Question 1

Psychologists formally define learning as:

Accepted Answer

a process that produces a relatively permanent change in behavior or knowledge as a result of past experience.

Question 2

In psychology, the term conditioning refers to:

Accepted Answer

learning associations between environmental events and behavioral responses.

Question 3

The process of learning associations between environmental events and behavioral responses is called:

Accepted Answer

conditioning

Question 4

Ivan Pavlov was a(n):

Accepted Answer

Russian physiologist.

Question 5

Who discovered the basic process of classical conditioning?

Accepted Answer

Ivan Pavlov

Question 6

What discovery sparked Pavlov\'s interest in the phenomenon that eventually became known as classical conditioning?

Accepted Answer

Dogs displayed a reflexive response before the stimulus was presented rather than after it was presented.

Question 7

To produce a learned response in classical conditioning, what two elements are repeatedly paired?

Accepted Answer

a neutral stimulus and a stimulus that naturally elicits a response

Question 8

Essentially, classical conditioning is a process of:

Accepted Answer

learning an association between two stimuli.

Question 9

When Rani was having problems at school, she often talked things over with her grandfather. Her grandfather, who always smoked a pipe, was warm, reassuring, and always supportive. Years later, Rani still finds the smell of pipe tobacco soothing. In classical conditioning terms, Rani\'s fondness for the smell of pipe tobacco may be described as a(n):

Accepted Answer

conditioned response.

Question 10

If you touch something hot, you will reflexively withdraw your hand. Using Pavlov\'s terminology, reflexively withdrawing your hand would be termed a(n):

Accepted Answer

unconditioned response (UCR).

Question 11

Pavlov found that a conditioned response would be stronger if:

Accepted Answer

there were many pairings of the CS and the UCS.

Question 12

A young child has learned to associate the sight of a nurse\'s white uniform with the fear and pain of getting an injection. If the young child begins reacting with fear to the sight of any white jacket, what has occurred?

Accepted Answer

stimulus generalization

Question 13

When Micah was 2 years old, he was frightened by his Aunt Mabel\'s little dog, which had nipped him on the leg. Because of the incident, Micah developed a strong fear of small dogs but not of large dogs. This best illustrates which of the following?

Accepted Answer

stimulus discrimination

Question 14

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

stimulus generalization.

Question 15

Which of the following has the greatest impact on the strength of the conditioned response?

Accepted Answer

the timing of stimulus presentations

Question 16

A conditioned stimulus from one learning trial is used in place of an unconditioned stimulus in a new conditioning trial, where it is paired with a second conditioned stimulus. The second conditioned stimulus then comes to elicit the conditioned response, even though it has never been directly paired with the unconditioned stimulus. This is a description of a procedure called:

Accepted Answer

higher order conditioning or second-order conditioning.

Question 17

Fred\'s dog was classically conditioned to salivate at the sound of a bell. Fred then repeatedly paired the bell with another stimulus, a whistle. Now whenever he blows the whistle, his dog salivates, even though the whistle has never been paired with food. This example illustrates:

Accepted Answer

higher order conditioning (second-order conditioning).

Question 18

Every Friday, Dr. Cruz would give a quiz in his psychology class. Students quickly learned to be nervous on Friday mornings, just before each quiz. Halfway through the semester, Dr. Cruz stopped giving quizzes on Fridays and the students\' anxiety began to diminish with each passing week in which there was no quiz. The decrease in the students\' anxiety may be attributed to the process of:

Accepted Answer

extinction

Question 19

After a dog had been conditioned to salivate to the sight of a triangle, the triangle alone was presented to the dog every three minutes. Over the course of several trials, the amount of saliva secreted by the dog in response to the triangle decreased to zero. At that point, the dog was put back in his cage for the night. What happened the next morning when the triangle was presented to the dog again?

Accepted Answer

Spontaneous recovery occurred and the dog salivated in response to the triangle.

Question 20

Behaviorism was an early \"school\" or approach to psychology that was founded by:

Accepted Answer

John B. Watson.

