Exam 5: Learning

Ilan does not go out and remove dead branches from the yard even though his father has asked him to do so several times. As a result, his father turns off the television and says, "No more TV until you do your chores." Ilan is being taught through the process of

Gabe is trying to get his dog, Trixie, to "sit up." He starts rewarding her first when she lies down. Then he rewards her when she is sitting on her backside. And finally he rewards her only when she sits up with her paws off the ground. Gabe got Trixie to "sit up" by using

Jia is a bear trainer at the circus. She wants to teach Barney the bear to ride a unicycle. To do this, Jia first rewards Barney for sitting up. Then she rewards Barney only if he sits on the unicycle seat. Next, she rewards him only for sitting on the unicycle seat and raising his paws toward the pedals and so on. By show time, Barney can ride the unicycle. This method is called

Nic is terrified of going to the dentist office because of the discomfort and pain he has experienced before. The last time Nic had a tooth pulled, his eyes were locked onto his dentist's white coat. Now when Nic sees someone in a white coat, he becomes afraid because the white coat predicts the experience of pain. This example demonstrates

Fred has decided to learn to play the harmonica. To learn this skill most efficiently, Fred should adopt an approach that emphasizes

Hailey thinks that it doesn't matter how hard she studies for her classes. Sometimes she studies and other times she doesn't, but her grades are always the same. Soon, Hailey never studies because she doesn't see any reason to do so. Hailey is experiencing

While out at the shopping mall, Adrienna sees a friend of hers across the food court, waves at her and yells, "Hey Brianna!" When the woman turns around, Adrienna realizes that it is not Brianna, but only looked very much like her. This response to a similar stimulus may remind you of the concept of

Rosie and Ginny decide to eat at a restaurant. When they arrive, they are greeted promptly by the hostess. The waiter is efficient and the food is fantastic! They are likely to return to the restaurant because their decision to eat there was followed by a satisfying experience. This example illustrates

Adia, a psychology instructor, is trying to get her students to discuss more in class. At first, she gives them points for small amounts of class participation, but she keeps making them participate more for the same amount of points until she has them participating a great deal in class. Adia is using the operant conditioning technique of __________ to get her class to behave as she desires.

Roslyn always used to shop at Penney's because for every purchase over $20, she would get a 10 percent discount. But since Penney's stopped offering this promotion, Roslyn has stopped shopping there. Her shopping behavior (and decrease in such activities)is best explained by

Charlie wants to get a job in which he is rewarded for his work on a fixed interval reinforcement schedule. Which job should Charlie pursue?

Recently, Callie's calculus TA has started having Callie's class form small groups and work on solving problems, rather than just lecturing to them for the whole class session. Callie thinks that this method of teaching makes her think more deeply about the material than when she just sits and takes notes. Callie's TA is using __________ as an instructional method.

Eve breaks stuff when she gets angry. Whenever Eve begins breaking things, her parents stop what they are doing and pay attention to her. Now, Eve breaks things more than ever. Apparently, her parents' attention serves as a __________ for Eve's behavior.

After Ricardo gets an A on his history exam (a class in which he has recently struggled), Ricardo's father takes him to the electronics store and lets him choose a new video game. This is an example of a(n)

Marat had a terrible toothache and decided to go to the dentist. The dentist made the problem worse, and Marat was in a lot more pain. Now, he no longer trusts dentists and is unlikely to go to one in the future if he has a toothache. This is an example of

Neural network models predict that the weaker the connection between two items, the __________ in connection strength when they are experienced together.

Every time Brandy drops a cricket into the cage of her pet tarantula, Chompers, he begins to salivate. Brandy has gotten in the habit of playing her favorite CD when she feeds Chompers. After several pairings of the cricket and her favorite CD, all Brandy has to do is play the CD and Chompers begins to salivate. In this example, Chompers's salivating to the fresh, wriggling cricket is a(n)

Kurt began taking more and more heroin because the initial dose didn't seem to give him the same high. Eventually, Kurt was addicted to heroin. According to opponent-process theory, __________ may have been the basis of Kurt's dangerous addiction.

Jayden is working with a laboratory rat in the school's psychology lab. He names the rat Nihanch. He begins to giving the rat a fast shock to its paws, and the rat jumps. Then every time he gives the rat a shock, he turns on a red light bulb in the side of the cage. Eventually, Nihanch jumps in response to the light even if the shock is not administered. In this example, the red light bulb was the _______ and the rat's jump when the light came on was the ________.

Lois and Peter want to teach Brian, their dog, to fetch the newspaper. Lois wants to encourage Brian's behavior when he brings in the newspaper. Peter wants to discourage Brian's behavior when he brings in a stick instead. Lois will most likely use __________, and Peter will most likely use __________.