Deck 7: Learning

Question 1

When psychologists refer to learning as the acquisition of knowledge of a new fact, they are talking about this type of knowledge.

A) behaviorist
B) explicit
C) implicit
D) procedural

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Knowing how to do something, like ride a bicycle or drive a car, is referred to as

A) explicit knowledge
B) behavioral knowledge
C) procedural knowledge
D) implicit knowledge

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT one of the three general statements about learning emphasized in the text?

A) In learning, one acquires some new knowledge or behavior as a result of specific experiences.
B) Learning can only be inferred-it cannot be observed.
C) Most of the behaviors that we learn are actually innate.
D) The changes in behavior or knowledge that occur as a result of learning are relatively enduring.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

When psychologists speak of prepared learning in humans and other animals, they are referring to

A) the innate capacity to learn from experience
B) the faculties of mind inherited through learning
C) the innate ability to see and hear
D) the ability to think about oneself and one's environment

Question 5

Because of this mechanism of learning, you are able to work on your schoolwork without paying attention to the sounds of your noisy neighbors.

A) sensitization
B) conditioning
C) habituation
D) latent learning

Question 6

Which of the following is NOT an example of habituation?

A) Dana's dog becomes quickly accustomed to her friends when they come over to visit and only barks when they first walk in the door.
B) Jerome's rate of sucking on his pacifier decreases the more he familiarizes himself with his mother's voice.
C) Latoya's last boyfriend was emotionally abusive, and now she has more trouble trusting possible new mates.
D) Nikki's cat has become so lazy that his play reactions to string quickly fade after a minute or so.

Question 7

As an example of this learning mechanism, your sensitivity to pain generally increases the longer the pain continues, both in the affected area of your body and in surrounding areas.

A) sensitization
B) habituation
C) conditioning
D) latent learning

Question 8

Which of the following is the best example of the principle of sensitization?

A) Jerry's roommate listens to the TV very loudly, but Jerry can close his door when he needs to read.
B) Oscar is frustrated with his noisy neighbors and has found it increasingly difficult to fall asleep most nights.
C) Sable's mother is a school psychologist, and now Sable finds herself interested in the topic.
D) Raymond has decided to quit smoking and buys himself a soda every time he has a craving.

Question 9

When learning involves relating a response to more than one event or stimulus, it is called

A) conditioning
B) associative learning
C) priming
D) latent learning

Question 10

In Pavlov's classic experiment, the sound of a bell or tone prior to the association with food is referred to as a

A) conditioned stimulus
B) unconditioned stimulus
C) neutral stimulus
D) learned stimulus

Question 11

In classical conditioning, the organism learns to associate a neutral stimulus with another stimulus if

A) the neutral stimulus prepares the organism for the other stimulus
B)the neutral stimulus is sufficiently intense
C) the other stimulus produces an intense response
D) the other stimulus is particularly noxious

Question 12

When a dog has food placed in its mouth, the dog begins to salivate. In classical conditioning, the food is referred to as the

A)unconditioned stimulus
B) conditioned stimulus
C) unconditioned response
D) conditioned response

Question 13

When a dog has food placed in its mouth, the dog begins to salivate. In classical conditioning, the salivation is referred to as the

A)unconditioned stimulus
B) conditioned stimulus
C) unconditioned response
D) conditioned response

Question 14

Because you associate your server at a restaurant with food, you may start to salivate when you see your server carrying your food over to you. The server is thus a(n)

A)unconditioned stimulus
B) conditioned stimulus
C) unconditioned response
D) conditioned response

Question 15

In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus like a tone or bell, when paired with this, will produce a conditioned response.

A) unconditioned stimulus
B) conditioned stimulus
C) unconditioned response
D) conditioned response

Question 16

Which of the following criteria must be met to assure that acquisition of a conditioned response takes place?

A) The neutral stimulus must always come before the conditioned response.
B) The conditioned stimulus must immediately follow the unconditioned stimulus.
C) The unconditioned stimulus must immediately follow the conditioned stimulus.
D) The response to the neutral stimulus must be relatively strong at the outset.

