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) Behaviourist
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) Behavioural 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 behaviour as a result of specific experiences.
B) Learning can only be inferred-it cannot be observed.
C) Most of the behaviours that we learn are actually innate.
D) The changes in behaviour 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 neighbours.

A) Sensitization
B) Conditioning
C) Habituation
D) Latent learning

Question 6

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

A) Conditioning
B) Associate learning
C) Priming
D) Latent learning

Question 7

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 8

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 9

When a dog has food places 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 10

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 11

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 12

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 13

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 14

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

A) A therapist explains to her patients 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 15

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 16

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) lasts for a shorter period of time

Question 17

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 behaviour is to cause reward
D) the likelihood of a behaviour is strengthened by all consequences, negative or positive

Question 18

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 behaviour 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 19

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

A) Classical conditioning
B) Operant conditioning
C) Latent learning
D) Cognitive behaviourism

Question 20

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

A) Conditioned
B) Punished
C) Reinforced
D) Extinguished

Question 21

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 the behaviour
D) Whether a consequence is concrete or abstract

Question 22

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

A) Positive reinforcement
B) Positive punishment
C) Negative reinforcement
D) Negative punishment

Question 23

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

A) Positive reinforcement
B) Positive punishment
C) Negative reinforcement
D) Negative punishment

Question 24

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 o

A) Positive reinforcement
B) Positive punishment
C) Negative reinforcement
D) Negative punishment

Question 25

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 26

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

A) Automatically related to survival or reproductive success
B) Something with no intrinsic value as a refinforcer
C) Just as powerful as primary reinforce
D) Reliably associated with access to primary reinforcers

Question 27

If a behaviour, like playing a slot machine, is continuously reinforced, the behaviour 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 behaviour

Question 28

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 behaviour takes more time when the behaviour is only partially reinforced.

Question 29

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 30

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 31

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 32

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 33

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 34

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

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

Question 35

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

A) Performance studies
B) Cognitive behaviourism
C) Classical behaviourism
D) Psychometrics

Question 36

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

A) Equipotentiality
B) Instinctive drift
C) Distinctive drift
D) Evolutionary drive

Question 37

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 38

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) Modelling
C) Empathy
D) Attachment

Question 39

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 programme for the doll

Question 40

All of the following were results of the original aggression-modelling 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 41

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 behaviour
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 42

Observing and imitating the behaviour 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) Modelling
D) mindfulness

Question 43

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 44

Research by Anderson and colleagues (2003) demonstrated that boys and men seem to be more vulnerable to media effects on direct physical aggression, whereas girls seem more vulnerable to effects on

A) Indirect and verbal aggression
B) Social exclusionism
C) Nonverbal and physical aggression
D) Emotional abuse

Question 45

A clear answer to the debate over the connection between media violence and aggression has been difficult to obtain because

A) movie and video game violence substantially increases the risk of aggressive and violent behaviour in the real world
B) only the correlation between cigarette smoking and lung cancer is stronger than the correlation between media violence and aggression
C) aggression and violence are almost never used as interchangeable concepts
D) aggression is an abstract concept with widely varying definitions

Question 46

One problem in generalizing about real-world violence from laboratory studies is that

A) aggression as measured in laboratory research studies is quite often of the relatively mild variety
B) the effects of media violence cannot be adequately demonstrated in the laboratory
C) violence as measured in real-world research is usually very rare
D) researchers often construct elaborate conditions in the laboratory to simulate media influence

Question 47

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 48

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

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

Question 49

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 50

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 behaviour and to the rewards or punishments that follow from the behaviour
B) One must retain a memory of the observed behaviour
C) One must be motivated to perform the observed behaviour
D) One must have been previously conditioned to seek rewarding consequences for acting aggressive

Question 51

Three examples of associative learning through personal experience are classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and observational learning

Question 52

The conditioning (neutral) stimulus in almost all cases must be presented after rather than before the unconditioned stimulus (e.g., the bell must come after the food)

Question 53

Pavlov found that if he allowed his animals to rest for several hours following the extinction of a behaviour, the conditioned response would spontaneously appear again upon re-presentation of the conditioned stimulus.

Question 54

The law of effect states that for any organism, those behaviours that lead to a satisfying state of affairs are "stamped in" while those behaviours that lead to an unsatisfying or annoying state of affairs are "stamped out."

Question 55

Thorndike's puzzle box was designed so that the pellets would automatically be delivered to the animal when it pressed down on a lever located near the food tray.

Question 56

In reinforcement, the term positive refers to the addition or presentation of something following a behaviour, and the term negative refers to the removal of something.

Question 57

Taking advantage of the law of effect, Jessica's mother announced: "You can watch TV, but only after you've cleaned your room!" Suddenly, the low-probability behaviour becomes a high-probability behaviour.

Question 58

According to the partial reinforcement effect, in most cases it is better for learning that reinforcement does not occur on a continuous basis.

Question 59

Tolman suggested that during the non-reinforcement period in his experiment, the rats had been forming a cognitive map-a mental representation of the reinforcer

Question 60

Bandura's research team noted that the boys were much more likely to behave aggressively than the girls and that the females were more likely to behave aggressively if they had seen a male model.

Question 61

The __________must follow immediately after the conditioning (neutral) stimulus begins to be presented-no more than a second or two at the very most-or the association between the stimuli will be weakened

Question 62

Pavlov found that if he allowed his animals to rest for several hours following the _________of a behaviour, the conditioned response would spontaneously appear again upon re-presentation of the conditioned stimulus

Question 63

The next time you see a dog after being attacked by one, your capacity for ______________________tells you, "Hmmm … maybe I'd better cross to the other side of the street" instead of, "No problem, this is a different breed."

Question 64

Contrary to the principle of ______, foods are rarely associated with physically painful consequences in the real world, making it more difficult to condition mammals to avoid food paired with shocks.

Question 65

Skinner's brand of behaviourism, based in operant conditioning, became known as __________because of Skinner's insistence that psychology could never be a science of mind, but only a science of behaviour

Question 66

For behaviours reinforced on a __________schedule, there is an increase in the behaviour (bar presses) just before the time that reinforcement (food pellet) is scheduled to occur once again.

Question 67

Tolman used the term __________to describe learning that takes place without reinforcement and which is not necessarily apparent in actual behaviour

Question 68

Observing and _________the behaviour of others is an important part of the way human beings interact, perhaps because it facilitates empath

Question 69

_________conditioning involves learning through observing the consequences of others' behaviour.

Question 70

__________takes place when an instinctive pattern of behaviour interferes with the operant conditioning of a behaviour

Question 71

Describe the four components of Pavlov's original classical conditioning experiment: the two stimuli and two responses. In your answer, describe how a conditioned response is acquired, how it might generalize to other stimuli, and how it might be discriminant. Also, discuss real examples of spontaneous recovery and renewal

Question 72

Describe some limitations of classical conditioning experiments, specifically the arguments that make up the functionalist perspective. Also describe at least one problem with the famous "Little Albert" study by Watson and Raynor (1920)

Question 73

The partial reinforcement effect is an important component of B. F. Skinner's operant conditioning. Discuss this effect by giving two real-world examples of applications of the schedules of reinforcement. Also, contrast the partial reinforcement effect with the evidence for latent learning

Question 74

Violence and aggression can be serious threats to a stable society. Explain how psychologists came to understand how humans learn to model the behaviour of others. In your answer, make sure to reference behavioural evidence.