Exam 6: A--Learning

Pavlov paired the sound from a metronome with the presentation of food and measured the dog's salivation response. Salivation in response to the food is known as the unconditioned response.

Thorndike concluded from his research with cats in a puzzlebox that after a period of trial and error, cats gained insight (or "understood") the solution for how to escape.

A slow but steady rate of responding is most characteristic of behavior reinforced on a ____________________ schedule.

Stimulus generalization is the extension of a conditioned response from the training stimulus to similar stimuli.

Two behaviorists are attempting to explain the causes of why an infant engages in activities to increase the probability of nursing. How might a radical behaviorist differ from a methodological behaviorist in their explanation? Be sure to mention the role of intervening variables.

Modern behaviorists emphasize the role of heredity (genetics) more than the environment in causing behavior.

In operant conditioning, a reinforcer is any stimulus that an organism likes or finds pleasing.

In classical conditioning, responding decreases in both ____________________ and ____________________.

Unlike methodological behaviorists, radical behaviorists are willing to use observable behaviors to make inferences about intervening variables.

Another name for negative punishment is ____________________.

A chimpanzee pulling the lever on a slot machine to get banana chips is an example of ____________________.

A teacher gives a child "time out" sessions away from classmates for breaking a class rule. This is an example of omission training.

According to Thorndike, responses that are followed by reinforcement become more probable. He called this the ____________________.

By definition, the conditioned response is always the same as the unconditioned response.

Psychologists distinguish between ____________________ , which are reinforcing because of their own properties, and ____________________, which became reinforcing because of previous experiences.

Early behaviorism was sometimes referred to as ____________________ psychology.

As a joke, Henry has taught his beagle, Miles, to salivate to the phone ringing. He did this by pairing the phone ringing with food treats for a week. Four months later, Henry no longer finds it amusing that Miles drools to every phone that rings. Explain how Henry could attempt to extinguish this behavior. Another option would be to try and train Miles to only salivate to Henry's phone ring. Explain how Henry could do this and the name of the phenomenon.

A secondary reinforcer gains its value from association with a primary reinforcer.

According to Thorndike, ____________________ is an event that increases the probability of the preceding response.

Classical conditioning applies primarily to ____________________ responses; operant conditioning applies primarily to ____________________ responses.