Question 1

Whenever Jan tries to talk on the telephone, her five-year-old daughter Isabel repeatedly interrupts her. If Jan wanted to use the strategy of reinforcing the non-occurrence of the problem behavior, she should:

Accepted Answer

A) politely ask Isabel to please stop interrupting her every time the bad behavior occurs. 
B) send Isabel to a corner every time she interrupted Jan while she is on the phone. 
C) reward Isabel for not interrupting her during a phone call. 
D) tell her friend that she would call her back and immediately attend to whatever it was that Isabel wanted.

Question 2

Caleb had a wonderful time on his first date with Shauna. Because of this, he asked Shauna to go out on a second date. What best explains Caleb's behavior of asking Shauna for another date?

Accepted Answer

A) latent learning 
B) response generalization 
C) spontaneous recovery 
D) the law of effect

Question 3

Which of the following alternatives to punishment represents the BEST method for reducing a problem behavior?

Accepted Answer

A) Jose is reinforced for working quietly in class instead of being punished for talking in class. 
B) Charlene is picked up and cuddled whenever she has a temper tantrum. 
C) Shane and Jason have to stay after school because they had a fight at the start of class in the morning. 
D) Because of her defiant behavior, Lana is told that she will not be eligible to get gold stars or stickers for her homework.

Question 4

Pavlov found that a conditioned response would be stronger if the:

Accepted Answer

A) UCS was not paired with the CS. 
B) interval between the CS and the UCS was no more than a few seconds. 
C) UCS always came before the CS. 
D) interval between the CS and the UCS was an hour or longer.

Question 5

In an ever-changing environment, which of the following is critical to an organism's adaptation and survival?

Accepted Answer

A) self-awareness 
B) a fixed-interval schedule 
C) genetic regulation 
D) the capacity to learn

Question 6

Roy is having trouble passing his calculus course. No matter how hard he studies, he cannot seem to pass a calculus test. Eventually, Roy gives up and stops studying or even coming to calculus class. Roy's behavior can be explained as an example of:

Accepted Answer

A) the partial reinforcement effect. 
B) classical conditioning. 
C) biological preparedness. 
D) learned helplessness.

Question 7

Mindy is in nursing school and is learning how to measure a patient's blood pressure. Her instructor first shows the class a video that demonstrates the proper procedures for measuring blood pressure and then demonstrates these same procedures using Mindy as a ''patient.'' Mindy and her class are learning how to measure blood pressure in patients through the use of:

Accepted Answer

A) operant conditioning. 
B) observational learning. 
C) latent learning. 
D) classical conditioning.

Question 8

In your philosophy class, you have found that your professor never calls on you when you raise your hand. As a result you no longer raise your hand to ask or answer questions. In learning theory, no longer raising your hand would be the result of:

Accepted Answer

A) partial reinforcement. 
B) stimulus discrimination. 
C) extinction. 
D) negative reinforcement.

Question 9

Pavlov found that once he conditioned a dog to salivate in response to a tone, a tone that was slightly higher or lower in pitch would also make the dog salivate. This phenomenon is called:

Accepted Answer

A) spontaneous recovery. 
B) stimulus discrimination. 
C) backward conditioning. 
D) stimulus generalization.

Question 10

In Watson and Rayner's famous ''Little Albert'' study, what was the unconditioned stimulus (UCS)?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 11

What was the conditioned response (CR) in Watson and Rayner's famous ''Little Albert'' study?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 12

Classical conditioning is to operant conditioning as _____ are to _____.

Accepted Answer

A) reflexive, involuntary responses; nonreflexive, voluntary responses 
B) reflexive, involuntary responses; automatic responses 
C) nonreflexive, voluntary responses; reflexive, involuntary responses 
D) reflexive, voluntary responses; nonreflexive, involuntary responses

Question 13

Anthony is studying for his final exam the next day, but a friend calls and invites him to a party. Anthony really wants to go to the party, but he also needs a good grade on his final in order to maintain his standing on the Dean's Honor Roll and increase his chances of getting into medical school. Instead of thinking about how much fun the party will be, Anthony instead visualizes himself as a doctor, treating patients and performing surgery. What self-control strategy is Anthony using?

Accepted Answer

A) self-reinforcement 
B) precommitment 
C) focusing on the delayed reinforcer 
D) stimulus control

Question 14

Which of the following statements best describes the phenomenon of instinctive drift?

Accepted Answer

A) As operant behaviors are learned, they override instinctive or reflexive behaviors. 
B) Over time, reflexive behaviors change as a function of repeated exposure to classical conditioning. 
C) The biological predisposition to perform natural behaviors can interfere with learning operant behaviors. 
D) Misbehavior can be prevented by operantly conditioning instinctive behaviors that are incompatible with the misbehavior.

Question 15

Athletes who believe they have no control over factors that lead to poor performance are less likely to believe they can succeed in the future and are less likely to persist in the face of failure. This illustrates the phenomenon of:

Accepted Answer

A) the Premack principle. 
B) the partial reinforcement effect. 
C) learned helplessness. 
D) biological preparedness.

Question 16

Prior to conditioning, a dog will salivate in response to food placed in its mouth. Using classical conditioning terms, the food would be labeled the _____, while the dog salivating would be labeled the _____.

Accepted Answer

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

Question 17

What was Pavlov investigating when he began his studies on the phenomenon that eventually became known as classical conditioning?

Accepted Answer

A) the development of learned helplessness in dogs given inescapable shock 
B) the use of food rewards in training dogs 
C) reflexive responses to sound, such as ringing bells 
D) the role of saliva in digestion

Question 18

Researchers discovered that the neuronal activity in the brain of a monkey who simply watched another monkey pick up and eat a peanut was the same as the brain activity of the monkey actually performing these actions. These researchers are investigating:

Accepted Answer

A) cognitive maps and latent learning. 
B) biological preparedness. 
C) mirror neurons and the mirror neuron system. 
D) higher order conditioning.

Question 19

In applying conditioning principles in the workplace, a large retailer allowed employees to choose their own reinforcers. A casual dress code and flexible work hours proved to be effective in increasing productivity. The employer has used _____ to improve employee performance.

Accepted Answer

A) classical conditioning 
B) behavior modification 
C) higher order conditioning 
D) the partial reinforcement effect

Question 20

An organism enhances its odds of survival by being able to learn that a neutral stimulus can signal an important upcoming event, as in:

Accepted Answer

A) operant conditioning. 
B) classical conditioning. 
C) observational learning. 
D) learned helplessness.

Exam 5: Section 2: Learning