Deck 5: Section 4: Learning

Question 1

_____ is the notion that an organism is innately predisposed to form associations between certain stimuli and responses.

A)Biological preparedness
B)Latent learning
C)Instinctive
D)Survival of the fittest

Answer 1

Biological preparedness

Question 2

F. Skinner:

A)believed that human behavior is determined by environmental consequences, not by individual choice or free will.
B)believed that "the scientific analysis of behavior" would lead to a totalitarian society based on punishment.
C)advocated greater use of punishment to control behavior.
D)strongly advocated the study of mental processes to understand behavior.

Answer 2

believed that human behavior is determined by environmental consequences, not by individual choice or free will.

Question 3

In Watson and Rayner's "Little Albert" study, _____ was the unconditioned stimulus (UCS).

A)the loud clanging sound
B)the sight of the white rat
C)fear in response to the loud clanging sound
D)fear in response to the sight of the rat

Answer 3

the loud clanging sound

Question 4

In psychology, the formal definition of "learning" is:

A)knowledge that can be measured by an intelligence or achievement test.
B)any knowledge or skill that has been acquired in a school or in a formal training program.
C)behavior that is the result of genetic programming.
D)a process which produces a relatively enduring change in behavior or knowledge as a result of past experience.

Question 5

Pavlov taught a dog to salivate at the sound of a musical tone by repeatedly pairing food with a musical tone. In this example, the food is the _____ and the dog salivating to the food is the _____.

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

Question 6

Pavlov taught a dog to salivate at the sound of a musical tone by repeatedly pairing the tone with food. In this example, the musical tone is the _____ before conditioning and the _____ after conditioning.

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

Question 7

_____ formulated the "law of effect."

A)B) F. Skinner
B)John B. Watson
C)Albert Bandura
D)Ivan Pavlov

Question 8

_____ was the theorist who discovered the basic process of classical conditioning.

A)Albert Bandura
B)B) F. Skinner
C)John B. Watson
D)Ivan Pavlov

Question 9

A television commercial for a new camera features a handsome man taking photographs of beautiful women in bikinis on a California beach. This commercial uses _____ conditioning techniques, following an approach to advertising that was pioneered by _____.

A)operant; B. F. Skinner
B)classical; John B. Watson
C)operant; Edward L. Thorndike
D)classical; Ivan Pavlov

Question 10

According to psychologist _____ and the _____ perspective, classical conditioning involves learning the relationship between events rather than simply associating two events.

A)Edward C. Tolman; cognitive
B)Martin Seligman; cognitive
C)Robert Rescorla; cognitive
D)John Garcia; evolutionary

Question 11

The manager of a large shopping mall was upset about the groups of rowdy teenagers who were hanging out by the mall entrance and scaring off his adult customers. He discovered that, if he played classical music over the loudspeakers by the door, the teenagers no longer gathered at the entrance. The mall manager's use of classical music to modify the teenagers' behavior is an example of:

A)the operant conditioning extinction procedure.
B)punishment by application.
C)punishment by removal.
D)negative reinforcement.

Question 12

When Anna was three years old, her aunt's pet parakeet landed on her head and pecked at her scalp, hurting her. Following this incident, Anna was afraid of the parakeet. But over time, Anna has become afraid of anything that flies, including butterflies, large flying insects, and wild birds. This example illustrates the phenomenon of _____ in _____ conditioning.

A)instinctive drift; operant
B)stimulus discrimination; classical
C)biological preparedness; operant
D)stimulus generalization; classical

Question 13

A rat has been trained in an operant-conditioning chamber to press a lever to get a food pellet. Following the acquisition trials, the researcher then withheld reinforcement for lever pressing and eventually the rat stopped responding. This example illustrates:

A)the effect of negative reinforcement.
B)the effect of punishment by application.
C)learned helplessness.
D)extinction.

Question 14

Which theorist stated, "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select"?

A)John B. Watson
B)B) F. Skinner
C)Edward L. Thorndike
D)Ivan Pavlov

Question 15

After two weeks of being screamed at by his drill sergeant at boot camp and shuddering with fear in response, a Marine recruit named Joe now shudders every time he hears the footsteps of his drill sergeant coming down the hall. When the drill sergeant enters the room, Joe snaps to attention and salutes. In this example, shuddering to the sound of the footsteps is a(n) _____ and saluting is a(n) _____.

A)operant response in the presence of a discriminative stimulus; conditioned response
B)unconditioned response; example of latent learning
C)conditioned response; operant response in the presence of a discriminative stimulus
D)unconditioned response; example of learned helplessness

Question 16

If B.F. Skinner were presented with the following terms, which one would he MOST likely reject?

