Deck 6: Learning

Question 1

In operant conditioning,a reinforcer is any stimulus that an organism likes or finds pleasing.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Pavlov paired the sound from a metronome with the presentation of food and measured the dog's salivation response.The sound from the metronome is known as the unconditioned stimulus.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Primary reinforcers (or unconditioned reinforcers),are reinforcing because of their own properties.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Unlike methodological behaviorists,radical behaviorists are willing to use observable behaviors to make inferences about intervening variables.

Question 5

Psychologists are nearly unanimous in their agreement that physical punishment (spanking)effectively reduces the likelihood of unwanted responses over extended periods of time.

Question 6

A teacher gives a child "time out" sessions away from classmates for breaking a class rule.This is an example of omission training.

Question 7

By definition,the conditioned response is always the same as the unconditioned response.

Question 8

Modern behaviorists emphasize the role of heredity (genetics)more than the environment in causing behavior.

Question 9

Spontaneous recovery is a temporary return of an extinguished response after no delay.

Question 10

Stimulus generalization is the extension of a conditioned response from the training stimulus to similar stimuli.

Question 11

Repeatedly presenting the CS without the UCS leads to the extinction of the CR.

Question 12

In operant conditioning,the subject's behavior determines an outcome and is affected by the outcome.

Question 13

Negative reinforcement decreases the likelihood of a response.

Question 14

Pavlov presumed that animals are born with certain automatic connections-called unconditioned reflexes.

Question 15

Thorndike concluded from his research with cats in a puzzlebox that after a period of trial and error,cats gained insight (or "understood")the solution for how to escape.

Question 16

Correlational studies have found that children who are spanked tend to be more aggressive and more prone to antisocial behavior later in life compared to other children.

Question 17

Pavlov paired the sound from a metronome with the presentation of food and measured the dog's salivation response.Salivation in response to the food is known as the unconditioned response.

Question 18

A secondary reinforcer gains its value from association with a primary reinforcer.

Question 19

Research on punishment suggests that increasing the length of prison sentences should effectively reduce criminal behavior such as selling illegal drugs.

Question 20

Radical behaviorists reject the idea that internal states (such as thoughts and feelings)cause behavior.

Question 21

In classical conditioning,responding increases in both ____________________ and ____________________.
or

Question 22

According to Thorndike,____________________ is an event that increases the probability of the preceding response.

Question 23

Another name for negative punishment is ____________________.

Question 24

According to Thorndike,responses that are followed by reinforcement become more probable.He called this the ____________________.

Question 25

In applied behavior analysis,also known as behavior modification,a psychologist tries to remove the reinforcers for unwanted behaviors and provides reinforcers for more acceptable behaviors.

Question 26

An event that decreases the probability of a response is known as ____________________.

Question 27

The ____________________ refers to the previously established association to one stimulus blocks the formation of an association to the added stimulus.

Question 28

The ____________________,who have dominated the study of animal learning,insist that psychologists should study only observable,measurable behaviors,not mental processes.

Question 29

In Pavlov's experiment the ____________________ was similar to the ____________________.

Question 30

An inborn,automatic connection between a stimulus and a response is called a (an)____________________.

Question 31

A chimpanzee pulling the lever on a slot machine to get banana chips is an example of ____________________.

Question 32

Psychologists distinguish between ____________________ ,which are reinforcing because of their own properties,and ____________________,which became reinforcing because of previous experiences.

Question 33

Conditioned taste aversion has been used to keep coyotes from killing sheep without affecting their willingness to hunt for other prey.

Question 34

A rat learns to press a lever to escape from an electric shock.This is an example of ____________________.

Question 35

In classical conditioning,responding decreases in both ____________________ and ____________________.
or

Question 36

In operant conditioning ____________________ occurs if responses stop producing reinforcements.

Question 37

Early behaviorism was sometimes referred to as ____________________ psychology.

Question 38

Behaviorism began,in part,as a protest against the views of the____________________.

Question 39

According to the ____________________ of reinforcement,each of us has a normal "equilibrium" state in which we divide our time among various activities.

Question 40

Classical conditioning applies primarily to ____________________ responses;operant conditioning applies primarily to ____________________ responses.

Question 41

As a joke,Henry has taught his beagle,Miles,to salivate to the phone ringing.He did this by pairing the phone ringing with food treats for a week.Four months later,Henry no longer finds it amusing that Miles drools to every phone that rings.Explain how Henry could attempt to extinguish this behavior.Another option would be to try and train Miles to only salivate to Henry's phone ring.Explain how Henry could do this and the name of the phenomenon.

