Deck 12: Learning Part 2

Question 1

Avoidance conditioning develops through

A) negative reinforcement.
B) positive reinforcement.
C) punishment.
D) modeling.

Answer 1

negative reinforcement.

Question 2

Brenda has learned to take an over-the-counter medication 30 minutes before she eats a spicy meal. When she does this she is able to prevent the heartburn and indigestion that she would experience otherwise. This is an example of

A) escape conditioning.
B) positive reinforcement.
C) classical conditioning.
D) avoidance conditioning.

Answer 2

avoidance conditioning.

Question 3

When Jackie watches slasher movies, she covers her eyes when the blood starts to splatter. When Clarice watches slasher movies, she covers her eyes as soon as she hears ominous music start to play. Jackie's response is consistent with ____, while Clarice's response is consistent with ____.

A) escape responding; avoidance responding
B) avoidance responding; escape responding
C) negative reinforcement; positive reinforcement
D) classical conditioning; operant conditioning

Answer 3

escape responding; avoidance responding

Question 4

If you perform behavior designed to prevent an unpleasant event from happening, your behavior is classified as

A) a primary response.
B) a classically conditioned response (CR).
C) an avoidance response.
D) an escape response.

Question 5

When David's Uncle Don visits, Don always gives David an intense tickling and will only stop this "tickle-torture" when David says "Uncle". David's response of saying "Uncle" is strengthened through

A) positive reinforcement.
B) negative reinforcement.
C) avoidance learning.
D) punishment.

Question 6

Which of the following is an example of negative reinforcement?

A) grounding a teenager for missing curfew
B) making a child sit in the corner until they say "I'm sorry"
C) giving a student extra credit for class participation
D) allowing a student to take a make-up exam

Question 7

Nolan has learned to drink a cup of coffee whenever he gets a tension headache because drinking coffee makes the pain of the headache go away. This is an example of

A) avoidance learning.
B) escape learning.
C) positive reinforcement.
D) classical conditioning.

Question 8

Pat takes a prescription medication in order to reduce pain and Kelly takes the same medication in order to experience a "drug high." Pat's behavior is reinforced by ____ reinforcement and Kelly's behavior by ____ reinforcement.

A) negative; positive
B) positive; negative
C) positive; positive
D) negative; negative

Question 9

A rat learns to press a bar to turn off an electric shock. This is an example of

A) escape learning.
B) avoidance learning.
C) an unconditioned response.
D) positive reinforcement.

Question 10

Escape conditioning is maintained by

A) modeling.
B) punishment.
C) negative reinforcement.
D) positive reinforcement.

Question 11

A rat is placed on one side of a two-compartment shuttle box. For each trial, a light is turned on and is followed 10 seconds later by a painful electric shock for one minute. The rat can terminate the trial by jumping a barrier into the other compartment. If the rat jumps during the light, it has learned to ____ the shock; if the rat jumps during the shock, it has learned to ____ the shock.

A) escape; avoid
B) avoid; escape
C) escape; escape
D) avoid; avoid

Question 12

Tammy finds writing papers to be a very aversive task. As a result she always checks out the requirements for all her classes before she registers and never takes classes that require term papers, Tammy's behavior is an example of

A) escape learning.
B) avoidance learning.
C) an unconditioned response.
D) positive reinforcement.

Question 13

When a response is strengthened because it is followed by the removal of an aversive stimulus it is called

A) punishment.
B) positive reinforcement.
C) negative reinforcement.
D) secondary reinforcement.

Question 14

When an organism learns a response that prevents some aversive stimulation from occurring, it is termed

A) secondary learning.
B) punishment.
C) escape learning.
D) avoidance learning.

Question 15

Acquiring a behavior that prevents the occurrence of an aversive event is

A) escape learning.
B) negative reinforcement.
C) punishment learning.
D) avoidance learning.

Question 16

Escape learning is a type of learning in which

A) an organism's responding is influenced by the observation of others' behavior.
B) an organism engages in a response that brings aversive stimulation to an end.
C) a neutral stimulus acquires the ability to elicit a response that was originally elicited by another stimulus.
D) an organism engages in a response that prevents aversive stimulation from occurring.

Question 17

When a response is strengthened because it is followed by the presentation of a rewarding stimulus, it is called

A) punishment.
B) negative reinforcement.
C) positive reinforcement.
D) primary reinforcement.

