Deck 13: Neobehaviorism

Question 1

The neobehaviorists believed all of the following except:

A)research on nonhuman animals could provide useful information about humans
B)all theoretical terms had to be operationally defined
C)the learning process was of prime importance and therefore should be studied intensely
D)to employ theoretical terms was to be avoided because it brings metaphysical speculation back into psychology

Answer 1

to employ theoretical terms was to be avoided because it brings metaphysical speculation back into psychology

Question 2

Which of the following exemplifies molecular behavior?

A)salivating when a bell is rung
B)shopping for food in a grocery store
C)a child hiding from a stranger
D)looking up a word in a dictionary

Answer 2

salivating when a bell is rung

Question 3

Mach believed that:

A)humans could be investigated objectively only by studying their overt behavior
B)introspection was worthless
C)humans could be certain only of their own sensations
D)all science depends on metaphysical speculation

Answer 3

humans could be certain only of their own sensations

Question 4

All of the following are true of logical positivism except:

A)its ultimate authority was empirical observation
B)it allowed the use of abstract theoretical terms if those terms were logically tied to empirical events
C)like other forms of positivism,it forbade theoretical speculation
D)it had a substantial influence on psychology

Question 5

For Tolman,independent variables are ____ and give rise to internal,unobservable events that,in turn,cause behavior.

A)environmental events
B)theoretical concepts
C)variables that are unrelated to any other variables
D)behavioral events

Question 6

Comte believed all of the following except:

A)metaphysical speculation was to be avoided
B)private sensations and perceptions were all of which we could be certain
C)humans could be investigated objectively only by studying their overt behavior
D)an attempt to understand the mind by using introspection was silly

Question 7

____ resulted when behaviorism and logical positivism combined.

A)Positivism
B)Neobehaviorism
C)Physicalism
D)Radical environmentalism

Question 8

Tolman insisted that all of his intervening variables be:

A)mentalistic
B)operationally defined
C)tied systematically to observable events
D)both operationally defined and tied systematically to observable events

Question 9

Tolman believed that:

A)learning occurred independently of reinforcement
B)if no reinforcement occurred,no learning occurred
C)reinforcement governed classical conditioning but not instrumental conditioning
D)reinforcement governed instrumental conditioning but not classical conditioning

Question 10

If you define a concept in terms of the procedures followed while measuring the concept,you are using a(n):

A)positivistic definition
B)operational definition
C)scientific law
D)observational term

Question 11

The belief that all sciences should be unified and use a common language was called:

A)positivism
B)logical positivism
C)physicalism
D)radical environmentalism

Question 12

____ positivism divided science into the empirical and the theoretical by combining rationalism and empiricism.

A)Machian
B)Comtean
C)Baconian
D)Logical

Question 13

For Tolman,____ was the same as ____.

A)molar behavior;learned behavior
B)molecular behavior;purposive behavior
C)molar behavior;purposive behavior
D)purposive behavior;reinforced behavior

Question 14

Tolman learned from Holt and Perry that the ____ aspects of behavior could be studied without sacrificing scientific objectively.

A)purposive
B)cognitive
C)molecular
D)S-R

Question 15

Who introduced the use of intervening variables into psychology?

A)Watson
B)Comte
C)Tolman
D)Bridgman

Question 16

Which of the following exemplifies molar behavior?

A)salivating when a bell is rung
B)shopping for food in a grocery store
C)a child hiding from a stranger
D)both shopping for food in a grocery store and a child hiding from a stranger

Question 17

For Tolman,learning was described much differently than for Watson and Thorndike.Which one of the following does not describe learning as Tolman described it?

A)learning occurs constantly
B)learning occurs with or without reinforcement
C)learning only occurs between stimuli and responses (S-R)
D)learning occurs with or without motivation

Question 18

According to Tolman,the first thing an animal developed in a learning situation was a(n):

A)belief
B)expectancy
C)hypothesis
D)cognitive map

Question 19

During the early stages of hypothesis formation,an organism may ponder alternatives at the choice point.This apparent pondering is called:

A)expectancy
B)vicarious trial and error
C)belief formation
D)cognitive map formation

Question 20

Eventually,most psychologists agreed with the logical positivists that

A)unless a concept can be operationally defined,it is meaningless
B)psychology should not contain any theories
C)empiricism and rationalism must be wedded together
D)rational analysis is more powerful than empirical analysis

Question 21

Guthrie argued that the learning theories and descriptions proposed by such individuals as Tolman,Hull,Watson,and Skinner were:

A)unscientific
B)unparsimonious
C)not complex enough
D)in many respects,better than his own theory

Question 22

Hull's theory can be seen as an elaboration of the "O" ____ S-O-R conception of psychology.

A)Watson's
B)Pavlov's
C)James's
D)Woodworth's

Question 23

Tolman defined ____ as the translation of learning into behavior.

