Exam 7: Learning and Adaptation: the Role of Experience

How is classical conditioning used in society to increase and decrease our arousal/attraction to stimuli?

Yan has a very stressful job. He often comes home from work and has a drink to ease the stress. After a while, he found that the drinking made him sick, so he stopped. Yan's behaviour was changed by

Janice is trying to stop smoking. So her doctor set her up with a device that can detect when she reaches for a cigarette. She also has an account that she can use for prizes. If she reaches for a cigarette, 10 points are deducted for her account. This treatment is attempting to help Janice by using

The behavioural procedure that is used to develop a sequence of responses by reinforcing each response with the opportunity to perform the next response is called _____________.

Clarence is a cat that is always fed in the same place, at the same time, every day. His food is taken out of the same cupboard before each meal, which has a particular sound when it opens that is loud enough to be noticeable. One day his owner forgets to feed him and Clarence opens the cupboard door with his paws to try to get at the food on his own. How could we explain the fact that he had never been reinforced to open the cupboard before, yet was still able to do so?

Escape conditioning and avoidance conditioning are maintained through

Research studies suggesting that animals use "insight" and have "cognitive maps" provide a strong challenge to psychologists who take a cognitive perspective on learning.

It is much easier to develop a fear of snakes than a fear of flowers because of

Sonia's mother is often busy and doesn't pay very much attention to her. When Sonia cries or screams, her mother comes over and scolds her. Though she doesn't like being scolded, Sonia prefers getting some attention to having no attention at all. Sonia learns that when she wants her mother's attention, she should scream or cry. What is the reinforcer in this situation?

Jackson, a dog, has learned that when he wants to go and chase birds in the backyard, he has to stand in front of the back-porch door until his owner lets him out. Recently, Jackson's owner, Ismael, added an inner door to gain access to the back porch. Jackson must now push the inner door open, to be reinforced by the chance to stand at the back door, where his owner will open the door and let him out to chase birds. This behavioural process is called ____________.

Discriminative conditioning is said to occur when a neutral stimulus is paired repeatedly with an already established CS.

All of the following would strengthen the classical conditioning process, EXCEPT _____________.

Which of the following best demonstrates how learned taste aversions can be used to help animals?

A young child is hungry and wants a cookie but is too short to reach the table where the cookie jar is kept. She tries various things to get the jar, such as jumping or throwing her teddy bear at the jar in hopes of knocking it off the table, but to no avail. Eventually, almost by accident, she realizes that she can pull the tablecloth on which the jar sits and is thus able to reach the jar. In the future, she will be more likely to try this technique again since it was effective. This example best demonstrates

Which of the following is most related to the concept of instinctual drift?

Reinforcements can differ in type and in terms of frequency of presentation. Explain the essential differences between primary and secondary reinforcers and between continuous and intermittent reinforcement. Include a brief statement regarding when reinforcement, to work effectively, should be administered.

An 11-year-old girl with an overactive immune system that attacks her own body receives a treatment in which cod liver oil is paired with an immune-suppressant drug. After these initial trials, she occasionally receives only cod liver oil (without the drug), yet her body still shows the desired impairment of functioning. According to the principles of classical conditioning, the cod liver oil would be considered the

A 6-year-old child was suffering from a disease in which the immune system attacked the child's body. Treatment started with paired cod liver oil with an immune-suppressant drug. Later, when the child only received pure cod liver oil, the immune system still showed the intended impairment. In this instance, the CS would be the _____________.

Gavin recently went deep-sea fishing with some friends. Unfortunately, he was extremely seasick the entire time he was on the boat, and now when he sees boats he feels queasy. In this situation, the conditioned response is the

Pairing the smell of food with a toxin can produce conditioned taste aversions. This is an illustration of the concept of