Question 18

Hanna finds that when her kids become too rowdy and noisy, she can successfully block out their noise if she closes the door to her study. In this example, closing the door is an example of

A) an escape response.
B) an avoidance response.
C) an unconditioned response.
D) positive reinforcement.

Question 19

Both ____ increase the probability that a response will be repeated.

A) positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement
B) positive reinforcement and punishment
C) negative reinforcement and punishment
D) reinforcement and punishment

Question 20

Which type of learning is being employed if a rat bar-presses in order to turn off an electrical shock?

A) positive reinforcement
B) punishment
C) avoidance learning
D) escape learning

Question 21

Two processes involved in the acquisition of phobias and the tendency of phobias to show a high resistance to extinction are

A) reinforcement and punishment.
B) positive and negative reinforcement.
C) classical and operant conditioning.
D) operant conditioning and observation learning.

Question 22

How are punishment and negative reinforcement different?

A) Punishment involves the use of a negative stimulus; negative reinforcement uses a pleasant stimulus.
B) Punishment increases the frequency of undesired behavior; negative reinforcement discourages it.
C) Punishment always involves pain while negative reinforcement involves the removal of primary reinforcers.
D) Punishment decreases the frequency of behavior while negative reinforcement increases the likelihood of behavior.

Question 23

As a teenager it seemed that your mom was always nagging you to clean your room. Eventually you learned that if you cleaned your room every Saturday morning you would not have to listen to her nagging. Your mother was successful in getting you to clean your room through the use of ____ to establish ____.

A) negative reinforcement; avoidance learning
B) negative reinforcement; escape learning
C) punishment; avoidance learning
D) punishment; escape learning

Question 24

Your spouse withdraws attention from you each time you begin criticizing her cooking. Eventually, you stop criticizing your spouse's cooking. The withdrawal of attention can be categorized as

A) punishment.
B) observational learning.
C) negative reinforcement.
D) modeling.

Question 25

When an event following a response weakens an organism's tendency to make that response, it is termed

A) punishment.
B) extinction.
C) negative reinforcement.
D) positive reinforcement.

Question 26

Which of the following is NOT an example of punishment?

A) laughing at a classmate when he asks a "dumb question" in class
B) nagging a child until she pick up her toys
C) taking away a child's TV privileges for one week for a bad report card
D) making a child sit in the corner for 10 minutes for back-talk

Question 27

Miguel used to enjoy occasionally drinking a glass of red wine, but when he drank too much red wine at a friend's party a few months ago he woke up with a terrible hangover. Since then Miguel refuses to drink any red wine. In this case, Miguel's hangover acted as

A) negative reinforcement for drinking red wine.
B) a conditioned response to wine drinking.
C) punishment for drinking red wine.
D) a secondary reinforcer for attending parties.

Question 28

Car manufacturers try to encourage drivers to buckle their seat belts through the use of reinforcement. As you know, if you start your car without buckling-up you will hear a somewhat annoying sound. If you learn to buckle-up after hearing the sound, you show ____. If you acquire the response of buckling-up before you turn on the ignition, you show ____.

A) avoidance learning; escape learning
B) escape learning; avoidance learning
C) punishment; escape learning
D) punishment; avoidance learning

Question 29

Which of the following statements about punishment is LEAST accurate?

A) Punishment may take the form of removal of a rewarding stimulus.
B) Punishment occurs whenever a response terminates an aversive condition.
C) Punishment may take the form of giving aversive stimulation after a response.
D) Punishment, by definition, weakens preceding behavior.

Question 30

The tendency to make a response increases following the use of ____ and the tendency to make a response decreases following the use of ____.

A) punishment; negative reinforcement
B) negative reinforcement; punishment
C) positive reinforcement; negative reinforcement
D) negative reinforcement; positive reinforcement

Question 31

Negative reinforcement ____ the rate of a response; punishment ____ the rate of a response.

A) increases; decreases
B) decreases; increases
C) increases; increases
D) decreases; decreases

Question 32

If one rat learns to bar-press to turn off an electric shock and a second rat learns to bar-press when a warning signal that precedes the shock is turned on, the first rat is demonstrating ____ and the second rat is demonstrating ____.

A) avoidance learning; escape learning
B) escape learning; avoidance learning
C) punishment; escape learning
D) punishment; avoidance learning

Question 33

Angela came home after her curfew last night; as a result, her parents have taken away her driving privileges for 1 week. What discipline technique are Angela's parents using?

