Question 1

Suppose Kara spends more time playing outside than she does cleaning her room. Kara's mother decides to allow Kara to play outside only if she cleans her room first. Kara's mother is applying _____, which states that she can use the chance to perform a frequent behavior to reinforce a less frequent behavior.

Accepted Answer

A)  the Yerkes-Dodson law 
B)  Thorndike's law of effect 
C)  Stevens's power law 
D)  the Premack principle

Question 2

A rat is in an operant chamber and learns that a pellet of food will be delivered only when a bar is pressed following the sounding of a high-pitched tone. In this example, the _____ would be considered the discriminative stimulus.

Accepted Answer

A)  bar being pressed 
B)  the pellet of food 
C)  the sounding of the tone 
D)  All the answers are correct.

Question 3

Which is the BEST example of positive punishment?

Accepted Answer

A)  praise for doing chores results in increased chore completion 
B)  spanking a child for not obeying rules results in decreases in disobedience 
C)  taking away a child's TV privileges results in increased chore completion 
D)  taking aspirin for a headache increases when followed by removal of the pain

Question 4

Susan's cats begin to salivate when she shakes their box of kitty treats. When Susan first began shaking the box, the noise from the box would have been considered a(n) _____ stimulus. After conditioning had occurred, the noise from the box would be considered a(n) _____ stimulus.

Accepted Answer

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

Question 5

The Yerkes-Dodson law is related to which of the following theories of motivation?

Accepted Answer

A)  arousal theory 
B)  drive-reduction theory 
C)  incentive theory 
D)  All the answers are correct.

Question 6

Which of the following is an example of an unconditioned response?

Accepted Answer

A)  shivering on a cold day 
B)  pulling your hand away from a hot flame 
C)  blinking your eye when a puff of air is blown into it 
D)  All the answers are correct.

Question 7

Scientists who study the effects of media violence on aggressive behavior have concluded that _____.

Accepted Answer

A)  exposure to media violence only increases the likelihood of violent behavior immediately following exposure 
B)  exposure to media violence increases the likelihood of violent behavior both immediately and over the long run 
C)  media exposure is both a necessary and sufficient cause of violent behavior 
D)  young children and adolescents are more influenced by media violence than other age groups

Question 8

Which of the following responses to the pleasure Justin receives from playing the violin would MOST likely produce the overjustification effect?

Accepted Answer

A)  scheduling a neighborhood concert for Justin to demonstrate his musical ability 
B)  increasing Justin's number of weekly violin lessons 
C)  entering Justin in a musical competition so he can possibly win a prize for his talent 
D)  All the answers are correct.

Question 9

Which of the following can explain why it is easier to condition an animal to perform a natural behavior than a less natural one?

Accepted Answer

A)  Biologically instinctive responses may limit our ability to condition less natural responses. 
B)  An animal may drift back to an innate response even after learning a less natural operant response. 
C)  Animals may perform innate natural responses rather than trained responses even if they are not reinforced for the innate responses. 
D)  All the answers are correct.

Question 10

It is easier for humans to develop a fear of snakes than to develop a fear of flowers, which BEST illustrates _____.

Accepted Answer

A)  discriminative learning 
B)  latent learning 
C)  biological preparedness 
D)  the overjustification effect

Question 11

In the Little Albert study, the loud noise was the _____.

Accepted Answer

A)  conditioned stimulus (CS) 
B)  unconditioned stimulus (UCS) 
C)  conditioned response (CR) 
D)  unconditioned response (UCR)

Question 12

Which term does NOT belong with the others?

Accepted Answer

A)  Thorndike 
B)  puzzle box 
C)  law of effect 
D)  classical conditioning

Question 13

Three groups of rats were involved in an investigation of maze learning. In one group, food was always available at the end of the maze (daily reinforcement). In a second group, food was never available (no reinforcement). In a third group, food was available starting on the eleventh trial (reinforcement eleventh day). Which of the following accurately describes the results of this investigation?

Accepted Answer

A)  Throughout the experiment, the number of errors decreased at a similar rate for the daily reinforcement and eleventh day reinforcement groups. 
B)  Throughout the experiment, the number of errors did not decrease at all in the no reinforcement group. 
C)  After receiving reinforcement, performance in the eleventh day reinforcement group improved immediately to equal that of the daily reinforcement group. 
D)  After receiving reinforcement, it took approximately 10 days for performance in the eleventh day reinforcement group to equal that in the daily reinforcement group.

Question 14

To get his mother's attention, 6-year-old Jacob starts acting like a baby. Whenever he does so, his mother responds angrily, saying, "Stop that! Act your age." However, a little while later, Jacob repeats his babyish behavior. In this example, his mother's response serves as _____.

Accepted Answer

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

Question 15

Albert Bandura's investigation of observational learning demonstrated that children _____.

Accepted Answer

A)  only modeled the adult behaviors toward the Bobo doll when the adult behavior had been reinforced 
B)  modeled every adult behavior exhibited toward the Bobo doll regardless of whether it was reinforced, punished, or neither 
C)  exposed to aggressive actions in their homes were more likely to aggress against the Bobo doll regardless of the adult behaviors to which they were exposed in the laboratory 
D)  who were not exposed to an adult acting aggressively against the Bobo doll were much less likely to engage in aggressive behavior toward the Bobo doll

Question 16

In a _____ schedule, the number of responses it takes to obtain a reinforcer changes on each trial, but averages out to a certain number over many trials.

Accepted Answer

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

Question 17

Lana's dog Echo barks when the phone or doorbell rings. To train Echo only to bark when the doorbell rings, she gives him a treat when he does so. She does not give him a treat when he barks at a ringing phone. Lana is using _____ conditioning to train Echo, using the learning process of stimulus _____.

Accepted Answer

A)  classical; discrimination 
B)  classical; generalization 
C)  operant; discrimination 
D)  operant; generalization

Question 18

Which is (are) TRUE of operant conditioning?

Accepted Answer

A)  Operant conditioning involves learning about associations between stimuli in our environment. 
B)  For operant conditioning to be effective, the conditioned stimulus (CS) must precede the unconditioned stimulus (UCS). 
C)  Operant conditioning is concerned with how behavior operates on the environment by bringing about certain consequences. 
D)  All of the answers are true of operant conditioning.

Question 19

Positive punishment decreases a behavior by _____ an _____ stimulus.

Accepted Answer

A)  adding; appetitive 
B)  adding; aversive 
C)  removing; appetitive 
D)  removing; aversive

Question 20

Frank begins training his dog Sigmund to bring him the newspaper by giving Sigmund a treat when the dog goes to the door. During successive attempts at training, he rewards Sigmund with a treat when the dog sniffs the newspaper, picks up the newspaper in his mouth, and brings the newspaper to Frank. In this example, Frank is training his dog using which of the following?

Accepted Answer

A)  principles underlying a token economy 
B)  secondary reinforcers 
C)  shaping 
D)  principles of classical conditioning

Exam 4: Section 2: Learning