Question 42

Every time that Susie comes home from school,she drops her keys loudly in a bowl in the kitchen and then opens a can of cat food for her cat,Mabel.After two weeks of this behavior,Mabel begins salivating every time that she hears Susie's keys.Identify the UCS,UCR,CS,and CR.

Question 43

Which of the following would a behaviorist be least likely to study?

A)rats in a maze
B)human thought processes
C)schedules of reinforcement
D)classical conditioning

Question 44

Two behaviorists are attempting to explain the causes of why an infant engages in activities to increase the probability of nursing.How might a radical behaviorist differ from a methodological behaviorist in their explanation? Be sure to mention the role of intervening variables.

Question 45

Psychologists who argue that psychologists should only study observable,measurable behaviors are called

A)behaviorists.
B)Gestalt psychologists.
C)humanistic psychologists.
D)psychoanalysts.

Question 46

The more similar a new stimulus is to the original reinforced stimulus,the more likely is the same response.This phenomenon is known as ____________________.

Question 47

Which of the following is an intervening variable?

A)food deprivation
B)hunger
C)increased intake of carbohydrates
D)prolonged exercise

Question 48

What characterizes a methodological behaviorist?

A)denial that internal mental states cause behavior,or that they are scientifically useful concepts
B)occasional willingness to use behavioral observations to infer internal events
C)belief that the mind is separate from the brain
D)reliance on people's self reports about their internal mental states

Question 49

Behaviorism began,in part,as a protest against the views of

A)Watson.
B)Pavlov.
C)the structuralists.
D)the ethologists.

Question 50

Of the following,a behaviorist is most likely to study

A)unconscious thought processes.
B)animal learning.
C)repressed memories.
D)higher motives,including self-actualization.

Question 51

A slow but steady rate of responding is most characteristic of behavior reinforced on a ____________________ schedule.

Question 52

The goal of radical behaviorism is to explain behavior in terms of:

A)mental processes.
B)brain processes.
C)genetics and evolution.
D)simple responses to stimuli.

Question 53

Behaviorism began,in part,as a protest against psychologists who tried to study

A)mental experiences.
B)the effects of reinforcements and punishments.
C)animal learning.
D)reflexes.

Question 54

A psychologist who insists that psychologists should only study behavior and never make references to mental processes,would best be described as a

A)humanistic psychologist.
B)methodological behaviorist.
C)radical behaviorist.
D)cognitive psychologist.

Question 55

Something that cannot be directly observed,but which links various procedures to various responses is called a(n)

A)intervening variable.
B)hypothesis.
C)theory.
D)interacting variable.

Question 56

Suppose you wanted to study learning in alligators.You give an alligator food if it approaches a green wall but not if it approaches a red wall.After hundreds of trials the alligator still approaches each wall equally.Which of the following conclusions is best?

A)Alligators are color-blind.
B)Alligators are unable to learn.
C)Alligators are not motivated to seek food.
D)It is premature to draw any conclusions about learning in alligators until they are studied in a wider variety of situations.

Question 57

According to radical behaviorists,

A)we can use behavioral observations to infer how the mind works.
B)internal processes,such as hopes and expectations,are never the causes of behavior.
C)all important behavioral variations can be traced to genetics.
D)all behavior can be explained in terms of the id and the ego.

Question 58

Which kind of behaviorist would accept references to mental experiences,as long as they are cautiously inferred from observable behaviors?

A)A radical behaviorist,but not a methodological behaviorist.
B)A methodological behaviorist,but not a radical behaviorist.
C)Both methodological and radical behaviorists.
D)No self-respecting behaviorist (radical,methodological,or otherwise)would ever accept references to mental experiences.

Question 59

In operant conditioning,there are a number of types of rein forcers and punishment that can be used to either increase or decrease behavior.Alexander's mother is trying to change his behavior in terms of teaching him to be more responsible for his fish.Alexander likes to spend all of his time playing video games,but his mother is trying to reduce the number of hours he spends playing video games and increase the number of times that he cleans his fishbowl.Currently,he is given a timeout everyday when he does not clean his fishbowl.Give an example of how his mother could attempt to change Alexander's behavior using;negative reinforcement,positive reinforcement,negative punishment,and punishment.

Question 60

Unlike the structuralists,behaviorists believed that psychology must study __________ in order to be scientific.

A)thought processes only
B)thought processes and observable behavior
C)observable behavior only
D)the structure and the processes of thinking

Question 61

Which response did Pavlov measure in most of his experiments?

