John is an adolescent who makes impulsive decisions (e.g., ditching school) and engages in risky behavior (e.g., driving well over the speed limit). His behavior can best be explained by which of the following?
a. Adolescents have limited concepts of consequences and punishment.
b. Adolescents' brain stems are still not fully developed, and will not be until middle adulthood.
c. Adolescents' pre-frontal cortices are still not fully developed and will not be until their late teens and early twenties.
d. During adolescence, synaptic pruning has stopped.
Question 2
Six-year-old Jack has recently learned to appreciate the value of money, so his father assigns him some simple housekeeping chores to be performed throughout the week. He tells Jack that completion of these chores will earn him an allowance of one dollar every Saturday. Jack rarely completes his chores. From an operant conditioning perspective, which one of the following is most likely to be the reason why Jack is not doing his chores?
a. There is a delay in reinforcement.
b. Reinforcement is not contingent on the desired response.
c. Money is rarely an effective reinforcer for people.
d. The reinforcer is presented before the response.
John Macadam
John Richardson
Ratio of College Wages to High-School Wages
The Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets, Business School Edition
School can be discouraging and frustrating place for a child with a learning disability