Question 17

In second-order conditioning, an animal can learn to respond to a neutral stimulus like a light if

A) the light is paired with a previously conditioned stimulus
B)the light is paired with food
C) the light is paired with another neutral stimulus
D) the light follows presentation of an unconditioned stimulus

Question 18

With repeated presentation of the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus, the conditioned response becomes weaker until it disappears entirely, a process known as

A) acquisition
B) entrainment
C) discrimination
D) extinction

Question 19

Pavlov found that if he allowed his animals to rest for several hours following the extinction of a behavior, the conditioned response would spontaneously appear again upon re-presentation of the conditioned stimulus-although in a somewhat weaker form. This is called

A) discrimination
B) generalization
C) spontaneous recovery
D) second-order conditioning

Question 20

Addicts who recover in the context of a drug treatment facility may experience a resurgence of craving for their drug of choice once they leave the facility and come into contact with people, places, or things associated with the drug. In classical conditioning, this is called

A) generalization
B) renewal
C) discrimination
D) spontaneous recovery

Question 21

Research comparing people with cocaine dependence and non-cocaine users revealed that when the cocaine users watched a video of a person preparing cocaine for use, they showed more activation in this area of the brain than did the non-users.

A)anterior prefrontal cortex
B) limbic system
C) basal ganglia
D) substantia nigra

Question 22

Thanks to this component of classical conditioning, you automatically learn to avoid all dogs that might attack you if you have been attacked by a dog in the past.

A) discrimination
B) generalization
C) spontaneous recovery
D) renewal

Question 23

If your professor ended certain class days by sounding a bullhorn and then offering sweet-smelling cookies to the class, you would start to salivate to the sound of the bullhorn. If on other days, your professor ended class by ringing a hand bell, and not offering cookies, you would not salivate to the sound of the hand bell. The aspect of classical conditioning responsible for that phenomenon is

A) discrimination
B) generalization
C) spontaneous recovery
D) renewal

Question 24

All of the following statements about Watson and Rayner's (1920) "Little Albert" experiment are true, EXCEPT:

A) After about seven pairings of a loud sound with a rat, Albert began to show fear in the presence of the rat alone.
B) The methods used in the experiment were unethical, casual, and haphazard.
C) Watson and Rayner planned to recondition Albert away from the conditioned fear of rats.
D) The study was never successfully replicated with another infant.

Question 25

Which of the following best describes how classical conditioning might be used to treat a fear of heights?

A) A therapist explains to her patient that her fear of heights is irrational.
B) A therapist allows her patient access to a video game only if he can relax himself.
C) A therapist shows her patient a video of a person standing on the observation deck of a skyscraper while helping him relax.
D) A therapist lightly pinches her patient's hand when he starts to become anxious.

Question 26

Results from Robert Rescorla's research in which he varied the predictive power of a conditioned stimulus suggested that

A) the backward-pairing procedure is the best for acquisition of an emotional response
B)human phobias could be treated by increasing the intensity of a positive conditioned stimulus
C) organisms engage in cognitive activity to determine the predictive power of a stimulus
D) some animal species are easier to condition to a particular response than others

Question 27

This concept, violated by findings of cross -species conditioning experiments, states that any neutral stimulus can be associated just as easily with one unconditioned stimulus as with any other.

A) equipotentiality
B) generalization
C) instinctive drift
D) latent learning

Question 28

Theorists taking this perspective on learning propose that classical conditioning in a natural environment differs in important respects from that found in psychology experiments.

A) radical behaviorist perspective
B) structuralist perspective
C) ecological perspective
D) functionalist perspective

Question 29

According to the functionalist perspective, when an organism learns a conditioned response to natural stimuli compared to laboratory stimuli, the conditioning

A)proceeds more slowly and produces weaker effects
B) is less dependent upon a very small time interval between the presentation of the conditioning stimulus and the UCS
C) is less resistant to various sorts of interference in the conditioning process
D) last for a shorter period of time

Question 30

As a result of his studies with cats in "puzzle boxes," Thorndike proposed the "law of effect," which states that

A) the presence of reward strengthens actions that prove to be successful while actions that prove unsuccessful become less likely to occur.
B) the presence of an aversive stimulus increases the arousal of an organism's response
C) the effect of behavior is to cause reward
D) the likelihood of a behavior is strengthened by all consequences, negative or positive

Question 31

In Thorndike's studies using the puzzle box, he found that a cat was likely to pull a string to escape the box if the consequence of that behavior was food. This is an example of

A)classical conditioning
B) Weber's law
C) the law of effect
D) the law of reinforcement

Question 32

Based on Thorndike's law of effect,B. F. Skinner formulated a description of this type of learning, in which the consequences of a behavior affect the probability that the behavior will be repeated in the future.

