Deck 4: Learning and Human Nurture

Question 1

An eye blink is an example of

A) introspection.
B) an environmental event.
C) a reflex.
D) an operant.
E) shaping.

Answer 1

a reflex.

Question 2

Which of the following statements about learning is NOT true?

A) Learning is another word for maturation.
B) Learning is a lasting condition.
C) Learning involves changes in behavior.
D) Learning involves experiences.
E) Learning involves changes in mental processes.

Answer 2

Learning is another word for maturation.

Question 3

Gina walks into her psychology class on the first day and she sits next to Roger. She thinks his looks are average, but by the end of the semester she finds him to be quite attractive due to

A) the mere exposure effect.
B) habituation.
C) continuous reinforcement.
D) shaping.
E) her new cognitive map.

Answer 3

the mere exposure effect.

Question 4

Every time Maricella goes to work in the morning, she notices that her dog sulks in the corner of the room and looks very sad.ral weeks, she notices that the dog immediately gets unhappy when she picks up her car keys before leaving the house.nomenon of learning best describes the dog's behavior?

A) classical conditioning
B) innate learning
C) negative punishment
D) instinctive drift
E) stimulus discrimination

Question 5

In the Pavlov study, the salivation to the tone represents the ________ after conditioning.

A) unconditioned stimulus (UCS.
B) orienting response (OR)
C) conditioned stimulus (CS)
D) conditioned response (CR.
E) neutral stimulus (NS)

Question 6

Learning always occurs as a result of

A) changing our emotions.
B) experience.
C) changes in the environment.
D) classical conditioning.
E) internal changes.

Question 7

Jenna walks into her science class laboratory, and she immediately feels queasy. Today is the day her class is dissecting frogs, and she is sickened by the smell of the formaldehyde. However, after an hour Jenna is no longer sickened because of

A) classical conditioning.
B) habituation.
C) operant conditioning.
D) her reflexes.
E) spontaneous recovery.

Question 8

As an infant, Stephanie received many penicillin injections from the doctor. When she later saw a photographer in a white coat that was similar to the doctor's coat, she started to cry. This is an example of

A) instrumental learning
B) observational learnin.
C) classical conditionin.
D) habituation
E) counterconditioning

Question 9

You are sitting in a class when your professor holds up a large white feather. We could guess that most people would not really respond in any important way to the feather, because the feather is a(n)

A) primary reinforcer.
B) negative punisher.
C) unconditioned response.
D) neutral stimulus.
E) extinct event.

Question 10

When Pavlov placed food in the mouths of canine subjects, they began to salivate. The salivation was a(n)

A) unconditioned response.
B) unconditioned stimulus.
C) conditioned response.
D) conditioned stimulus.
E) discriminative stimulus.

Question 11

Harmony notices that her cat salivates as soon as he hears the sound of Harmony opening a can with an electric can opener.xample, the ________ is the conditioned stimulus.

A) can of cat food
B) sound of the electric can opener
C) dish that Harmony puts the food in
D) cat scurrying into the kitchen
E) the smell of the cat food

Question 12

Imagine that you try to condition someone so that a particular sound elicits a literal "knee jerk response." Which of the following is accurate?

A) The initial strike to the knee is the CS.
B) The initial knee jerk response is the CR.
C) The sound is the CS.
D) The anticipation of being struck in the knee is the CSR.
E) The initial appearance of the response is an example of spontaneous recovery.

Question 13

Normally, when food is placed in the mouth of any animal, the salivary glands start releasing saliva to help with chewing and digestion. In terms of Pavlov's analysis of learning, salivation would be referred to as a(n)

A) unconditioned response.
B) voluntary response.
C) conditioned response.
D) digestive reflex.
E) habituated response.

Question 14

Alan always turns the aquarium light on before putting fish food into the tank. After a while, he notices that the fish swim to the top to look for the food as soon as he turns on the light. In this example, the ________ is the unconditioned stimulus.

A) presence of Alan near the aquariu.
B) fish swimming to the top
C) aquarium light
D) fish foo.
E) sound of his footsteps as he approaches the tank

Question 15

The linkage between a UCS and the UCR requires

A) that the person must be hungry.
B) that the individual must receive either punishment or reinforcement.
C) a critical impact of insight.
D) no learning.
E) that the dog salivates at the sound of the bell.

