Exam 7: Learning and Conditioning

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

Match the descriptions with the appropriate type of reinforcement. -A reinforcement procedure in which a response is followed by the removal, delay, or decrease in intensity of an unpleasant stimulus.

Research has demonstrated that worms can be classically conditioned.

Positive reinforcement ________ the probability of a behaviour over time; negative reinforcement ________ the probability of a behaviour over time.

Before studying conditioning, Ivan Pavlov studied:

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

If you want to modify someone's behaviour, then it is most effective if you accentuate the positive.

When four-year-old Aileen goes to the store with her dad and whines for candy at the checkout, she gets the candy. But when she goes with her mom, whining never ends up getting her a candy. Before long, Aileen only whines when she is at the store with her dad. This is called:

According to most behaviourists, secondary punishers acquire their abilities to influence behaviours through what process?

At first, Pavlov treated the dogs' drooling as:

Psychologists have taken advantage of the "Garcia effect" in order to develop humane ways of discouraging predators from preying on livestock. Explain this effect and then describe the classic study in which coyotes developed conditioned aversions to sheep.

Pavlov was at first annoyed when his research on the digestion of a dog was confounded by the dog's salivation before the meat powder was placed on its tongue. Describe his initial reactions and thoughts to this unexpected behaviour of the dog.

Once a response has become reliable, it will be more easily extinguished on a:

The week after she earns her driver's licence, 16-year-old Hannah arrives home an hour after curfew. As a consequence, Hannah must wash the car on Saturday and is not allowed to drive it for a week. Washing the car is a ________, and losing driving privileges is a ________.

When an organism also responds to a stimulus that is similar to the conditioned stimulus, ________ is said to have occurred.

The tendency of a response to occur in the presence of one stimulus but not in the presence of another similar stimulus is called:

Match the descriptions with the appropriate concept. -An operant-conditioning procedure in which successive approximations of a desired response are reinforced.

An animal trainer teaches animals to act as the "limbs" of people with spinal cord injuries. It is most likely that the trainer relies upon:

Behaviour modification has been effective in training brain-damaged patients to control inappropriate behaviours.

Although the behavioural and social-cognitive approaches to learning differ in emphasis, they share a fundamental optimism about the possibilities of change for individuals and societies.