Exam 7: Learning and Conditioning

In classical conditioning, ________ occurs when a stimulus that resembles the conditioned stimulus elicits the conditioned response.

B. F. Skinner rigged the cages of eight pigeons so that food was delivered every 15 seconds. Within a short time, most of the pigeons were practicing some sort of consistent ritual, even though the ritual did not have the least effect on the delivery of the reinforcer. The birds were ________.

Evolutionary psychologists note that humans are primed to be susceptible to certain kinds of acquired fears. Explain why this would be adaptive.

Social-cognitive learning theorists argue that omitting mental processes from explanations of human learning is essential in maintaining a rigorous scientific approach.

An analysis of classical conditioning reveals that:

Matt classically conditions his dog, Wally, to salivate when he strums the G chord on his guitar by providing food after the chord is played. After some time, Matt notices that Wally salivates even when other chords are strummed although the chords were not followed by food. This phenomenon is known as ________.

Which of the following statements is true of the American psychologist B. F. Skinner?

Stimulus discrimination occurs when, after conditioning, an organism responds to a stimulus that resembles the stimulus involved in the original conditioning.

A reflexive response elicited by a stimulus in the absence of learning is called a conditioned response.

Having a gold star placed on one's spelling quiz would be a secondary reinforcer.

Which of the following statements reflects the difference between classical and operant conditioning?

Using reinforcers to change behavior can sometimes create complications. Explain some of the misuses of rewards and reasons why rewards can backfire.

According to behavioral principles, what is happening here? 1. An adolescent whose parents have hit him for minor transgressions since he was small runs away from home. 2. A young woman whose parents paid her to clean her room while she was growing up is a slob when she moves to her own apartment. 3. Two parents scold their young daughter every time they catch her sucking her thumb. The thumb sucking continues anyway. B. Certain school systems are rewarding students for perfect attendance by giving them money, shopping sprees, laptops, and video games. What are the pros and cons of such practices? C. Some harried parents habitually resort to physical punishment without being aware of its many negative consequences for themselves and their children. What alternatives do these parents have?

Ivan Pavlov studied the reflexive flow of saliva in dogs. He used meat powder to trigger the salivation. It was later observed that the salivation occurred even before the food was placed in its mouth-at the sight of the food dish. The food dish acted as a(n) ________.

The difference between a reinforcer and a punisher is that:

Which of the following is true about the use of extrinsic versus intrinsic rewards?

Which of the following is true about the use of extrinsic versus intrinsic rewards?

All principles of conditioning are limited by an animal's genetic dispositions and physical characteristics.

The concept of latent learning was developed by:

Negative emotions and dislikes can be classically conditioned, but it is difficult to use this technique to condition positive emotions.