Question 16

In the context of classical conditioning, which of following components elicits a response?

A) UCR
B) UC.
C) CE.
D) CSR
E) NR

Question 17

Pavlov placed food in the mouths of dogs, and they began to salivate. The food acted as a(n)

A) unconditioned response.
B) unconditioned stimulus.
C) conditioned response.
D) conditioned stimulus.
E) neutral stimulus.

Question 18

While walking down a dark alley, you jump at a loud noise. This would not be considered learning because

A) it is not a behavior.
B) jumping is only done for survival purposes.
C) not everyone would jump in this situation.
D) jumping is merely a reflex.
E) jumping is a difficult skill, biologically speaking.

Question 19

In a conditioning experiment, a sound is paired with a brief puff of air to the eye of the rabbit. After several pairings, the rabbit blinks its eye when it hears the sound, even when no puff of air is present. Which of the following is true?

A) The blinking of the eye serves as stimulus.
B) The puff of air serves as the unconditioned stimulus.
C) The puff of air serves as the conditioned stimulus.
D) The blinking of the eye serves as the conditioned stimulus.
E) The air puff is a discriminative stimulus.

Question 20

Sue noticed that whenever she opened the door to the pantry, her dog would come into the kitchen and act hungry by drooling and whining. She thought that because the dog food was stored in the pantry, the sound of the door had become a(n)

A) unconditioned stimulus.
B) conditioned stimulus.
C) unconditioned response.
D) conditioned response.
E) neutral stimulus.

Question 21

After Pavlov's dogs became conditioned to salivate at the sound of the metronome, he experimented with sounding the metronome and then failing to present the dogs with any food right away. Soon they stopped salivating to the sound of the metronome. This represents the process called

A) acquisition.
B) testing.
C) extinction.
D) spontaneous recovery.
E) shaping.

Question 22

After acquisition of classical conditioning, the ________ now has the ability to elicit a response that resembles the UCR.

A) operant respons.
B) conditioned stimulu.
C) unconditional stimulus
D) orienting stimulus
E) independent stimulus

Question 23

What could John Watson have done to eliminate Little Albert's conditioned fear?

A) Show Albert a toy dog instead of a live rat.
B) Let Albert touch a Santa Claus beard repeatedly.
C) Show Albert a rat many times without a loud noise following.
D) Have Albert hear a loud noise many times without a rat present.
E) Simply remove Albert from the room where the conditioning originally took place.

Question 24

What was the conditioned stimulus (CS) in the case of Little Albert?

A) a white rat
B) a loud noise
C) a high chair
D) a small enclosed space
E) a blanket

Question 25

What would you predict about Little Albert based on the principle of spontaneous recovery?

A) Even after his fear of a rat was extinguished, the fear could come back.
B) After his fear of loud noises was extinguished, the fear could come back.
C) His fear of rats would disappear if he saw a rat without hearing a loud noise.
D) His fear of loud noises would disappear if he heard a loud noise without a rat present.
E) His fear of rats will lessen so that it is only shown when he is around a rat, though it will spread to rats of any color.

Question 26

The fact that you prefer blondes because your last love interest was a blonde best illustrates

A) stimulus generalization.
B) generalization gradient.
C) stimulus discrimination.
D) discrimination gradient.
E) spontaneous recovery.

Question 27

For Little Albert, his fear of ________ was interpreted as an instance of ________.

A) John Watson; a sensible response
B) a white laboratory rat; conditioned fear
C) his mother; childhood psychosis
D) a Santa Claus mask; experimental psychosis
E) a white laboratory rat; operant conditioning

Question 28

After Little Albert acquired a conditioned fear of rats, Watson wanted to see how he would react to a white rabbit, cotton wool, and a Santa Claus mask. He was studying whether or not ________ had occurred.