A)operant
B)objective
C)voluntary
D)involuntary

Question 17

Daniel's young twins often get into arguments about toys and what to watch on television. To reduce the number of arguments, Daniel started setting time limits during play and TV viewing. If the boys refrained from arguing during the set time, they were immediately rewarded with verbal encouragement and stars for their sticker charts. According to the box In Focus: Changing the Behavior of Others, Daniel is using the strategy of:

A)punishment by removal.
B)time-out from positive reinforcement.
C)reinforcing the non-occurrence of the problem behavior.
D)punishment by application.

Question 18

A voluntary action is also called a(n):

A)observation.
B)operant.
C)reflexive behavior.
D)mental image.

Question 19

According to the _____ model developed by _____, behavior is shaped and maintained by its environmental consequences.

A)classical conditioning; John B. Watson
B)cognitive; Edward Tolman
C)evolutionary; John Garcia.
D)operant conditioning; B. F. Skinner

Question 20

Violet is participating in a new drug trial. For the past month, she has been taking an anti-anxiety medication and reporting on her moods, stress, and levels of anxiety. According to Violet, she feels better than she has for years. Most of her anxiety is gone, and she is able to handle stress better. What Violet doesn't know is that she is actually taking a sugar pill. That is, she is not actually taking a medication for anxiety. Violet's response to this medication is called:

A)placebo tolerance.
B)an unconditioned response (UCR).
C)an operant response.
D)a placebo response or placebo effect.

Question 21

The biological predisposition to perform natural behaviors can interfere with learning operant behaviors. This phenomenon is called:

A)classical conditioning.
B)the instinctive drift.
C)behaviorism.
D)shaping and chaining.

Question 22

_____'s research contributed to television and radio serial dramas that are used to promote social change and healthy behaviors around the world.

A)B) F. Skinner
B)Albert Bandura
C)John Garcia
D)Edward L. Thorndike

Question 23

According to Focus on Neuroscience, neurons that fire both when action is performed and when action is simply perceived are called:

A)glial cells.
B)mirror neurons.
C)interneurons.
D)reflective cells.

Question 24

A group of rats was run through a maze for 12 days. On days 1 through 10, there was no food reward at the end of the maze, and the rats made many errors as they slowly moved through the maze. On day 11, a food reward was placed at the end of the maze. After the food reward was introduced, the rats ran the maze very quickly and with few errors. According to psychologist _____, this experiment demonstrated a phenomenon called _____.

A)B) F. Skinner; stimulus discrimination
B)Edward L. Thorndike; the law of effect
C)Albert Bandura; observational learning
D)Edward C. Tolman; latent learning

Question 25

Which of the following suggestions would probably help you overcome the temptation to choose a short-term reinforcer over a long-term reinforcer?

A)Rewarding yourself with the short-term reinforcer before you perform the behaviors that will lead to reinforcement in the long term.
B)Focusing your attention on the delayed, long-term reinforcer.
C)Strengthening your resolve by surrounding yourself with stimuli that remind you of the short-term reinforcer.
D)Avoiding making an advance commitment to the long-term goal, and adopt a flexible approach to maximizing available reinforcement.

Question 26

A pigeon in operant chamber #1 regularly receives a pellet of food after every 10 pecks at a red disk, no matter how long it takes. A rat in operant chamber #2 regularly receives a pellet of food for the first bar press it makes after 10 minutes have passed, no matter how many bar presses it makes. The pigeon is on a _____ schedule of reinforcement, and the rat is on a _____ schedule of reinforcement.

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

Question 27

A shuttlebox was used by used by Martin Seligman and Steven Maier to demonstrate the phenomenon of:

A)learned helplessness.
B)shaping.
C)taste aversions.
D)stimulus generalization.

Question 28

According to Albert Bandura, the four factors that are necessary for observational learning to occur are:

A)attention, memory, motor skills, and motivation.
B)attention, conditioning, cognition, and reinforcement.
C)reinforcement, operant, stimulus discrimination, and imitation.
D)stimulus, response, conditioning, and consequence.

Question 29

The majority of studies on media violence and aggressive behavior are:

A)focused on adolescents.
B)causal.
C)correlational.
D)retroactive.

Question 30

_____ is the application of learning principles to help people learn more effective or adaptive behaviors.

A)Behavior modification
B)Operant training
C)Classical conditioning
D)Discrimination training