Tonya was playing backgammon and she needed to roll a pair of sixes on her next throw of the dice in order to win the game.She shook the dice three times in her right hand, blew on them once, and rolled.When the dice fell, they landed with double sixes facing up.Now Tonya always shakes the dice three times and blows on them before she rolls, and about 15% of the time, she rolls doubles of some number.Based on what is known about operant conditioning, you should conclude that Tonya's behavior best illustrates the concept known as:
A)adventitious reinforcement
B)successive approximations
C)classical conditioning
D)the Premack principle

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Adventitious reinforcement refers to a situation where a behavior is followed by a reinforcement that is not actually related to the behavior, leading to an increase in that behavior. In this case, Tonya's ritual of shaking the dice three times and blowing on them is reinforced by the occasional success of rolling doubles, even though the ritual does not causally affect the outcome. This can lead to a superstitious belief in the effectiveness of the ritual.

Tonya Was Playing Backgammon and She Needed to Roll a Pair