A) behavior modificatio.
B) stimulus discrimination
C) extinction
D) stimulus generalizatio.
E) spontaneous recovery

Question 29

Pavlov placed food in the mouths of dogs, and they began to salivate. A student of Pavlov noticed that after a few days, the dogs began to salivate at the sound of the student's footsteps. The salivation to the sound of the footsteps was a

A) primary reinforcer.
B) positive reinforcer.
C) conditioned response.
D) secondary reinforcer.
E) negative reinforcer.

Question 30

One of Pavlov's dogs had stopped salivating at the sound of the tone. The next day the tone was presented again and the dog began salivating. Pavlov referred to this as

A) shaping.
B) spontaneous extinction.
C) stimulus generalization.
D) spontaneous recovery.
E) higher-order conditioning.

Question 31

Jane's dog will listen to her commands but ignores her sister's commands. Jane's dog would be demonstrating

A) spontaneous recovery.
B) social learning.
C) insight learning.
D) stimulus discrimination.
E) stimulus generalization.

Question 32

You decide that you are going to condition your dog to salivate to the sound of a metronome. You sound the metronome and then several minutes later you give the dog a biscuit. You do this several times but no conditioning seems to occur. This is probably because

A) the metronome was not a distinctive sound.
B) the metronome should have been sounded after the animal ate the biscuit.
C) you should have had an even longer interval between the metronome and the biscuit.
D) the biscuit was given too long after the sound of the metronome.
E) the metronome was not loud enough to be heard by the dog.

Question 33

After feeding a dog with a red bowl but never giving any food with a green bowl, the dog now salivates only to the red bowl. This is an example of:

A) insight learning.
B) higher-order conditioning.
C) spontaneous recovery.
D) extinction.
E) stimulus discrimination.

Question 34

One of the best therapy strategies for eliminating conditioned fears involves combining ________ in a process known as ________.

A) negative and positive reinforcement; aversion
B) arousal and stress reduction; shaping
C) conditioned and unconditioned responses; discriminatio.
D) primary and secondary reinforcers; social learning
E) extinction and relaxation; counterconditionin.

Question 35

John Watson offered a live, white rat to Little Albert and then made a loud noise behind his head by striking a steel bar with a hammer. rat served as the ________ stimulus in his study.

A) discriminative
B) counterconditioning
C) conditioned
D) unconditioned
E) extinguishing

Question 36

What was the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) in the case of Little Albert?

A) a ra.
B) a loud nois.
C) a high chair
D) a small enclosed space
E) a blanket

Question 37

You train your dog, Milo, to salivate at the sound of a bell. Then you ring the bell every five minutes and don't follow the ringing with food for Milo. He salivates less and less and finally stops salivating at all when the bell rings. But the next morning, when you ring the bell, Milo salivates! What term is used to explain the reappearance of this response?

A) counterconditionin.
B) instinctive drift
C) spontaneous recover.
D) stimulus discrimination
E) extinction

Question 38

In the Little Albert study, the fear-producing stimulus used as a UCS was the

A) white rat.
B) loud noise.
C) fear of the rat.
D) fear of the noise.
E) appearance of the experimenter.

Question 39

One outcome demonstrated by Watson and Rayner's testing with Little Albert was that

A) operant conditioning can modify behavior.
B) the fear response may generalize to other stimuli.
C) taste aversions can be formed in young children.
D) counterconditioning is difficult.
E) spontaneous recovery can occur at the wrong time.

Question 40

Robert's dog, Little Gut, runs to Robert when he says, "Come." If one day, Little Gut comes running when Robert says, "Dumb," we might say that Little Gut has demonstrated

A) spontaneous recovery.
B) social learning.
C) insight learning.
D) intermittent reinforcement.
E) stimulus generalization.

Question 41

Imagine that you have an intense fear of flying and that that you are enrolled in a counterconditioning therapy program to help you lose this fear. Which of the following situations would GREATLY interfere with the success of this therapy for fear of flying?

A) Your plane develops engine trouble while you are on a short 20-minute practice flight.
B) You take a muscle relaxant to calm you before the therapy.
C) You are told over and over that flying is quite safe.
D) You watch a movie about a person safely flying on a trip.
E) B and C are correct.

