Deck 13: Behaviorism

Question 1

According to the text, which of the following is not an example of B. F. Skinner's applied research?

A)a book on language acquisition called Verbal Behavior
B)a popular textbook on learning called Principles of Behavior
C)"Project Pigeon," a military project that trained pigeons to deliver bombs during World War II
D)the "aircrib," a large, operant-like chamber used to raise children
E)A manual on aging called Enjoy Old Age

Answer 1

a popular textbook on learning called Principles of Behavior

Question 2

Hull accounted for the permanent extinction of a response with his concept of

A)conditioned inhibition
B)reactive inhibition
C)central inhibition
D)contiguity

Answer 2

conditioned inhibition

Question 3

According to Hull, reactive inhibition is akin to

A)reinforcement
B)fatigue
C)conditioning
D)excessive emotion

Answer 3

fatigue

Question 4

Which of the following definitions of reinforcement would be most acceptable to Clark L. Hull?

A)a reinforcement is any stimulus that increases the probability of a response
B)a reinforcement is a confirmed expectancy
C)a reinforcement is any stimulus that reduces a drive stimulus
D)a reinforcement is a stimulus that prevents unlearning

Question 5

____________ attempted to advance a theory of behavior set forth very explicitly in terms of quasi-mathematical postulates and corollaries that lent themselves very explicitly to experimental work.

A)Clark L. Hull
B)Edwin Ray Guthrie
C)Edward Chace Tolman
D)B. F. Skinner

Question 6

_____ is the belief that a concept is without meaning unless it is explicitly verifiable. Proponents of this view hoped for a unified science devoid of ambiguous and meaningless metaphysical concepts.

A)operationism
B)logical positivism
C)Hullian behaviorism
D)anthropomorphism

Question 7

Operationism refers to

A)from theories
B)the attempt to conduct pure empirical research unhampered by theories
C)the importance of including evaluative concepts in science
D)the programmatic attempt to tie scientific terms to the measurements employed in an experiment
E)the insistence that all experimentation be derived from hypotheses which have been rigorously derived

Question 8

Which of the following topics provided the foundation for behavioral psychologies?

A)sensation and perception
B)learning
C)imageless thought
D)experience

Question 9

Watson's position on applied psychology was

A)that it had best be left to psychiatrists and other physicians
B)that it was premature in his day to think about it
C)that it was an extremely important part of behaviorism
D)that it could be ignored completely

Question 10

Thinking, according to Watson, is

A)the highest form of mental activity
B)usually blind trial and error, but sometimes insightful
C)subvocal speech
D)the conscious manipulation of images

Question 11

Watson's final position regarding instincts in humans was that

A)there are no instincts
B)there are only two instincts, a life instinct and a death instinct
C)there are three instincts, maternal, paternal, and self-preservative
D)self-preservation is the only instinct

Question 12

Watson argued that there are only three emotional responses that can be brought forth in the infant. These are

A)fear, hate, and disgust
B)excitement, melancholy, and anger
C)fear, rage, and love
D)anger, joy, and melancholy

Question 13

The centerpiece concept of Watsonian behaviorism is

A)sensation
B)motivation
C)habit
D)instinct

Question 14

The acid test for scientific method, according to Watson, is that the method

A)be truly public and that it lead to measurable results
B)be believable in terms of human experience
C)be broad enough so as not to leave out anything that is a legitimate part of human experience
D)be verifiable through introspective analysis

Question 15

The goal of psychology, according to Watson, is

A)to understand the inner workings of cognition
B)to predict and control behavior
C)to understand behavior
D)to find cures for all forms of mental disorder and other human adjustment problems

Question 16

Hull's position on concepts such as insight, purpose, and intention was that

A)such terms are secondary principles deducible from more elementary processes
B)such terms are the appropriate topic of study for a behavioristic psychology
C)such terms are meaningless and refer to nothing
D)such terms will never be the domain of psychology

Question 17

There is only one law of learning and that is the law of contiguity. Who would embrace this position?

A)Clark L. Hull
B)Edwin Ray Guthrie
C)Edward Chace Tolman
D)John B. Watson

Question 18

Skinner chose to primarily study the type of behavior he called _____ instead of _____, the type of behavior studied by Watson and Pavlov.

A)environmental learning . . . situational learning
B)faculty learning . . . classical conditioning
C)operant behavior . . . respondent behavior
D)respondent behavior . . . operant behavior

Question 19

Skinner's views on cognitive psychology are best summarized by which of the following?

A)cognitive psychology is a natural outgrowth of behaviorism
B)cognitive psychology is the legitimate offspring of operant approaches to learning
C)cognitive psychology is an obstacle that stands in the way of scientific psychology
D)there is really nothing new in cognitive psychology-it is behaviorism couched in a new language

Question 20

____________ was not only a determinist; he argued that the theory of free will is counterproductive to behavioral science and to society at large.

