Biting
D. Charging - ANSWER C. By definition, ritualized displays entail a lot of
show but no actual overt hostility or harm (biting, clawing, kicking, punching,
and so on, depending on the species). Dogs may charge, darting in and out,
threatening "don't make me hurt you" as part of ritualized aggressiveness.
However, if they progress to biting and physical injury, the behavior has
escalated into overt hostility with the intent to injure.
Which of the following behaviors is most likely to be altered by neutering an
adult male dog?
, A. Humping and Mounting
B. Leg Lifting
C. Aggression
D. Wandering and door dashing - ANSWER Humpy and mounting can be
caused by a variety of factors, including a learning background, self-soothing
(for example, nervousness), an attempt to indicate discomfort in group behavior,
and so on. Furthermore, the question states that he is an adult male, indicating
that many of the hormone-initiated actions have been learnt. Surprisingly,
whereas both dashing and wandering have similar behavioral histories,
neutering at any age appears to inhibit this behavior due to a decreased interest
in area females.
Lucy barks at the television anytime horses are shown. Her owner changes the
channel every time she barks at the television, but the barking continues. Lucy
has been barking.
A. Positively reinforced.
B. Negatively reinforced
C. Positively punished.
D. Negatively punished - the answer is B. We turned off the horses on TV by
changing the station (-), but the behavior (barking) has risen in frequency
(reinforcement).
A trainer is teaching a dog to go to the mat and lie down when the doorbell
rings, rather than barking, jumping, and spinning in the entryway. She’s
utilizing
A. DRI
B. VRI
C. FR-1
D. CRF - ANSWER: A, DRI; we are differentially reinforcing incompatible
behavior. The dog cannot go on the mat and lie down while still barking,
jumping, and spinning in the foyer.
And if you get really skilled, the doorbell becomes the prompt through
transference.