Question 42

An important discovery stemming from Watson and Rayner's experiment was that

A) phobias can be reversed.
B) some phobias are more probable due to preparedness.
C) children experience phobias more often than had previously been thought.
D) phobias may be explained by using principles of classical conditioning. Watson and Rayner's experiment with Little Albert demonstrated the ability to condition a phobia with classical conditioning.
E) instinctive drift explains phobias in human beings.

Question 43

A child learns that whenever he eats all of his dinner, he gets a cookie for dessert. This type of learning is BEST explained by

A) classical conditioning.
B) operant conditioning.
C) biofeedback theory.
D) social learning theory.
E) observational learning.

Question 44

Generally, it is best to present the CS followed immediately by the US for conditioning to occur. One exception to this rule is illustrated by

A) food aversions.
B) conditioning voluntary responses.
C) tactile aversions.
D) conditioning eye blink responses.
E) conditioned emotional responses

Question 45

The fact that food aversions are ________ poses a problem for classical conditioning theory.

A) hard to measure
B) not consisten.
C) learned through observation
D) generalizable
E) not entirely learne.

Question 46

What is likely to happen to rats that drink a saccharin solution and are then shocked?

A) They will develop an aversion to saccharin.
B) They will refuse to drink any water and die
C) They will not develop an aversion to saccharin solutions.
D) They will die as a result of the shocks they received in the research.
E) They will learn to enjoy the sensation of an electric shock and actively seek it out.

Question 47

The kind of learning that applies to voluntary behavior is called

A) operant conditioning.
B) classical conditioning.
C) effective based learning.
D) spontaneous recovery.
E) shaping.

Question 48

Judy has cancer and is receiving chemotherapy at a local hospital. Her parents notice that she now rejects food that she willingly ate last week (before chemotherapy). Through the process of ________, the food is now acting as a ________.

A) operant conditioning; negative reinforce.
B) negative reinforcement; conditioned stimulus
C) aversive conditioning; conditioned stimulu.
D) appetitive conditioning; conditioned stimulus
E) conditioned reinforcement; unconditioned response

Question 49

Which of the following is an example of a rewarding consequence?

A) food
B) high grades
C) praise
D) money
E) All of these answers are correct.

Question 50

Last month Walter became sick after eating two chili dogs, so he no longer likes chili dogs. Walter has experienced

A) blocking.
B) a conditioned food aversion.
C) operant taste conditioning.
D) noncontingent conditioning.
E) shaping.

Question 51

In operant conditioning, behavioral change is brought about by the manipulation of

A) reflexes.
B) goals.
C) consequences.
D) motives.
E) thoughts.

Question 52

One factor that makes a food aversion different from most types of classical conditioning is that

A) other people can cause us to develop the connection the CS and the UCS.
B) once the conditioning is established, it cannot be eliminated.
C) the conditioned response often occurs before the unconditioned response.
D) there can be a long time delay between the CS and the UCS.
E) conditioning may not always involve a change in the person's response.

Question 53

Human beings generally have an aversion to bitter and sour foods. Some researchers suggest that this is because foods that are inedible or even poisonous are often bitter or sour. The tendency of human beings to find these potentially harmful foods repulsive is an example of

A) classical conditioning.
B) vicarious conditioning.
C) a conditioned emotional response.
D) a biological predisposition.
E) an instinctive drift.

Question 54

A practical use of aversive conditioning by John Garcia was to

A) cause people to look forward to receiving chemotherapy.
B) dissuade wild coyotes from attacking sheep.
C) make Little Albert cry at the sight of a white rat.
D) alter people's eating preferences for lamb.
E) teach children to eat their green vegetables..

Question 55

Which of the following is NOT an example of operant behavior?

A) a child doing her homework after she receives her teacher's approval for her behavior
B) a rat pressing a bar after receiving food for this behavior
C) a dog blinking its eyes after a flash of light is presented
D) a rat pressing a bar after avoiding a shock for this behavior
E) a child sitting quietly because he knows his father is working and needs to concentrate.

Question 56

A Vietnam war veteran who hears a "call to battle stations" alarm sound last heard in heavy combat would be expected to

A) demonstrate no response.
B) become extremely violent.
C) feel relief that they are not now in combat.
D) show strong emotional arousal.
E) experience a happy feeling.