A) punishment
B) negative reinforcement
C) extinction
D) positive reinforcement

Question 34

Jane, your teenage daughter, was ridiculed at school for wearing a particular style of shirt. Now, she no longer wears that style of shirt to school. Being ridiculed is an example of

A) negative reinforcement.
B) positive reinforcement.
C) punishment.
D) modeling.

Question 35

Angela used to really enjoy diving for her school team, but at their most recent diving practice she hit her head on the diving board during her last dive. Since then she hasn't attended any of the team practices, and she refuses to dive. In this case, hitting her head on the board acted as

A) punishment for diving.
B) negative reinforcement for diving.
C) an unconditioned response to diving.
D) a discriminative stimulus for attending team practices.

Question 36

Which of the following statements about punishment is FALSE?

A) Punishment may generalize to other behaviors.
B) Punishment increases the frequency of undesired behavior.
C) Punishment triggers strong emotional responses.
D) Punishment may be modeled by children as a way of solving problems.

Question 37

The difference between punishment and negative reinforcement is that

A) punishment strengthens undesirable behaviors, and negative reinforcement weakens undesirable behaviors.
B) punishment weakens undesirable behaviors, while negative reinforcement weakens desirable behaviors.
C) punishment weakens behavior, while negative reinforcement strengthens behavior.
D) there is no difference between punishment and negative reinforcement in their effects on behavior.

Question 38

Typically, most people would

A) enjoy being negatively reinforced or punished.
B) dislike being negatively reinforced or punished.
C) enjoy being negatively reinforced and dislike being punished.
D) enjoy being punished and dislike being negatively reinforced.

Question 39

Although there are many controversies surrounding punishment it is used frequently for disciplinary purposes. Which of the following are desirable aspects surrounding the use of punishment?

A) It suggests alternative behaviors.
B) It can be modeled as a positive problem solving method.
C) It reduces the probability of undesirable behavior.
D) It will often trigger strong emotional responses.

Question 40

Any event that follows a behavior and results in the behavior having a lower probability of happening in the future is known as a

A) negative reinforcer.
B) positive reinforcer.
C) punisher.
D) vicarious conditioner.

Question 41

The studies of Garcia and his colleagues demonstrate that rats very easily learn to associate a taste CS with

A) a shock US.
B) a visual US.
C) an auditory US.
D) a nausea-inducing US.

Question 42

Zane has been shocked on six separate occasions while making toast. However, he doesn't seem to have developed a phobia toward toasters. Zane's only phobia is toward spiders, because he once had a big spider fall in his shirt when he was child. Zane's pattern of phobias illustrates the concept of

A) signal relations.
B) negative avoidance.
C) superstitious responding.
D) preparedness.

Question 43

Preparedness suggests that people would NOT easily develop phobias toward

A) heights.
B) hot stoves.
C) darkness.
D) any of these three things.

Question 44

The evolutionary history of rats has rendered them ____ to associate a taste CS with an illness US, and ____ to associate that same CS with an electric shock US.

A) prepared; prepared
B) prepared; unprepared
C) unprepared; unprepared
D) unprepared; prepared

Question 45

You eat a new food and that night become ill with nausea and vomiting. Later you experience nausea whenever you taste or smell the new food. Why did you not associate your nausea with the cues of the room, the people present, the bathroom, and so on?

A) You were biologically predisposed to associate taste and nausea.
B) The nontaste cues were too weak.
C) The taste cues were more immediate.
D) There was less contiguity for the other cues.

Question 46

To maximize effectiveness of punishment and minimize its negative side effects, punishment should be

A) strong, delayed, and consistent.
B) consistent, swift, and explained.
C) mild, consistent, and unpredictable.
D) swift, strong, and unpredictable.

Question 47

Why is sending a note home to a parent not the most effective method of suppressing undesirable behavior?

A) The parents frequently do not respond to notes.
B) A note is not intense enough to achieve the desired effect.
C) The association between the response and the punishment is not immediate.
D) Notes are often consistent and will explain the offense.

Question 48

Which of the following is one of the text's guidelines for making punishment more effective?

A) since it is not necessary, do not explain the punishment to the child
B) do not apply punishment swiftly, instead allow the child time to think about the coming punishment
C) make punishment consistent
D) use a severe punishment

Question 49

Which of the following statements is LEAST accurate concerning conditioning to stimuli that we are biologically prepared to fear?

A) There is a lower probability of spontaneous recovery for these stimuli.
B) There is more rapid conditioning to these stimuli.
C) The fear response (CR) is stronger for these stimuli.
D) There is greater resistance to extinction for these stimuli.

