Deck 6: A--Learning

Question 1

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

Answer 1

True

Question 2

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

Answer 2

False

Question 3

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

Answer 3

False

Question 4

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 5

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 6

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

Question 7

Negative reinforcement decreases the likelihood of a response.

Question 8

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

Question 9

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

Question 10

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

Question 11

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

Question 12

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

Question 13

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

Question 14

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

Question 15

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 16

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

Question 17

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.

Question 18

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

Question 19

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

Question 20

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

Question 21

In operant conditioning ____________________ occurs if responses stop producing reinforcements.

Question 22

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 23

Early behaviorism was sometimes referred to as ____________________ psychology.

Question 24

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

Question 25

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

Question 26

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

Question 27

Another name for negative punishment is ____________________.

Question 28

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

Question 29

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

Question 30

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

Question 31

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

Question 32

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

Question 33

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

Question 34

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

Question 35

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

Question 36

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

Question 37

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

Question 38

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

Question 39

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

Question 40

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

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

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 43

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 44

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 45

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

Question 46

Describe the four schedules of reinforcement and give an example of each type of reinforcement schedule.

Question 47

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