A) classical conditioning
B) operant conditioning
C) latent learning
D) cognitive behaviorism F.Skinner formulated a description of this type of learning, in which the consequences of a behavior affect the probability that the behavior will be repeated in the future.

Question 33

Which of the following statements is consistent with B. F. Skinner's brand of behaviorism known as radical behaviorism?

A) Though the mind exists, it can only be studied in simple behavioral tasks.
B) Psychologists can never scientifically study the mind, only behavior.
C) The science of behavior is an important precursor of the science of the mind.
D) Psychologists can infer that mental processes occur in certain, controlled laboratory conditions. F. Skinner's brand of behaviorism known as radical behaviorism?

Question 34

In order to study reinforcement, psychologists commonly place rats, mice, or pigeons inside this apparatus so that reinforcement can be delivered in a controlled fashion.

A) puzzle-box
B) reinforce
C) operant chamber
D) conditioning room

Question 35

When the consequence of a behavior increases the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated-for example, when a food pellet rolls down the chute after a rat pushes the correct lever-the behavior is said to have been

A) conditioned
B) punished
C) reinforced
D) extinguished

Question 36

When a consequence reduces the likelihood that the behavior will be repeated-for example, if a shock follows the pressing of the wrong lever-the behavior has been

A) conditioned
B) punished
C) reinforced
D) extinguished

Question 37

The "positive" and "negative" terms applied to reinforcement and punishment refer to

A)whether a consequence is good or bad
B) whether something is added or removed as a consequence
C) whether a consequence adds or subtracts from behavior
D) whether a consequence is concrete or abstract

Question 38

When the frequency or probability of a behavior is increased as a result of the addition or presentation of something following the performance of the behavior, it is called

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

Question 39

Jennifer's parents are hoping that she continues to earn good grades throughout her college career, so they have promised a small deposit into her savings account for each grade above a B that she receives. This is an example of

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

Question 40

When the frequency or probability of a behavior is decreased as a result of the addition or presentation of something following the performance of the behavior, it is called

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

Question 41

Though it is much less common now, parents would try to limit bad behavior in children by delivering spankings for each instance of disobedience. This is an example of

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

Question 42

When the frequency or probability of a behavior is increased as a result of the removal of something following the performance of the behavior, it is called

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

Question 43

In an attempt to get his class to quiet down more quickly, Dr. Johnson continuously sounds a very loud bullhorn until the class stops talking. This is an example of

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

Question 44

Natalie's mother has found her smoking cigarettes again and immediately confiscates Natalie's car keys in an effort to deter her from smoking in the future. This is an example of

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

Question 45

The targeted behavior in most operant conditioning experiments is often not likely to occur spontaneously. Therefore, the experimenter must engage the animal in this procedure before further experimentation.

A) classical conditioning
B) shaping by successive approximation
C) operant behavior training
D) acquisition training

Question 46

According to this principle of operant conditioning, strong reinforcers can be used to reinforce weak reinforcers.

A) Skinner's law
B) law of effect
C) equipotentiality
D) Premack principle

Question 47

Parents can use the Premack principle to condition children to clean their rooms by

A)shouting loud enough so that the children can hear
B)threatening physical violence against the children
C) offering a piece of chocolate to the children when cleaning
D) making TV watching contingent upon having a clean room

Question 48

Among other things, food, water, and sex have been found to be the best

A) classical reinforcers
B) primary reinforcers
C) operant reinforcers
D) secondary reinforcers

Question 49

In order for something to be a secondary reinforcer it must be

A)automatically related to survival and reproductive success
B)something with no intrinsic value as a reinforcer
C) just as powerful as a primary reinforce
D) reliably associated with access to primary reinforcers

Question 50

If a behavior, like playing a slot machine, is continuously reinforced, the behavior is initially strong but

A) stays strong long after playing ceases to become rewarding
B) is extinguished soon after the slot machine ceases delivering rewards
C) is more likely to occur in a different context from the casino
D) lingers longer than a partially reinforced behavior

Question 51

All of the following statements about partial reinforcement are true, EXCEPT:

A) Partial reinforcement generally leads to a stronger, more enduring conditioning.
B) Partial reinforcement rarely occurs in the natural world.
C) Schedules of reinforcement result in various levels of the partial reinforcement effect.
D) Acquiring a behavior takes more time when the behavior is only partially reinforced.

