Practice question
Concepts and Principles

Automatic versus socially mediated contingencies: Reinforcement and punishment by behavior change.

Original BCBA scenario practice question with answer explanation and wrong-choice notes.

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Question

Difficulty: medium. Skill: apply. Type: concept discrimination.

In a community outing, adolescent's grabbing preferred items changes after a specific antecedent and consequence arrangement. Which analysis best matches automatic versus socially mediated contingencies? The case file includes 12 recent sessions, 1 implementer, and 1 setting.

A
Treat the most recent data point as proof of the final conclusion
B
Base the decision on the descriptive label for grabbing preferred items and bypass automatic versus socially mediated contingencies
C
Classify the consequence by whether behavior increases or decreases and whether a stimulus is added or removed in relation to adolescent's grabbing preferred items

Correct answer

D
Use a familiar protocol even though it does not address reinforcement and punishment by behavior change

Explanation

Answer C

The clue is the combination of ABC data from three outings, grabbing preferred items, and the required task: Automatic versus socially mediated contingencies. The case file includes 12 recent sessions, 1 implementer, and 1 setting. Classify the consequence by whether behavior increases or decreases and whether a stimulus is added or removed in relation to adolescent's grabbing preferred items is best because it answers that clue through reinforcement and punishment by behavior change instead of treating the scenario as a generic behavior problem. On exam items like this, name the decision point first, then eliminate options that rely on one report, a label, a familiar protocol, or an action that skips the relevant data check.

Why this question is hard

Clue
Key scenario clue

The clue is the combination of ABC data from three outings, grabbing preferred items, and the required task: Automatic versus socially mediated contingencies. The case file includes 12 recent sessions, 1 implementer, and 1 setting.

Trap
Common trap

A single point rarely supports a strong conclusion without considering trend, variability, and context.

Next
If you missed it, review Reinforcement and punishment by behavior change

Then answer a few related scenarios before moving back to broad practice.

Why the other choices are weaker

A
Choice A

A single point rarely supports a strong conclusion without considering trend, variability, and context.

B
Choice B

This is weaker because the label does not answer the Automatic versus socially mediated contingencies decision point or test Reinforcement and punishment by behavior change.

D
Choice D

A familiar protocol is not enough unless it matches the assessed variables and the current decision question.

Study tags

Reinforcement and punishment by behavior changeAutomatic versus socially mediated contingenciespositive reinforcementnegative reinforcement

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Related study guides

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Question FAQ

What BCBA domain does this question cover?

This practice question is tagged to Concepts and Principles. It also includes study tags for Reinforcement and punishment by behavior change, Automatic versus socially mediated contingencies, positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement.

How should I review this practice question?

Answer the scenario before reading the explanation, compare your reasoning with the correct answer, then review why the distractors are weaker.

Is this an official BACB exam question?

No. This is an original study question for BCBA Scenario Tutor and is not an official BACB exam item.

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