Deck 15: Robert C. Bolles and Evolutionary Psychology

Question 1

Which of the following must be true in order for natural selection to operate?

A)males must be dominant
B)all heritable variation in a species must lead to reproductive success
C)all variation in a species must be heritable
D)there must be variation within a species

Answer 1

there must be variation within a species

Question 2

A(n)--------contributes directly to an individual's (or a species') ability to survive and reproduce

A)adaptation
B)spandrel
C)exaptation
D)variant

Answer 2

adaptation

Question 3

"Fitness" is defined in terms of

A)greater physical fitness
B)longer lifespan
C)reproduction
D)adaptation

Answer 3

reproduction

Question 4

When an adaptation is co-opted for an unrelated but often useful purpose, it is called

A)an exaptation
B)a spandrel
C)listrel
D)derivation

Question 5

The concept of inclusive fitness, as opposed to individual fitness, is needed to explain

A)reproduction
B)marriage
C)territoriality
D)altruism

Question 6

According to Bolles, what is learned in a typical learning experiment?

A)expectancies
B)S-R connections
C)R-S connections
D)strategies

Question 7

In general, Bolles can be considered a

A)Drive Theorist
B)Contiguity Theorist
C)Reinforcement Theorist
D)none of the above

Question 8

According to the empirical principle of equipotentiality,

A)laws of learning apply equally to all species
B)different parts of the brain learn the same thing in different ways
C)different species have different learning predispositions
D)reinforcement operates similarly in all species

Question 9

According to Bolles, increased motivation produces

A)greater breadth of learning
B)greater tendency to express innate predispositions
C)increased need for reinforcement
D)response variability

Question 10

Seligman suggest that some species learn a task more easily than other species because

A)they are biologically prepared to do so
B)reinforcement principles only apply to mammals
C)only some species experience drive and drive reduction
D)larger mammals have larger brains and thus learn more readily

Question 11

Petrinovich and Bolles discovered that rats learned a left-right alternation task more readily

A)when drive was high
B)with water as reinforcer
C)with food as reinforcer
D)with escape learning

Question 12

Species-Specific Defense Reactions (SSDRs) in rats can include

A)freezing, fleeing, and leaping
B)lever pressing
C)eating and drinking
D)virtually any response

Question 13

According to Bolles, SSDRs are elicited by

A)any CS
B)CSs with emotional sign
C)only unconditioned stimuli
D)pain or warnings of pain

Question 14

What food cues are most readily conditioned in demonstrations of the Garcia Effect?

A)shape or appearance of food
B)color cues associated with food
C)cues concerning the location where food was found
D)it depends on innate predispositions of the species

Question 15

Most species can develop learned food aversions to

A)flavor cues
B)shape-appearance cues
C)color cues
D)any cue can become a cue for learned food aversions

Question 16

Chambers's research indicates that experience extinction of the Garcia Effect faster than:

A)males; females
B)females; males
C)rats; mice
D)primates; other mammals

Question 17

According to Evolutionary Psychologists, people develop phobias because

A)of repressed conflicts
B)it is adaptive to learn to fear certain kinds of stimuli
C)phobias lead to greater reproduction rates
D)classical conditioning occurs even in non-adaptive contexts

Question 18

Öhman and his colleagues found that fear responses to snake stimuli could be conditioned:

A)only when participants were snake phobic
B)only when participants could detect the CS (snake stimulus)
C)only if the participants were predisposed to have general phobias
D)even when participants could not detect the CS (snake stimulus)

Question 19

Buss found that males place more value than do females on when selecting a mate.

A)dominance
B)physical appearance
C)resources
D)fidelity

Question 20

In general, both males and females place high value on when selecting a mate.

A)physical appearance
B)religion
C)social strata
D)kindness and intelligence

Question 21

Children who experience only a pidgin language in their early years

A)will never learn correct grammatical structures
B)will only mimic and repeat pidgin phrases
C)will develop a fully grammatical Creole language
D)develop Specific Language Impairment

Question 22

Which of the following is/are true of natural selection?

A)selection results in continuous improvement of species
B)selection entails survival of the fittest
C)all aspects of morphology and behavior are the result of selection pressures
D)none of the above are true

Question 23

A beneficial side-effect of a specific adaptation is called

A)a spandrel
B)an exaptation
C)a retraptation
D)a co-option

Question 24

Darwin's theory emphasizes while neo-Darwinian theory emphasizes .

A)survival ; reproduction
B)the individual organism ; genetically related individuals
C)competition for resources ; cooperation
D)males ; females

Question 25

According to Bolles, classical conditioning involves learning---------associations and instrumental conditioning involves learning--------associations.

A)S-S ; R-S
B)S-R ; S-S
C)R-R ; R-O
D)O-O ; S-O

Question 26

Bolles's theory emphasizes the learning of expectancies.

A)equipotential
B)reinforced
C)innately predisposed
D)S-R

Question 27

According to Bolles, what kind of learning is most flexible?

A)escape learning
B)instrumental conditioning
C)S-R learning
D)S-S learning

Question 28

Bolles's Niche Argument states that in order to understand learning we must understand

A)that every organism finds its special learning niche
B)that laws of learning apply equally to all species
C)the biological niche in which an organism evolved
D)the reinforcement contingencies under which an organism is behaving

Question 29

Bolles' approach to learning theory is least like the approach advocated by

A)Skinner
B)the Brelands
C)Tolman
D)Seligman

Question 30

Petrinovich and Bolles found that rats more readily learned to turn in one direction in a maze when

A)food was used as a reinforcer
B)water was used as a reinforcer
C)water was flavored with saccharin
D)the task involved avoidance of pain

Question 31

Bolles uses the concept of SSDR to account for behavior during

A)instrumental conditioning
B)classical conditioning
C)operant conditioning
D)escape/avoidance conditioning

Question 32

Garcia and Koelling (1966) demonstrated that rats would associate illness

A)with flavor cues and with painful electric shock
B)with flavor cues but not with painful electric shock
C)with painful electric shock but not with flavor cues
D)with neither flavor cues nor with electric shock

Question 33

If rats and mice that have developed learned taste aversions are repeatedly exposed (without ensuing illness) to the flavor that was once the conditioned stimulus for taste aversion

A)females experience extinction of the taste aversion faster than males
B)males experience extinction of the taste aversion faster than females
C)females fail to experience extinction of the taste aversion
D)more than one of the above

Question 34

If behavior is "overdetermined," it:

A)occurs in almost any environmental situation
B)without experimental manipulations such as reinforcement
C)only occurs after food or water deprivation
D)is reflexive

Question 35

Evolutionary psychologists would predict that we are more likely to develop phobias to stimuli such as than to stimuli such as .

A)spiders and snakes ; guns and electricity
B)guns and electricity ; snakes and mean dogs
C)heights ; water
D)dogs ; cats

Question 36

Buss found that females place more value than do males on when selecting a mate.

A)dominance
B)physical appearance and health
C)resources
D)fidelity

Question 37

According to evolutionary psychologists, language

A)is a spandrel
B)is learned due to reinforcement contingencies
C)is innately predisposed
D)none of the above

Question 38

Deaf children exposed to various forms of "pidgin" sign language

A)fail to thrive
B)develop a grammatically complete Creole sign language
C)exhibit stunted linguistic development
D)never really learn complete sign language forms

Question 39

Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI)

A)cannot hear language normally
B)never learn to speak
C)cannot readily create plural word forms given single forms of words
D)do not generate spontaneous language