Question 50

One reason that the criminal justice system in the United States does not do a better job deterring crime may be because it

A) relies too much on highly aversive punishment.
B) relies too little on the use of punishment.
C) delays punishment for too long.
D) does not use reinforcing techniques.

Question 51

A wild animal, such as a wolf, eats a new food that has a novel taste, an unusual color, and an unusual form or shape that it finds at a place where it had never found food before. Hours after eating the food the wolf develops nausea. In the future the wolf would be most likely to avoid foods ____ as the new food.

A) found at the same place
B) of the same color
C) of the same taste
D) of the same form or shape

Question 52

Species-specific predispositions to be conditioned in certain ways and not in other ways is known as

A) stimulus discrimination.
B) aversion conditioning.
C) compensatory conditioning.
D) preparedness.

Question 53

Clara and Ashley ate dinner at a new restaurant last night. The entire restaurant was decorated in green, and the sound of waterfalls played in the background. Both Clara and Ashley ordered "trapper casserole," which tasted like nothing they had ever eaten before. Four hours after they had eaten they both became extremely ill and were taken to the hospital by ambulance, with the sirens wailing. Based on research conducted by Garcia and his colleagues, you might predict that in the future Clara and Ashley will both show conditioned responses to

A) anything that is colored green.
B) the sound of falling water.
C) the sound of sirens.
D) foods that smell or taste like trapper casserole.

Question 54

The experience Seligman had with sauce béarnaise was unique in that

A) it suggested that generalization is more pervasive than originally thought.
B) a conditioned response was established even though there was a long delay between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus.
C) it appears that discriminative cues can lose their predictive influence in a fairly short period of time.
D) operant conditioning dynamics take precedence over classical conditioning principles.

Question 55

Which of the following best summarizes the beliefs of most experts regarding the use of punishment?

A) mild to moderate disciplinary spanking is detrimental for children
B) harsh, abusive punishment is detrimental for children
C) neither of the above
D) both of the above

Question 56

Which of the following most clearly shows that an animal's biological makeup can affect the ease of learning an association?

A) Pavlov's dogs, bells, and salivation
B) Thorndike's cats in a puzzle box
C) Skinner's rats in an operant chamber
D) Garcia's conditioned taste aversion experiments

Question 57

Conditioned taste aversions represent an unusual or atypical example of

A) observational learning.
B) punishment.
C) operant conditioning.
D) classical conditioning.

Question 58

Preparedness suggests that people would MOST easily develop phobias toward

A) knives.
B) electrical outlets.
C) snakes.
D) all three of these things.

Question 59

Which of the following is not one of the text's guidelines for making punishment more effective?

A) explain the punishment
B) use noncorporal punishments, such as withdrawal of privileges
C) use a severe punishment
D) apply the punishment swiftly

Question 60

Which of the following would NOT result in an increase in the effectiveness of punishment?

A) lengthening the delay between the response and the punishment
B) increasing the intensity of the punishment
C) providing the subject with an alternative response that will lead to the desired reinforcer
D) making the punishment more consistent

Question 61

The predominant view among learning theorists today is

A) associations can be conditioned between any stimulus an organism can sense and any response the organism can make.
B) all species are capable of learning all the same responses.
C) there is no such thing as "the" learning process.
D) the basic mechanisms of learning are similar across species.

Question 62

Latent learning is a type of learning that

A) occurs without any experience.
B) occurs when an event following a response increases an organism's tendency to make that response.
C) is not apparent from the organism's behavior when the learning first occurs.
D) occurs when an organism's responding is influenced by the observation of others.

Question 63

The evolutionary perspective on learning suggests that

A) most species respond to classical conditioning, but only mammals show operant conditioning.
B) most species respond to operant conditioning, but only mammals show classical conditioning.
C) differences in the adaptive challenges faced by various species have led to some species-specific learning tendencies.
D) because all species face the same adaptive challenges, species-specific learning tendencies will disappear as a species evolves.

Question 64

Edward Tolman's research suggests that in order to learn routes through mazes rats

A) must be reinforced for reaching the end of the maze.
B) will run through the maze only when they are highly motivated.
C) need to be allowed to explore the maze first.
D) must be punished for wrong choices in the maze on the first trials.

Question 65

Newly learned behavior that is not apparent from behavior when it first occurs is known as

A) insight learning.
B) classical conditioning.
C) operant conditioning.
D) latent learning.

