Exam 5: Learning

Observing good role models and focusing on the delayed reinforcer are two ways to improve self-control.

In applying conditioning principles in the workplace, a large retailer allows employees to choose their own reinforcers. A casual dress code and flexible work hours have proven to be effective in increasing productivity. The employer is using _____ to improve employee performance.

In psychologist Robert Rescorla's classical conditioning experiment, one group of rats experienced a tone just before each of 20 shocks. A second group of rats experienced the same number of tone-shock pairings, plus an additional 20 shocks with no tone. Rescorla found that the rats in the first group showed a much stronger conditioned fear response than the rats in the second group. How did Rescorla explain this finding?

The unconditioned response and the conditioned response are the same behavioral response, but they are elicited by different stimuli.

Classical conditioning involves _____, while operant conditioning involves _____.

Although people often blame their environment for their problems, B. F. Skinner argued that the real problem is that people fail to take responsibility for their actions.

According to a study investigating media violence, violent behavior is portrayed in almost two-thirds of all television programs.

The ability to learn a novel behavior through observation has been demonstrated in:

Self-control involves choosing between long-term reinforcers and short-term reinforcers, both of which have relative values that can shift over time.

Conditioned reinforcers acquire their reinforcing value by being associated with primary reinforcers.

Martina is an animal trainer at Sea World. To teach a new dolphin to jump through a hoop high above the water, Martina first reinforces the dolphin for approaching the hoop while it is under the water. Then, she reinforces the dolphin for swimming through the hoop under water. Gradually raising the hoop, Martina progressively reinforces each small step toward the goal behavior. Martina is using the process of _____ to train the dolphin.

Though sometimes it's a little early or a little late, your mail almost always arrives around 10:30 in the morning. As it gets closer to 10:30, you tend to check the mailbox more often. This is an everyday example of a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement.

Who was Edward Thorndike, and what were his contributions to the study of learning?

Mindy is in nursing school and is learning how to measure a patient's blood pressure. Her instructor first shows the class a video that demonstrates the proper procedures for measuring blood pressure and then demonstrates these same procedures using Mindy as a "patient." Mindy and her class are learning how to measure blood pressure in patients through the use of:

Macaque monkeys are capable of learning a cognitive rule for ordering lists of photographs simply from watching another macaque successfully complete the task. This is an example of:

Executives and nonprofit groups have applied Albert Bandura's principles of observational learning in television dramas designed to foster healthy behaviors in societies in many different countries.

Define the term discriminative stimulus, and give at least two examples of a discriminative stimulus not used in the text.

_____ was one of the first psychologists to use positive reinforcement to teach basic self-help skills to people with developmental disabilities, and also helped train marine mammals for the U.S. Navy.

The process of learning associations between environmental events and behavioral responses is called:

Which psychologist studied the development of taste aversions, noting how they seemed to violate the basic principles of classical conditioning?