Exam 7: Learning and Conditioning

Elton's mother has been nagging that he should practice at the piano for the upcoming competition. Elton eventually complies to stop her nagging. This example illustrates _______________.

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) ________.

When Luke kissed Laura, her heart rate increased. Luke always wore Axe body spray. Whenever Laura smelled Axe body spray, her heart raced. The smell of the body spray was the:

Humans are biologically primed to be especially susceptible to certain kinds of acquired fears.

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

A drawback in using primary punishers and primary reinforcers in research is that:

The process by which a stimulus weakens the probability of the response that it follows is called ________.

Which of the following is a primary reinforcer?

In classical conditioning, ________ is the process of pairing a conditioned stimulus with a stimulus that elicits a response that is incompatible with an unwanted 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 ________.

Which of the following is a secondary reinforcer?

A basic principle governing operant conditioning is that:

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

Negative reinforcement is best thought of as:

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

The concept of latent learning was developed by:

When one is first acquiring a response, learning is usually most rapid under a continuous reinforcement schedule.

Principles of operant conditioning have been used to help explain why people get attached to "lucky" hats, charms, and rituals. Using these principles, explain how an athlete might show this type of behavior. How did Skinner demonstrate the phenomenon of superstitious behavior with eight pigeons in his laboratory?

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

Humans are biologically primed to associate sickness with tastes more readily than with sights.