A)confirmation
B)belief
C)performance
D)habit strength

Question 24

All of the following are true about Hull's theory except:

A)after Hull's death,his theory was perpetuated primarily by Kenneth W.Spence
B)Hull's theory was enormously popular from its inception into the 1960's
C)Hull's theory is now viewed as being mainly of historical interest
D)Hull's theory is more compatible with contemporary cognitive psychology than is Tolman's theory

Question 25

The observation concerning the behavior of cats that Guthrie and Horton made in 1946 that supported Guthrie's theory of learning was:

A)all cats tended to escape the puzzle box in the same way
B)reinforced cats tended to escape more rapidly than unreinforced cats
C)stereotyped behavior
D)the more often the cats escaped from the puzzle box,the more proficient they became at escaping

Question 26

The cornerstone of Guthrie's theory of learning was the law of:

A)frequency
B)similarity
C)contiguity
D)contrast

Question 27

According to Guthrie,the association between stimuli and a(n)____ is formed in one-trial.

A)act
B)movement
C)skill
D)habit

Question 28

Because he believed learning occurs in one trial,____ rejected the law of frequency in his explanation of learning.

A)Pavlov
B)Hull
C)Watson
D)Guthrie

Question 29

Tolman believed that organisms (including humans)learn by:

A)direct behavioral involvement with the environment
B)observing what leads to what in the environment
C)the reinforcement of overt responses
D)the drive reduction that follows certain responses

Question 30

Hull defined ____ as the number of reinforced pairings between a stimulus and a response.

A)reaction potential
B)habit strength
C)drive
D)operant level

Question 31

Which of the following is not true of Hull?

A)philosophically,he was a mechanist
B)he employed intervening variables
C)he was a methodological behaviorist
D)he thought reinforcement was unnecessary in a theory of learning

Question 32

In his hypothetic-deductive theory,Hull had:

A)general statements called postulates
B)theorems,derived from the postulates
C)testable propositions derived from theorems
D)all of these choices

Question 33

According to Hull,for learning to take place,a response must be followed by:

A)confirmation
B)a satisfying state of affairs
C)drive-reduction
D)a wave of electrical activity through the frontal lobe of the cortex

Question 34

The results of the experiment run by Tolman and Honzik in 1930 indicated that:

A)sunflower seeds were more powerful reinforcers than was bran mash
B)without reinforcement of some type,animals learn practically nothing
C)animals learned constantly but only translated what had been learned into behavior when there was a incentive to do so
D)different species of animals learned according to different learning principles

Question 35

Hull borrowed the concept of ____ from Tolman.

A)intervening variables
B)latent learning
C)latent extinction
D)cognitive map

Question 36

According to Guthrie,practice improves the performance of a skill because it:

A)allows many specific S-R associations to be formed
B)allows insight to be gained
C)allows a cognitive map to be formed
D)strengthens the responses that lead to drive reduction

Question 37

Which of the following best describes Guthrie's view of "reinforcement"?

A)reinforcement changes the stimulating conditions,thus preventing unlearning
B)drive reduction
C)a satisfying state of affairs
D)the confirmation of an expectancy

Question 38

According to Hull,the probability of a learned response was called ____ and was a function of both the amount of drive present and the number of times the response had been reinforced in the situation plus other intervening variables.

A)habit strength
B)reaction potential
C)operant level
D)reaction threshold

Question 39

For Tolman,motivation influenced ____ but not ____.

A)learning;performance
B)performance;learning
C)perception;memory
D)memory;perception

Question 40

Tolman's influence on contemporary psychology can be clearly seen in the work of the:

A)Skinnerians
B)radical behaviorists
C)information-processing psychologists
D)more than one of these choices

Question 41

Whereas Watson modeled his psychology after ____,Skinner modeled his after ____.

A)the Russian physiologists;Thorndike
B)Thorndike;the Russian physiologists
C)the Russian physiologists;James
D)James;the Russian physiologists

Question 42

For Skinner,behavior elicited by a known stimulus is called ____ behavior,and behavior that was simply emitted by an organism is called ____ behavior.

A)respondent;operant
B)respondent;selected
C)operant;respondent
D)reflexive;operant

Question 43

According to Skinner,punishment is widely used in efforts to modify behavior because it:

A)is the most effective method available
B)is reinforcing to the punisher
C)weakens undesirable behavior just as reinforcement strengthens desirable behavior
D)has the advantage of increasing stress tolerance in those who are punished

Question 44

Guthrie's one rule for breaking undesirable habits was

A)punish the behavior
B)reinforce the opposite of that behavior
C)ignore the behavior
D)observe the stimuli that elicit the behavior and perform another act in the presence of those stimuli

Question 45

Masters and his colleagues argue that:

A)institutions with token economies are natural
B)institutions without token economies are natural
C)any natural economy with a currency system is unnatural
D)although token economies are natural,they are ineffective as a means of modifying behavior

