Exam 5: Learning

By pairing the ringing of a bell with the presentation of meat, Pavlov trained dogs to salivate to the sound of a bell even when no meat was presented. In this experiment, the meat was the ________.

After being told all morning not to play baseball near the house, a small boy continues to play ball and breaks a window. Of the following methods of discipline, the one likely to be most effective in changing the boy's subsequent behavior is to ________.

A girl learns that whenever her older brother shares his cookie with her, her mother gives him a piece of candy. The girl's learning is a demonstration of ________.

The control of conditioned responses by cues or stimuli in the environment is known as ________.

Failure to take steps to avoid or escape from an unpleasant or aversive stimulus that occurs as a result of previous exposure to unavoidable painful stimuli is called ________.

In the Watson and Rayner study of Little Albert, the white rat was the ________ and the loud noise was the ________.

The person most closely associated with research on learned helplessness is ________.

On a fixed-ratio schedule, reinforcement is given for the ________.

A child sees a cookie jar on a shelf. After several unsuccessful attempts to reach it, the child looks around the room. She suddenly realizes that she can pull a chair over by the shelf, then stand on the chair to reach the cookie jar. This type of learning is called ________.

Describe Bandura's classic (1965) study on aggression. Explain what conclusions can be drawn from this study and why.

Briefly describe the types of generalization and discrimination that occur in classical and operant conditioning and explain how each works.

A crucial element of classical conditioning is emitted behavior.

The mental image of an area, such as a maze or the floor plan of a building, is called a ________.

Secondary reinforcers are identical to negative reinforcers.

Social learning theory's foremost proponent is ________.

Explain the concept of preparedness. Also, summarize research findings on food aversion and how it relates to preparedness.

An experimenter finds that a certain male subject always has an increased heartbeat when he hears a certain piece of music. The experimenter sounds a buzzer and then plays the piece of music. The experimenter repeats this procedure until the man responds with an increased heartbeat to the sound of the buzzer alone. In this situation, the unconditioned response is ________.

Desensitization therapy is based on classical conditioning techniques.

Higher order conditioning is difficult to achieve because it battles against ________.

A scientist trains a group of rats to run a maze to get food pellets. Another group of rats is trained to run the maze without receiving food pellets. At the end of the training, the group receiving the food pellets runs the maze faster and with fewer errors. However, when the scientist begins giving the second group of rats food pellets for running the maze, they almost immediately begin running the maze as well as the first group. This improved performance is probably due to ________.