Exam 5: Learning

When the US is no longer paired with the CS or when reinforcement is no longer presented following a learned response, a process called ________ occurs.

Behaviors learned through punishment are among the easiest learned behaviors to extinguish.

A box used in operant conditioning of animals, which limits the available responses and thus increases the likelihood that the desired response will occur, is called a ________ box.

Thorndike is known for his experiments demonstrating latent learning in rats.

Which of the following statements is true?

Changing behavior through the reinforcement of successive approximations of a desired response is called ________.

The idea that in conditioning, the conditioned stimulus must signify that if one thing occurs, something else is likely to occur, is part of ________ theory.

In operant conditioning, ________.

The 5-year-old child of two very busy parents has been throwing tantrums. Whenever the child gets angry or upset the parents immediately fuss over the child. Nevertheless, the child's tantrums do not diminish. In fact, they seem to occur more often. We may assume that the parents' fussing over this child serves as a(n) ________.

Conditioned taste aversions are typically learned after ________ pairing(s) between the aversive food and the nauseous reaction to it.

Oscar takes vitamins to prevent illnesses related to vitamin deficiencies. This is an example of ________.

Social learning theory's foremost proponent is ________.

Learning that involves transfer of a natural response from one stimulus to another previously neutral stimulus is called classical conditioning.

Social learning theorists focus on vicarious, or observational, learning.

The ability to become increasingly more effective in solving problems as more problems are solved is known as ________.

At the National Zoological Park in Washington, D. C., a polar bear suffered a broken tooth and keepers needed a safe way of treating the problem. The bear was rewarded first for sticking its nose through a slot in the cage door, then for allowing a keeper to lift its lip and touch its teeth. Finally, a veterinarian was able to treat the damaged tooth while the bear waited placidly for its familiar reward. This is an example of ________.

A child is scolded for using its fingers instead of fork to eat some spaghetti. The scolding stops when the child picks up the fork. Stopping the scolding is an example of ________ reinforcement.

A fourth-grade teacher realized that one of the students was misbehaving in order to receive attention. The teacher decided to ignore all instances of the misbehavior. The teacher is using ________.

The distinction between ________, on the one hand, and ________, on the other, is of central importance to social learning theorists.

Gambling behavior is very hard to extinguish because it is reinforced according to a ________ schedule of reinforcement.