Question 46

For Skinner,"mental events" were:

A)certain bodily processes to which we have assigned verbal labels
B)important determinants of behavior
C)nonphysical entities
D)modified by reinforcement contingencies just like physical events were

Question 47

For Skinner,the environment was important because it:

A)elicited behavior
B)selected behavior through reinforcement contingencies
C)provided the organism with the opportunity to test its expectancies
D)allowed the organism to develop a cognitive map

Question 48

The Skinnerian version of behavior therapy:

A)has yet to be used effectively
B)uses punishment extensively
C)believes that behavior must be altered with pharmacological agents
D)assumes that abnormal behavior is learned in the same way as any normal behavior

Question 49

Skinner was all of the following except:

A)a positivist
B)a logical positivist
C)a radical behaviorist
D)a descriptive behaviorist

Question 50

According to Skinner,the best way to deal with and decrease undesirable behavior is to:

A)ignore it and thus put the behavior on extinction
B)punish it
C)reinforce it
D)explain to the perpetrator why his or her behavior is undesirable

Question 51

According to Guthrie,the process of forgetting results only from:

A)the passage of time
B)repression
C)the deterioration of a neural bond
D)old learning being displaced by new learning

Question 52

According to Skinner,the most important aspect of operant behavior was that it:

A)was elicited by a known stimulus
B)could be explained by Pavlovian principles
C)was controlled by its consequences,not elicited by a stimulus
D)produced a satisfying state of affairs

Question 53

Skinner's approach was nontheoretical;his method was to manipulate environmental events and note effects on behavior.This was called:

A)a functional analysis
B)radical behaviorism
C)descriptive behaviorism
D)both a functional analysis and descriptive behaviorism

Question 54

Who attempted to formalize Guthrie's theory?

A)Voeks
B)Estes
C)both Voeks and Estes
D)neither Voeks nor Estes

Question 55

According to Guthrie,the effectiveness of punishment is determined by:

A)what it causes an organism to do in the presence of stimuli that elicit undesirable behavior
B)the amount of pain it causes
C)whether or not the organism understands the relationship between its behavior and the punishment
D)the consistency with which the punishment is employed

Question 56

Skinner's basic methodology was to allow an animal to respond freely in an experimental chamber and note the effect of ____ on ____.

A)Stimuli;behavior
B)reinforcement;type of response chosen
C)reinforcement;stimulus presentation
D)reinforcement;response rate

Question 57

According to Skinner,a reinforcer was anything that:

A)reduced a biological drive
B)confirmed an organism's expectancies
C)provided the organism with useful information
D)changed the rate with which a response was made

Question 58

Contemporary psychologists have found all of the following to be true except:

A)genetic influences cannot be ignored in the analysis of behavior
B)some responses an organism makes are more modifiable than others
C)logical positivism provides an excellent guide for productive research
D)overt behavior can be,and should be,used to index cognitive events

Question 59

Concerning the mind-body problem,Skinner was a(n):

A)epiphenomenalist
B)interactionist
C)occasionalist
D)physical monist

Question 60

In all of the applications of Skinnerian principles,which of the following general rules is always the same?

A)change subjective reality and you change behavior
B)change expectancies and you change behavior
C)change reinforcement contingencies and you change behavior
D)change patterns of stimulation and you change behavior

Question 61

Rationalists insisted that abstract scientific terms be operationally defined.

Question 62

Operant principles have not proven very effective when applied to human behavioral problems.

Question 63

Hull's theory was described as a hypothetico-deductive theory.

Question 64

For Skinner,operant behavior is elicited by stimulus events.

Question 65

Describe and discuss Tolman's theory of purposive behavior.

Question 66

Functional analysis of behavior avoids the use of mental events in explanations.

Question 67

Hull had a mentalistic theory of reinforcement.

Question 68

For Skinner,operant behavior is selected or not selected based on the consequences.

Question 69

Logical positivism put empiricism and rationalism together.

Question 70

Guthrie's theory had one law: the law of contingent exercise.

Question 71

For Guthrie,movements make up acts,which make up skills.

Question 72

Neobehaviorism resulted from combining behaviorism and physiological method.

Question 73

Briefly describe Hull's hypothetico-deductive theory and its influence on the development of psychology.

Question 74

Discuss logical positivism and its implications for the science of psychology.

Question 75

Discuss the ideas and principles of Skinner's operant behavior,including functional analysis,nature of reinforcement,influence of the environment,and control of behavior.

Question 76

For Tolman,intervening variables had their effect between environmental events and behavior.

Question 77

Watson and the Russian researchers were positivists who emphasized objective data and minimized theoretical speculations.

Question 78

For Tolman,purposive behavior and molar behavior refer to the same thing.

Question 79

The neobehaviorists differed on many views but tended to agree on some basic ideas.Describe and discuss those ideas.

Question 80

Tolman made a distinction between learning and performance.