A)B. F. Skinner
B)Edwin Ray Guthrie
C)Edward Chace Tolman
D)Ivan Pavlov

Question 21

Which of the following behaviorists would be most clearly within the critical inductivist empirical tradition of Francis Bacon?

A)Clark L. Hull
B)B. F. Skinner
C)Edward Chace Tolman
D)Ivan Pavlov

Question 22

Which of the following, according to the text, is the most important bridge between classical behaviorism and contemporary psychology?

A)Edward Chace Tolman
B)Clark L. Hull
C)Edwin Ray Guthrie
D)John B. Watson

Question 23

_____ argued that the ability to navigate in a complex spatial environment results from the learning of a cognitive map.

A)Clark L. Hull
B)B. F. Skinner
C)Edwin Ray Guthrie
D)Edward Chace Tolman

Question 24

Evidence for cognitive interpretations of extinction has been provided by experiments on

A)latent learning
B)latent extinction
C)punishment
D)sensory preconditioning

Question 25

"Reinforcement is little more than a 'confirmed expectancy' and, in any case, has little to do with learning as
Such." Who might have said this?

A)Clark L. Hull
B)B. F. Skinner
C)Edwin Ray Guthrie
D)Edward Chace Tolman

Question 26

Tolman's experiments on _________________ called attention to the important distinction between performance and learning.

A)experimental extinction
B)latent learning
C)stimulus generalization
D)cognitive maps

Question 27

The expression intervening variable refers to

A)extraneous factors that interfere with learning
B)the problem of "action at a distance"
C)psychological processes that direct behavior and that mediate between stimuli and responses
D)cognitions that are irrelevant to the task at hand

Question 28

Tolman differed from Hull, Skinner, and Guthrie because his system reflected his belief that human and animal behavior is

A)only learned in small increments
B)purposive
C)on an evolutionary continuum
D)only reflexive

Question 29

Edwin Ray Guthrie's attitude toward the application of learning theory

A)was pessimistic
B)did not exist; all of his research was basic
C)was mildly appreciative
D)was very positive

Question 30

______ postulated that learned responses to stimuli do not become weaker due to the passage of time, but rather as the result of learning new responses to old stimuli.

A)Clark L. Hull
B)Edwin Ray Guthrie
C)Edward Chace Tolman
D)B. F. Skinner

Question 31

Which of the following emphasized the idea that learning occurs in a single trial?

A)Clark L. Hull
B)Edwin Ray Guthrie
C)Edward Chace Tolman
D)B. F. Skinner

Question 32

Which of the following definitions of psychology would be most acceptable to John B. Watson?

A)psychology is the scientific study of reactions, adjustments, movements, activities, and behaviors
B)psychology is the scientific study of experience and behavior
C)psychology is the science of the mind
D)psychology is the science that studies mental activity

Question 33

After John B. Watson left academia, he had much success applying psychology to

A)education
B)clinical practice
C)advertising
D)all of the above

Question 34

The founder of American behaviorism was

A)William James
B)John B. Watson
C)Ivan Pavlov
D)B. F. Skinner

Question 35

The CS loses its ability to produce the CR after being repeatedly presented in the absence of the UCS. Following a brief rest, the CS again elicits the CR. This is known as

A)extinction
B)spontaneous recovery
C)disinhibition
D)experimental neurosis

Question 36

The dog becomes drowsy or even falls asleep during conditioning. It is most likely, in such a circumstance, that the psychologist is employing a procedure known as

A)trace conditioning
B)delayed conditioning
C)aversive conditioning
D)backward conditioning

Question 37

The most effective conditioning is likely to take place in the procedure that Pavlov referred to as

A)delayed conditioning
B)backward conditioning
C)simultaneous conditioning
D)trace conditioning

Question 38

On the philosophical side, Ivan Pavlov was deeply troubled by the concept of "action at a distance" because it seemed to challenge

A)the concept of purpose in behavior
B)formal causation
C)the theory of reinforcement
D)material and efficient causation

Question 39

Commonly regarded as the founder of Russian physiology, _________ wrote Reflexes of the Brain, a book that argued for an objective approach to psychological problems.

A)Ivan Sechenov
B)Ivan Pavlov
C)Vladimir M. Bekhterev
D)Konstantin N. Kornilov

Question 40

Each of the following individuals is an important part of the history of behaviorism EXCEPT

A)Julien Offray de La Mettrie
B)Etienne Bonnot de Condillac
C)Claude-Adrien Helvétius
D)Immanuel Kant

Question 41

The roots of behaviorism extend back into the Greek philosophy of

A)Leucippus and Democritus
B)Plato
C)Thales
D)Parmenides

Question 42

John B. Watson wrote the classic statement of the behaviorist position in an article often referred to as the behaviorist manifesto. The actual title was

A)Reflexes of the Brain
B)System of Nature
C)Animal Intelligence
D)Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It

Question 43

in Pavlov's original studies on classical conditioning , the CS was a ____________.