Question 57

When good things happen to someone, the probability of repeating the behavior that occurred before the good things increases. This best illustrates

A) Heisenberg's uncertainty principle.
B) the law of effect.
C) generalization.
D) the law of desirable consequences.
E) intermittent reinforcement.

Question 58

Skinner was to rats as Thorndike was to

A) cats
B) rabbits
C) dogs
D) pigeons
E) chimpanzees

Question 59

A farmer troubled by coyotes eating his sheep. In an attempt to solve the problem, he kills a sheep and laces its body with a nausea-inducing drug. He leaves the sheep out where he knows the coyotes roam. He hopes they will learn not to eat the sheep. The farmer is attempting to apply the principle of ________ to accomplish this.

A) observational learning
B) latent learnin.
C) instrumental conditioning
D) conditioned food aversion.
E) intermittent reinforcement

Question 60

A farmer is being troubled by coyotes eating his sheep. In an attempt to solve the problem, he kills a sheep and laces its body with a nausea-inducing drug. He leaves the sheep out where he knows the coyotes roam. He hopes they will learn not to eat the sheep. The farmer is attempting to apply the research of ________to accomplish this.

A) Bandura
B) Skinne.
C) Tolman
D) Garci.
E) Seligman

Question 61

Mary's parents want her to put her books in her bookcase. At first, they praise her for putting the books together in one pile. Then they praise her for getting the books on the same side of the room as the bookcase. When she gets the books on top of the bookcase, she gets praise. Finally, her parents praise her when she puts her books in the bookcase. This is an example of

A) negative reinforcemen.
B) punishment
C) extinction
D) shapin.
E) generalization

Question 62

The best strategy to teach an organism a new response quickly is to use

A) continuous reinforcement.
B) secondary reinforcement.
C) negative reinforcement.
D) intermittent reinforcement.
E) extinction.

Question 63

Bob has learned that he can usually get what he wants from his parents if he keeps whining for something. One day Bob starts whining in the toy store because he wants a G.I. Joe action figure. His father refuses to give it to him and ignores his whining. What will happen?

A) generalization
B) extinctio.
C) spontaneous recover.
D) discrimination
E) shaping

Question 64

As a marine biologist, you are trying to teach a dolphin to jump over a bar. At first, you reward the dolphin every time she swims near the bar. Then, you only reward her when she emerges from the water near the bar. Eventually, you reward the dolphin each time she jumps out of the water. Then, you only reward the dolphin when she jumps over the bar. This technique is an example of

A) classical conditioning.
B) spontaneous recovery.
C) discrimination.
D) shaping.
E) positive punishment.

Question 65

What kind of reinforcement is used if Sally's parents give her $10 every time she accumulates six A's on her tests?

A) gradual reinforcemen.
B) sporadic reinforcement
C) continuous reinforcement
D) partial reinforcemen.
E) contiguous reinforcement

Question 66

Reinforcement is to punishment as

A) decrease is to increase.
B) increase is to decrease.
C) positive is to negative.
D) giving is to receiving.
E) bad is to good

Question 67

You walk up to a soda machine and put in a dollar and are rewarded with a bottle of root beer. When you put in another dollar, you get another soda. Assuming that the machine has a limitless supply of root beer, which kind of reinforcement schedule does this machine operate on?

A) intermittent reinforcemen.
B) interval reinforcement
C) continuous reinforcemen.
D) ratio reinforcement
E) contiguous reinforcement

Question 68

According to Skinner, when you take an aspirin for your headache, taking the aspirin is a(n) ________, whereas the headache is a(n) ________.

A) positive reinforcer; operan.
B) operant; negative reinforce.
C) operant; positive reinforcer
D) negative reinforcer; operant
E) operant; negative punishment

Question 69

Which of the following statements is true about operant conditioning?

A) Neither partial nor continuous reinforcement leads to behaviors that will persist for long periods of time.
B) Continuous reinforcement leads to behaviors that will persist longer than behavior learned through partial or intermittent reinforcement.
C) Partial reinforcement leads to behaviors that will persist longer than behavior learned through continuous reinforcement.
D) Continuous reinforcement and partial reinforcement lead to behaviors that persist for equally long periods of time.
E) Contiguous reinforcement is the same as continuous reinforcement.