Question 66

The rapid acquisition of conditioned taste aversions is consistent with Domjan's focus on

A) ecologically relevant conditioned stimuli.
B) arbitrary or neutral conditioned stimuli.
C) ecologically relevant unconditioned stimuli.
D) arbitrary or neutral unconditioned stimuli.

Question 67

Tolman's research on latent learning suggests that in order to learn the routes through a maze, rats must

A) just be allowed to first explore the maze.
B) explore the maze when they are highly motivated.
C) be reinforced for reaching the end of the maze.
D) first be classically conditioned to show no fear in mazes.

Question 68

According to the cognitive explanation of classical conditioning, a CS that is a "good" signal associated with an US is a CS that

A) is novel or intense.
B) has been paired with the US many times.
C) accurately predicts the presentation of the US.
D) is presented immediately after the US.

Question 69

Learning that is not apparent from behavior when it first occurs is known as

A) insight learning.
B) latent learning.
C) classical conditioning.
D) operant conditioning.

Question 70

According to Rescorla, the single best way to ensure a strong CR is to arrange that the CS

A) remains constantly present throughout training.
B) be one that is well above the absolute threshold of the animal being trained.
C) sometimes occurs when the US is not present.
D) is the most predictive signal for the US.

Question 71

Studies of response-outcome relations and reinforcement have found that

A) operant behavior is automatically strengthened when it is followed by desirable consequences.
B) people actively reason out the relations between responses and the outcomes that follow.
C) there are species-specific predispositions to form certain types of associations.
D) on concurrent schedules of reinforcement, organisms emit responses that maximize the total number of reinforcers they will receive.

Question 72

Conditioned taste aversions illustrate that an organism's biological heritage may place constraints on general learning processes. Therefore, this two phenomenon adds support to

A) the social-cognitive view of learning
B) Thorndike's law of effect
C) the evolutionary perspective on learning
D) Mowrer's two-process theory

Question 73

Rafael's brother always says, "I'm going to get you" just before he hits Rafael. Alan's brother sometimes says, "I'm going to get you" just before he hits Alan; other times he just hits Alan with no warning. Based on the work by Rescorla you should predict that when these boys hear the words, "I'm going to get you," Rafael will show

A) an unconditioned response, while Alan will show a conditioned response.
B) a stronger conditioned response than Alan will show.
C) a weaker conditioned response than Alan will show.
D) a conditioned response, while Alan will show an unconditioned response.

Question 74

Your younger daughter watches your older daughter wash the breakfast dishes. Later, your younger daughter attempts to wash some dishes. The older daughter has acted as

A) a noncontingent reinforcer.
B) a negative reinforcer.
C) a positive reinforcer.
D) a model.

Question 75

Group A rats receive 30 paired buzzer-shock trials. Group B rats get the same, but also 20 more trials with shock alone (no buzzer). You would predict that

A) Group A and B later show equal fear response to the buzzer.
B) Group B shows a stronger fear response to the buzzer.
C) Group A extinguishes fear to the buzzer more rapidly.
D) Group A shows a stronger fear response to the buzzer.

Question 76

Learning that occurs when an organism's responding is influenced by the observation of others known as models is called

A) latent.
B) observational.
C) classical.
D) operant.

Question 77

If a baseball player who has been in a batting slump for several weeks alters his batting stance and wears a new batting glove one day and gets three hits, the cognitive explanation of conditioning suggests that for the next game, the baseball player will continue to

A) experiment with another batting stance and batting glove.
B) use the new batting stance.
C) use the new batting glove.
D) use both the new batting stance and new batting glove.

Question 78

Michael Domjan suggests that the rapid conditioning seen in conditioned taste aversions is

A) unique in that all neutral stimuli condition in the same way.
B) an example of what happens when ecologically relevant conditioned stimuli are studied.
C) an example of what happens when arbitrary, neutral conditioned stimuli are studied.
D) not all that unique and it reflects the differences between studying learning in a laboratory setting and a natural setting.

Question 79

You have familiarized yourself with the streets of your town with out any reinforcement; then one day you are asked to go to the post office. You are able to do so with ease by following a route that you have never taken. This is an example of

A) insight learning.
B) latent learning.
C) classical conditioning.
D) operant conditioning.

Question 80

Which of the following statements is MOST accurate?

A) Observational learning is entirely separate from both classical and operant conditioning.
B) Observational learning is a form of classical conditioning.
C) Observational learning is a form of operant conditioning.
D) Both classical and operant conditioning can take place vicariously through observational learning.