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 clinic session, learner's leaving the instructional area changes after a specific antecedent and consequence arrangement. Which analysis best matches automatic versus socially mediated contingencies? The case file includes 6 recent sessions, 1 implementer, and 3 settings.

A
Continue unchanged and ignore the new contextual information
B
Add a punishment procedure before clarifying function, risk, or feasibility
C
Classify the consequence by whether behavior increases or decreases and whether a stimulus is added or removed in relation to learner's leaving the instructional area

Correct answer

D
Use the descriptive label as the explanation and treatment target

Explanation

Answer C

The clue is the combination of four sessions of stable baseline data followed by two overlapping intervention points, leaving the instructional area, and the required task: Automatic versus socially mediated contingencies. The case file includes 6 recent sessions, 1 implementer, and 3 settings. Classify the consequence by whether behavior increases or decreases and whether a stimulus is added or removed in relation to learner's leaving the instructional area 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 four sessions of stable baseline data followed by two overlapping intervention points, leaving the instructional area, and the required task: Automatic versus socially mediated contingencies. The case file includes 6 recent sessions, 1 implementer, and 3 settings.

Trap
Common trap

Ignoring relevant data or context prevents a defensible behavior-analytic decision.

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

Ignoring relevant data or context prevents a defensible behavior-analytic decision.

B
Choice B

A punishment-first response is weaker when less intrusive, function-based, or assessment steps have not been addressed.

D
Choice D

A label is not enough; the decision should be based on observable behavior and relevant variables.

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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