A)metronome.
B)food.
C)salivation.
D)bell.

Question 44

Sara's shoes hurt her feet terribly. She took them off, and immediately felt relief. She is more likely to take her shoes off the next time her feet hurt. This is an example of __________.

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

Question 45

According to Pavlov, excitable, quick-tempered, and touchy dogs were clasified as having excessive levels of excitation or this temperamental style.

A)choleric
B)melancholic
C)phlegmatic
D)sanguine

Question 46

The most effective conditioning is likely to take place as a result of which of Pavlov's types of temporal relationships?

A)delay
B)simultaneous
C)trace
D)backward

Question 47

An animal has stopped salivating in the presence of the CS, but may salivate if a sudden or unexpected
Stimulus is presented. This is known as

A)disinhibition
B)paradoxical inhibition
C)inhibition
D)spontaneous recovery

Question 48

Stimuli similar to the original stimulus may also elicit the CR. Pavlov referred to this as

A)disinhibition
B)paradoxical inhibition
C)stimulus generalization
D)spontaneous recovery

Question 49

If you want to know English, study English; if you want to know algebra, study algebra. Such advice would most likely come from someone who believes in

A)the identical elements theory of transfer
B)the doctrine of formal discipline
C)the truncated law of effect
D)the original law of effect

Question 50

According to the modified law of effect or truncated law of effect

A)there is reason to doubt that reinforcement plays a role in learning
B)reinforcement influences performance, but not learning
C)there is reason to doubt the efficacy of punishment as a means of weakening responses
D)certain subjects such as Latin and algebra exercise the mind in unusual ways and have a general
E)beneficial effect on other kinds of learning

Question 51

In his "puzzle box" experiments, Thorndike witnessed learning that appeared to occur from

A)trial and error
B)higher-order problem solving
C)insight
D)focused effort

Question 52

_____ studied the learning behavior of cats escaping from simple "puzzle boxes."

A)John B. Watson
B)Ivan Sechenov
C)Edward Lee Thorndike
D)Robert Sessions Woodworth

Question 53

A theory of learning known as connectionism is associated with the work of which of the following?

A)John B. Watson
B)Ivan Sechenov
C)Robert Sessions Woodworth
D)Edward Lee Thorndike

Question 54

Which of the following is regarded as an important antecedent of behaviorism even though he embraced the tolerant spirit and openness of functionalism?

A)John B. Watson
B)Ivan Sechenov
C)Vladimir M. Bekhterev
D)Edward Lee Thorndike

Question 55

A system of behavioristic thinking known as reflexology was set forth by which of the following?

A)Ivan Pavlov
B)Ivan Sechenov
C)Vladimir M. Bekhterev
D)Konstantin N. Kornilov

Question 56

Pavlov was interested in disputing claims of

A)insight learning
B)applications of classical conditioning to humans
C)operant conditioning
D)all of the above

Question 57

In his final years (1933-1936) Pavlov became deeply interested in

A)schizophrenia
B)depression
C)problem solving
D)all of the above

Question 58

Political or religious conversions might be explained by Pavlov as illustrations of

A)the paradoxical phase
B)the ultraparadoxical phase
C)classical conditioning
D)the equivalent phase

Question 59

Following an assault on the nervous system, a dog gives a weak response to a strong stimulus and a strong response to a weak stimulus. Pavlov referred to this as

A)the paradoxical phase
B)the ultraparadoxical phase
C)the equivalent phase
D)conversion

Question 60

Following an assault on the nervous system, a dog gives an identical response to a strong stimulus as well as a weak stimulus. Pavlov referred to this as

A)the equivalent phase
B)the paradoxical phase
C)the ultraparadoxical phase
D)a paradoxical intention

Question 61

Pavlov's general term for the shock-like state his dogs displayed following stress was

A)the psychical reflex
B)the equivalence factor
C)ultramaximal inhibition
D)the paradoxical phase

Question 62

What was Pavlov's theory regarding temperamental types?

A)he didn't believe in temperamental types
B)he believed in only two temperamental types, excitatory and inhibitory
C)he believed in only two temperamental types, introversion and extroversion
D)he accepted the types advanced by Galen, choleric, sanguine, melancholic, and phlegmatic

Question 63

According to the text, which of the following is NOT an example of BF Skinner's applied research?

A)The air-crib.
B)Project Pigeon
C)Advertising
D)Walden Two.