Question 1

Every Friday you receive a paycheck for work performed the previous week.You are on a variable interval reinforcement schedule.

Accepted Answer

You are on a fixed interval reinforcement schedule because you receive reinforcement (paycheck) at fixed intervals of time (every Friday), not at variable intervals.

Question 2

Of the following,which phobia would be LEAST likely to develop?

Accepted Answer

A fear of books is not a common phobia, unlike a fear of snakes, spiders, or blood, which are more common and often have an evolutionary basis.

Question 3

In Pavlov's original experiments with digestion,he noticed that the dogs began salivating simply when the laboratory attendant walked into the room.

Accepted Answer

Pavlov observed that the dogs began salivating not just when food was presented, but also in anticipation of food when they saw the laboratory attendant or heard a bell that had been previously associated with food.

Question 4

Albert Bandura demonstrated that people would be ____________ likely to imitate a model whose behavior is ____________.

Accepted Answer

Bandura's research on social learning theory showed that people are more likely to imitate behavior that is reinforced, meaning behavior that leads to desirable outcomes or rewards.

Question 5

In Pavlov's classic experiments,the CS was the food.

Accepted Answer

In Pavlov's classic experiments, the Conditioned Stimulus (CS) was the bell sound, not the food. The food acted as the Unconditioned Stimulus (US) that naturally elicited salivation, a response.

Question 6

"I've never taken drugs,but I don't need to try them to know they're bad for you.I've seen too many lives ruined." This statement BEST illustrates:

Accepted Answer

The statement is an example of vicarious punishment, as the person has learned from observing the negative consequences experienced by others who took drugs.

Question 7

The fact that many people demonstrate mild to moderate fears of rodents,snakes,heights,and blood,but few demonstrate mild to moderate fears of newspapers,flowers,paper plates,and socks,lends support to the idea of:

Accepted Answer

Biological preparedness is the idea that humans are inherently more likely to develop fears of certain stimuli that were a threat to our ancestors' survival, such as snakes and heights, as opposed to harmless stimuli like newspapers and paper plates. This theory explains why certain fears are more common across different cultures and suggests that our fear responses are at least partially innate.

Question 8

Taste aversion differs from typical classical conditioning because:

Accepted Answer

Taste aversion is a form of classical conditioning in which an individual associates a specific taste or smell with negative consequences such as illness or nausea, leading to an aversion to that particular food or drink. Unlike traditional classical conditioning, taste aversion only requires a single pairing of the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) for learning to occur. This is because the association is biologically prepared in humans and animals, as survival is enhanced by quickly learning to avoid potentially toxic substances.

Question 9

Sexual fetishes are primarily learned through operant conditioning.

Accepted Answer

Sexual fetishes are not solely learned through operant conditioning, but can also be influenced by factors such as genetics, early childhood experiences, and cultural/environmental factors. While operant conditioning may play a role in the development of certain fetishes, it is not the sole determinant.

Question 10

You want to condition your cat to stay out of your garbage cans with as few trials as possible.Of the following,which method would best accomplish your goal?

Accepted Answer

Lacing some food in the garbage with a nausea-inducing drug would create a strong association between the garbage and feeling sick, leading to a rapid change in behavior with potentially fewer trials due to the significant and direct consequence of the action. This method utilizes the principle of classical conditioning, where an animal learns to associate two stimuli, in this case, the garbage (neutral stimulus) and feeling nauseous (unconditioned stimulus), leading to a conditioned response of avoiding the garbage.

Question 11

Farmer Niles needs rain.He sees dark clouds,and then begins shouting at the clouds "to rain." It starts to rain.After another dry spell,Farmer Niles performs the same sequence of steps and it starts to rain again.Soon,he is convinced that shouting at clouds produces rain.According to Skinner,Farmer Niles has experienced:

Accepted Answer

Farmer Niles has developed a superstitious behavior of shouting at the clouds to produce rain. There is no evidence that he has gained any insight learning or has observed any modeling behavior. Vicarious reinforcement is also not applicable in this scenario.

Question 12

Generally,phobias are initially learned through classical conditioning but are maintained over time through:

Accepted Answer

Phobias are maintained over time through negative reinforcement, specifically avoidance conditioning. This means that the fear response is reinforced by the removal or avoidance of the feared object or situation, leading the phobia to persist or worsen over time. This is why exposure therapy, which involves gradual exposure to the feared object or situation, is often used as a treatment for phobias since it counteracts the negative reinforcement of avoidance conditioning.

Question 13

The development of superstitions suggests that:

Accepted Answer

The development of superstitions, where irrelevant behaviors become associated with reinforcement, suggests that sometimes irrelevant behaviors are accidentally reinforced.

Question 14

If you are being rewarded after a predetermined time interval,you are on a fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement.

Accepted Answer

If you are being rewarded after a predetermined time interval, you are on a fixed interval schedule of reinforcement. A fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement involves rewarding a behavior after a certain number of responses have been made.

Question 15

Rhea is an avid basketball fan.Every time her team plays,Rhea wears her "lucky underwear." Rhea said that she does this because her team won the championship when she last wore her lucky underwear.We could describe this behavior as:

Accepted Answer

Rhea's behavior can be described as superstitious because she falsely believes that wearing her lucky underwear is responsible for her team's win, when it may have been a coincidence.

Question 16

The "law of effect" states that the consequences of a behavior lead to changes in the probability of its occurrence.

Accepted Answer

The law of effect is a principle in behaviorism that suggests that the consequences of a behavior are what determines its probability of being repeated in the future. Specifically, behaviors that are followed by positive consequences (i.e. rewards) are more likely to be repeated, while behaviors that are followed by negative consequences (i.e. punishments) are less likely to be repeated. This principle has been demonstrated in numerous experiments with animals and humans, and is considered to be a fundamental concept in the field of psychology.

Question 17

You behave the way you do entirely because of innate biological factors.

Accepted Answer

While innate biological factors do play a role in behavior, there are also a variety of environmental and social factors that can influence behavior as well.

Question 18

In his research,Skinner discovered superstitious reinforcement while working with:

Accepted Answer

Skinner discovered superstitious reinforcement while working with pigeons. In one of his experiments, he randomly delivered food to a pigeon regardless of its behavior. As a result, the pigeon began exhibiting certain behaviors, such as turning around in circles or pecking at the floor, in the belief that it was causing the food to appear. This demonstrated the concept of superstitious reinforcement, where a behavior is reinforced coincidentally rather than intentionally.

Question 19

What happens during vicarious reinforcement?

Accepted Answer

During vicarious reinforcement, an individual observes someone else receiving reinforcement for a particular behavior. This observation can then influence the likelihood that the individual will engage in that behavior in the future, due to the observed positive consequences.

Question 20

In classical conditioning,Pavlov found that the dogs learned best if the metronome preceded the food by one half of a second.

Accepted Answer

This statement is true. Pavlov found that the interval between the conditioned stimulus (metronome) and unconditioned stimulus (food) was important in determining the strength and timing of the conditioned response (salivation). He discovered that the dogs learned best when the metronome was presented about one half of a second before the food was given.

Quiz 7: Basic Principles of Learning