Question 52

Jason generally works hard at the law firm and is on a salary there. The firm pays Jason every 2 weeks to ensure that Jason's work is relatively equally distributed across days in the office. This is an example of which reinforcement schedule?

A) fixed-interval
B) fixed-ratio
C) variable-interval
D) variable-ratio

Question 53

This schedule of reinforcement, sometimes reinforcing hunting strategies in animals, and shopping strategies in humans, generally produces the lowest rate of responding because reinforcement is delivered at unpredictable time intervals.

A) fixed-interval
B) fixed-ratio
C) variable-interval
D) variable-ratio

Question 54

This reinforcement schedule is the logic behind factory piecework, where workers are paid by the number of items produced rather than the number of hours worked.

A) fixed-interval
B) fixed-ratio
C) variable-interval
D) variable-ratio

Question 55

Slot-machine players do not typically pause for rest following reinforcement, but rather, they continue to respond at high rates to reach the next pay-off. The schedule of reinforcement in effect here is

A) fixed-interval
B) fixed-ratio
C) variable-interval
D) variable-ratio

Question 56

Which of these statements is most consistent with Skinner's views about the effects of punishment?

A) He believed that schools should continue the use of corporal punishment as an effective way to control students' behavior.
B) He was said to have enjoyed shocking rats and using other punishments to "teach" organisms new behaviors.
C) He generally believed that punishment altered behavior in a desirable direction.
D) He believed that punishment for undesirable behavior was in most cases a poor teacher in comparison to reward for desirable behavior.

Question 57

Many operant conditioning programs set up in substance abuse treatment facilities, which work by reinforcing desired behaviors with prizes, chances to win prizes, or tokens that may be redeemed for various privileges, use this technique.

A)conditioned taste aversion
B) behavioral analysis
C) contingency management
D) progressive shaping

Question 58

Edward Tolman was a behaviorist, but, unlike Skinner, he believed that it would be possible to use scientific methods to study

A) the effect of electric shocks on learned helplessness
B)the impact of mental activity on operant conditioning
C) the role of motivation in punishment
D) the specific cognitive processes involved in choice behavior

Question 59

Which of the following was NOT a condition in the Tolman and Honzik (1930) study of latent learning in rats?

A) One group of rats was given food as a reinforcer at the end of the maze.
B) One group of rats was given a small electric shock to start the maze.
C) One group of rats was given no reinforcement at any point in the maze.
D) One group of rats received reinforcement after 10 days of no reinforcement.

Question 60

Tolman's research on latent learning focused on distinguishing between learning and

A)cognition
B) aptitude
C) intelligence
D) performance

Question 61

In the Tolman and Hoznik (1930) experiment on latent learning, the group of rats that were reinforced only after several days of navigating the maze without reinforcement showed a(n)

A) decrease in the latency of reinforcing behavior compared with other groups
B)increase in the rate of errors compared with the other groups
C) reduction in the speed at which they reached the goal box compared with other groups
D) reduction in the rate of errors across subsequent trials compared to other groups

Question 62

Tolman (1948) suggested that during a non-reinforcement period of maze navigation, the rats formed a mental representation of the construction of the maze, called a

A) schema
B) script
C) cognitive map
D) cognitive behavior

Question 63

The discussion of a cognitive map would not be appealing to radical behaviorists like Skinner because

A) radical behaviorism rejects scientific notions of mental representations
B)the cognitive map would be evident in behavior
C) Skinner's approach was one of continued reinforcement
D) radical behaviorists are not interested in navigation

Question 64

Tolman used this term to describe learning that takes place without reinforcement and which is not necessarily apparent in actual behavior.

A)latent learning
B) conditioned reinforcement
C) contingency management
D) schematic learning

Question 65

Unlike radical behaviorism, this brand of behaviorism acknowledges the possibility of mental representations in learning.