Question 21

It was _____ who was the author of a landmark article entitled \"Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It.\" The opening sentences read, \"Psychology as the behaviorist views it is a purely objective experimental branch of natural science. Its theoretical goal is the prediction and control of behavior.\"

Accepted Answer

John B. Watson

Question 22

Professor Lake is a strong advocate of the behavioral perspective. He would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements?

Accepted Answer

Human behavior is shaped by experience and environmental events.

Question 23

The famous \"Little Albert\" study conducted by John Watson and Rosalie Rayner demonstrated:

Accepted Answer

that it was possible to classically condition an emotional reaction to a previously neutral stimulus.

Question 24

What happened after \"Little Albert\" was classically conditioned to fear a tame white rat?

Accepted Answer

Stimulus generalization occurred; Albert responded with fear to other furry animals and fuzzy objects.

Question 25

In the famous study of \"Little Albert,\" John Watson and Rosalie Rayner:

Accepted Answer

did not extinguish the conditioned emotional reaction in the infant.

Question 26

A psychological and/or physiological response to what is actually a fake treatment or drug is called:

Accepted Answer

a placebo response or placebo effect.

Question 27

Modern research on advertising and marketing techniques has shown that:

Accepted Answer

attitudes toward a product or a particular brand can be influenced by the use of classical conditioning techniques in advertising campaigns.

Question 28

Your friend Madison became very ill a few hours after eating the fried chicken special in the college cafeteria. Now, Madison feels queasy whenever she smells fried chicken. Having read the learning chapter in your psychology class, you explain that:

Accepted Answer

Madison has experienced a learned taste aversion, which can occur after only one pairing of food and illness.

Question 29

Psychologist John Garcia found that rats did not learn to associate a taste with flashing lights and noise. However, rats do learn to associate a taste with getting ill. Which of the following concepts best accounts for this observation?

Accepted Answer

biological preparedness

Question 30

Conditioned taste aversions demonstrate:

Accepted Answer

that certain stimuli are easier to associate than others.

Question 31

The notion that an organism is innately predisposed to form associations between certain stimuli and responses is termed:

Accepted Answer

biological preparedness.

Question 32

Martin Seligman noted that phobias seem to be quite selective, involving only certain stimuli. To explain this, Seligman proposed that:

Accepted Answer

Humans are biologically prepared to develop fears of objects or situations that may once have posed a threat to humans\' evolutionary ancestors.

Question 33

Phobias of heights, storms, snakes, and spiders are much more common than phobias of cars, stairs, stoves, or sharp objects. According to psychologist Martin Seligman, the reason is that:

Accepted Answer

we are more likely to develop phobias for objects or situations that posed a threat to our evolutionary survival.

Question 34

The evolutionary perspective helps explain why the most common phobias are fears of:

Accepted Answer

spiders, snakes, and heights.

Question 35

Classical conditioning involves _____, while operant conditioning involves _____.

Accepted Answer

reflexive behaviors; voluntary behaviors

Question 36

What is the \"law of effect\"?

Accepted Answer

It was a principle formulated by Edward Thorndike that described how voluntary behaviors can be modified by their consequences.

Question 37

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

the law of effect

Question 38

Which of the following statements best captures the flavor of Thorndike\'s law of effect?

Accepted Answer

Rewarded behaviors are more likely to be repeated, while unrewarded behaviors are less likely to be repeated.

Question 39

Skinner coined the term operant to describe:

Accepted Answer

active behaviors that operate on the environment to generate consequences.

Question 40

An operant can be defined as:

Accepted Answer

a voluntary action.

Question 41

In operant conditioning, reinforcement:

Accepted Answer

is defined by the effect that it producesâincreasing or strengthening behavior.

Question 42

Which of the following statements best captures the basic idea of operant conditioning?

Accepted Answer

Behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences.

Question 43

Positive reinforcement _____ the likelihood of a behavior\'s being repeated. Negative reinforcement _____ the likelihood of a behavior\'s being repeated.

Accepted Answer

increases; increases

Question 44

Positive reinforcement is to negative reinforcement as:

Accepted Answer

addition of a reinforcing stimulus is to removal of an aversive stimulus.

Question 45

A stimulus or event that is naturally or inherently reinforcing for a given species is called a ________, and a stimulus or event that has acquired reinforcing value by being associated with a primary reinforcer is called a __________ .