A)pecking at a disk
B)pressing a lever
C)salivation
D)eye blinking

Question 62

Modern behaviorists tend to

A)deny that heredity plays a role in variations in behavior.
B)emphasize the role that heredity plays in behavior.
C)focus their research on the role of environmental factors in behavior.
D)employ the techniques pioneered by the structuralists.

Question 63

An early approach to behaviorism that attempted to explain behavior in terms of how each stimulus triggers a response was known as

A)stimulus-response psychology.
B)reflexology.
C)structuralism.
D)physiology.

Question 64

What is an unconditioned reflex?

A)a process of pairing a conditioned stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus
B)a process of following a conditioned response with an unconditioned response
C)an inborn,automatic connection between a stimulus and a response
D)a learned connection between a stimulus and a response

Question 65

"Why did she yell at the man?" "She yelled because she was angry." "How do you know she was angry?" "I could tell because she was yelling." This exchange is an example of

A)inferential logic.
B)deductive reasoning.
C)circular reasoning.
D)the application of radical behaviorism.

Question 66

As a rule,behaviorists assume that

A)unconscious thought processes govern different behaviors from the ones that conscious thought processes influence.
B)every behavior is caused or determined through processes that can be scientifically studied.
C)people understand the reasons behind their own behaviors and can describe them accurately.
D)the primary motivation of people is the striving for self-actualization.

Question 67

The study of learning in laboratory animals is most closely associated with which of the following?

A)structuralists
B)psychoanalysts
C)humanistic psychologists
D)behaviorists

Question 68

In general,behaviorists accept the assumption that

A)the only way to change behavior significantly is by changing the individual's genes.
B)we can understand someone's actions only by first understanding his or her goals,beliefs,and ideas.
C)human behavior follows different principles from those that control the behavior of laboratory animals.
D)all behavior is governed by cause-and-effect relationships.

Question 69

As a rule,behaviorists are LEAST interested in which of the following?

A)animal learning
B)simple explanations
C)the distinction between conscious and unconscious thought
D)classical conditioning

Question 70

Who discovered classical conditioning?

A)Skinner
B)Ebbinghaus
C)Pavlov
D)Thorndike

Question 71

In an experiment on classical conditioning,a tone is followed by a puff of air to the eyes.After several repetitions,subjects blink their eyes when they hear the tone.In this experiment the tone is the __________ and blinking is the __________.

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

Question 72

Ivan Pavlov was a pioneer in the study of

A)operant conditioning.
B)social-learning theory.
C)behavior modification.
D)classical conditioning.

Question 73

The British and American legal systems are similar to radical behaviorism in that both

A)base decisions upon intervening variables.
B)rely on inferred mental events for interpretations.
C)view the individual as more important than the population as a whole.
D)insist upon a description of what an individual did,not why they did it.

Question 74

The idea that all behavior has causes and obeys certain laws is called

A)structuralism.
B)pantheism.
C)determinism.
D)transactional analysis.

Question 75

Which of the following is NOT an assumption of behaviorism?

A)Behavior is molded by the environment.
B)All behavior is caused.
C)Mental explanations do not explain causes of behavior.
D)Examining people's thoughts provides valid data.

Question 76

Charles Darwin's theory of evolution inspired psychologists of the early 1900s to study

A)the genetic basis of learning in humans.
B)increases in intelligence from one generation to the next.
C)animal learning and intelligence.
D)the transmission of memories from parent to child.

Question 77

Modern behaviorists generally believe that

A)all human and animal behavior can be described as simple responses to current,simple stimuli.
B)human thought is the only appropriate subject matter for psychologists to study.
C)behavior is a product of an individual's past history of stimuli and responses,as well as responses to current stimuli.
D)determinism is an obsolete concept.

Question 78

Which of the following is NOT one of the characteristic assumptions of behaviorists?

A)All behavior is caused or determined in some way.
B)The environment molds behavior.
C)Researchers can learn general principles by studying laboratory animals.
D)Unconscious thoughts and wishes control much of our behavior.

Question 79

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of behaviorism?

A)interest in animal learning in laboratory conditions
B)belief that all behavior has causes
C)search for an understanding of stimulus-response relationships
D)interest in the difference between conscious and unconscious thought

Question 80

A behaviorist would state that your thoughts and feelings do not cause your behavior because

A)there is no evidence that we have thoughts and feelings.
B)these thoughts and feelings are caused by events in the past and present environment.
C)the body behaves,and the body cannot think.
D)thoughts and feelings are not related to any physical events.