A) performance studies
B) cognitive behaviorism
C) classical behaviorism
D) psychometrics

Question 66

According to the idea of equipotentiality, given enough time, virtually any animal could be taught to

A) perform virtually any behavior
B) perform behaviors that were within its evolutionary repertoire
C) perform behaviors equally well if they were shaped or classically conditioned
D) perform only the behaviors that were learned via operant conditioning

Question 67

According to a study by Breland and Breland (1961), it was no trouble to condition a raccoon to slip coins into the slot on a laboratory "piggy bank." However, the raccoon would not let the coins go, but dipped them in and out of the slot, and rubbed them together in his paws. This was because

A) the raccoon could not be conditioned to use only one paw and persisted on grasping with both
B) the procedure used a continuous reinforcement contingency
C) the raccoon's saving behavior had not been properly shaped
D) the raccoon had come to associate the coins with receiving food and was treating the coins as food

Question 68

There are behaviors that individuals of a given species cannot learn, or have great difficulty learning, because of a conflict with innate patterns of behavior, a concept known as

A) equipotentiality
B) instinctive drift
C) distinctive drive
D) evolutionary drive

Question 69

This type of learning refers to the ways in which an organism might learn by observing the experiences of others, rather than through his or her own experience.

A)operant conditioning
B) cognitive learning
C) social facilitation
D) observational learning

Question 70

Observing and imitating the behavior of others is an important part of the way human beings interact, perhaps because imitation facilitates an understanding and caring about how other people feel, called

A) empathy
B) engagement
C) modeling
D) mindfulness

Question 71

Albert Bandura and his associates carried out the best-known series of studies based on the work of Dollard and Miller on this phenomenon.

A) aggression
B) modeling
C) empathy
D) attachment

Question 72

In the original version of Bandura's experiment, preschoolers were left in the company of an adult model who would either punch and kick an inflatable clown doll ("Bobo")-the kind with a rounded, weighted base that springs back up when knocked down-or, in the control conditions, the adult would.

A) insult the doll
B) do nothing to the doll
C) physically throw the doll
D) play a violent TV program for the doll

Question 73

All of the following were results of the original aggression-modeling experiments performed by Bandura and his colleagues, EXCEPT:

A) The boys were much more likely to behave aggressively than the girls
B) The male adult models were more likely to elicit a violent imitative response than were the female adult models.
C) The children reliably imitated the aggressive gestures of the adult models.
D) The children were more likely to imitate other children than the adult models.

Question 74

In subsequent experiments by Bandura and his team, using films of adults acting violently, the children were able to watch the adults

A) experience either rewarding or punishing consequences for their behavior
B)engaging in non-violent acts of aggression
C) perform the violence for as long as they chose to do so
D) upset other children while being aggressive

Question 75

This learning phenomenon, which involves observation of rewarding or punishing consequences experienced by others, serves much the same function as being rewarded or punished oneself.

A) passive conditioning
B) vicarious conditioning
C) second-order conditioning
D) classical conditioning

Question 76

Which of the following does NOT describe one of the four stages in the process of vicarious conditioning?

A) One must first direct one's attention to a model's behavior and to the rewards or punishments that follow from the behavior.
B) One must retain a memory of the observed behavior.
C) One must be motivated to perform the observed behavior.
D) One must have been previously conditioned to seek rewarding consequences for acting aggressively.

Question 77

In the premotor cortex of the monkey brain there is a network of these neurons, which fire either when a monkey performs a particular action or when the monkey merely observes another monkey or a human performing that action.

A)motor neurons
B) mirror neurons
C) interneurons
D) cranial neurons

Question 78

Researchers hypothesize that mirror neurons aid learning by allowing the brain to create

A)physical images of the world
B) mental representations of behaviors
C) goal-directed response trees
D) distributed patterns of thought

Question 79

In one study of mirror neurons in primates, the neurons fired strongly when the monkeys observed the experimenter's hand moving to grasp an object, but not when

A)the hand moved in similar way but with no apparent intention or goal
B) the hand moved toward the monkeys
C) the experimenter first primed the monkey's prefrontal cortex
D) the monkeys had already grasped the object

Question 80

Which of the following descriptions of behavior probably did NOT come from an observation of a person with one of the autism spectrum disorders?

A) Jake does not look at you if you speak to him.
B) When Eric does speak it is frequently at inappropriate times and in inappropriate ways.
C) Nina frequently rocks back and forth while standing.
D) Fabio's mother was visibly hurt when she stubbed her toe and Fabio ran to help comfort her.