Accepted Answer

primary reinforcer; conditioned reinforcer

Question 46

Which of the following would be considered a conditioned reinforcer?

Accepted Answer

money

Question 47

\"I\'ll make you a deal,\" Cody\'s mother says. \"If you clean up your room, then you can have a glazed donut.\" Using operant conditioning terms, Cody\'s mother is using _____ to reward desired behavior.

Accepted Answer

a primary reinforcer

Question 48

Which of the following would be an example of a primary reinforcer?

Accepted Answer

a cold drink on a hot day

Question 49

After lightning caused an electrical power surge and damaged his computer, Damon no longer turns his computer on during thunderstorms. This change in Damon\'s behavior is the result of:

Accepted Answer

punishment

Question 50

Negative reinforcement _____ the likelihood of a behavior being repeated and punishment _____ the likelihood of a behavior being repeated.

Accepted Answer

increases; decreases

Question 51

Terry wants his young daughter, Lauren, to help him with the housework, so he tells her that she can play on his computer as soon as she finishes doing the dinner dishes and putting away the clean laundry. Terry is using a more preferred activity to reinforce a less preferred activity. According to the In Focus box \"Changing the Behavior of Others,\" this behavioral strategy is called:

Accepted Answer

the Premack principle

Question 52

Whenever the phone rings young Daniel always runs over and answers it. In this situation the ringing phone is a _______ for Daniels\' response.

Accepted Answer

discriminative stimulus.

Question 53

In operant conditioning, a discriminative stimulus is defined as a(n):

Accepted Answer

environmental stimulus or cue in the presence of which a particular response is more likely to be reinforced.

Question 54

If you reinforce successively closer approximations of a behavior until the desired behavior is displayed, you are using the operant conditioning procedure called:

Accepted Answer

shaping

Question 55

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

extinction

Question 56

Whose behavior is most likely to show the greatest resistance to extinction?

Accepted Answer

Rick, who sometimes gets what he asks for from his parents when they are out shopping

Question 57

Unbeknownst to the rest of the world, Roger was wearing green underwear when he aced his calculus test at the beginning of the semester. Ever since, Roger always wears green underwear on test days in his college classes. In operant conditioning terms, Roger\'s superstitious behavior is the result of:

Accepted Answer

accidental reinforcement.

Question 58

\"Okay, that was good! Now this time, don\'t close your eyes. Keep your eye on the ball, so you know when to close your hands,\" Mark said in the process of teaching his 5-year-old to play catch. In operant conditioning terms, Mark is using _____ to teach his daughter how to catch a ball.

Accepted Answer

shaping

Question 59

Martina is an animal trainer at Sea World. To teach a new dolphin to jump through a hoop high above the water, Martina first reinforces the dolphin for approaching the hoop while it is under the water. Then, she reinforces the dolphin for swimming through the hoop under water. Gradually raising the hoop, Martina progressively reinforces each small step toward the goal behavior. Martina is using the process of _____ to train the dolphin.

Accepted Answer

shaping

Question 60

In an operant conditioning experiment a pigeon learned to peck at a blue disk to get a food pellet. The researcher then withheld reinforcement and eventually the bird stopped pecking the disk. This example illustrates:

Accepted Answer

extinction

Question 61

When competitive swimmers stayed focused on their practice techniques during swim team practice, they were rewarded by their coach playing popular music over the loudspeakers in the pool area. When they were inattentive or started \"goofing off,\" the coach played recordings of gloomy, off-key organ music. In this example, the coach is using _____ to help his swimmers stay focused.

Accepted Answer

behavior modification

Question 62

Road construction prevents you from getting to the shopping mall using the route that you always travel. You think about the situation for a moment and then come up with a different route to take. To figure out this alternative route, you are using what Tolman referred to as:

Accepted Answer

a cognitive map.

Question 63

Edward C. Tolman\'s concept of latent learning helps to demonstrate that:

Accepted Answer

rewards affect performance of what has been learned rather than the process of learning itself.

Question 64

If exposure to inescapable and uncontrollable aversive events produces passive behavior, the response of passivity is termed:

Accepted Answer

learned helplessness.

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