Question 70

When Joe thinks about his sorely missed girlfriend, he drinks alcohol, which helps dull his feelings. This best illustrates

A) positive reinforcement.
B) negative reinforcement.
C) positive punishment.
D) negative punishment.
E) Stimulus generalization

Question 71

Fred is afraid of spiders. He won't even watch a nature show on TV about them. When he sees a picture of a spider, he has a panic attack, but when he avoids looking at the image, his panic goes away. Fred's avoidance of spiders is being

A) extinguished because he feels anxious after doing so.
B) recovered spontaneously because he will never get better.
C) positively reinforced because he is rewarded by his anxiety going down.
D) negatively reinforced because he is rewarded by his anxiety going down.
E) positively reinforced because he will lose his fear of spiders in the long run.

Question 72

The descriptors positive and negative, when used in reference to reinforcers, are synonyms for

A) add and remove.
B) conditioned and unconditioned.
C) increase and decrease.
D) voluntary and involuntary.
E) good and bad.

Question 73

If a child cries to obtain a new toy, the crying acts as a

A) negative reinforcer.
B) positive reinforcer.
C) partial reinforcer.
D) negatively punisher.
E) shaper.

Question 74

Intermittent reinforcement is particularly effective for maintaining behavior because such reinforcement

A) has popularity and generosity.
B) produces resistance to extinction.
C) has frequency and generalizability.
D) has discriminability and consistency.
E) has predictability and physicality.

Question 75

Mark and Kathy take their 2-year-old son to the supermarket every Saturday. Each week, the same sequence of events unfolds: Their son screams, demanding that they buy him treats. Although they refuse to give in to his demands, he continues to scream. Finally, either Mark or Kathy gets in their son's face and yells at the top of their lungs, "Shut up!" He stops screaming instantly. What operant conditioning concepts are illustrated in this story?

A) The parents are using negative reinforcement to increase their son's screaming.
B) The parents are in a very dysfunctional marriage; their child's screaming is his way of trying to get his parents to remain married.
C) The parents are using punishment to suppress the screaming; their use of punishment is negatively reinforced by the cessation of screaming.
D) Their son probably learned how to scream by observing his parents at home, and now he is reinforced on a variable-interval schedule of reinforcement.
E) The parents are using classical conditioning, and the screaming is a conditioned response.

Question 76

The key difference between the two main forms of schedules of reinforcement is whether

A) reinforcers are given or removed.
B) reinforcement occurs often or rarely.
C) the behaviors will increase or decrease in frequency.
D) a person can control the consequences of the reinforcement.
E) reinforcement is determined by time or by the number of responses.

Question 77

Positive reinforcement is to negative reinforcement as

A) good is to bad.
B) increase is to decrease.
C) reward is to punish.
D) present is to remove.
E) motivate is to inhibit.

Question 78

The best way to ensure that your son will continue to clean his room once he has started doing it is to

A) reward him some, but not all, of the times he cleans his room.
B) reward him every time he cleans his room.
C) reward him with money or new video games.
D) punish him every time he fails to clean his room.
E) never reward him other than to expect him to gain his own personal benefits from cleaning his room.

Question 79

Bill hates to clean up after dinner. One night, he volunteers to bathe the dog before cleaning up. When he finishes with the dog and returns to the kitchen, his wife has cleaned everything up for him. Which of the following statements is most likely true?

A) Bill will start cleaning up the kitchen before he bathes the dog.
B) Bill's wife has positively reinforced him for bathing the dog.
C) Bill's wife has negatively reinforced him for bathing the dog.
D) Bill will never bathe the dog again.
E) Bill's wife will never bathe the dog again.

Question 80

Maricella works as a seamstress. Her boss tells her that every time she completes five shirts, she will receive $5. When she is done with the five shirts, she dumps them into a bin and gets paid. Her pattern of shirt completion is most likely to be

A) rapid shirt completion with a short break after each five is completed.
B) long pauses after she receives the $5.
C) a slow, steady rate of shirt-making without pauses.
D) a fast, steady rate of shirt-making without pauses.
E) linear and consistent.