Deck 7: Introduction to Cognitivism

Question 1

The theories of Edward Tolman and the Gestalt psychologists were similar with respect to one of the following alternatives. Which one?

A) An emphasis on how knowledge is organized
B) An emphasis on cognitive maps
C) Research with human subjects
D) The law of Prägnanz

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Sarah needs to learn how to spell 40 words for a spelling test tomorrow. Sarah wants to perform as well as she possibly can on the test. Based on findings from verbal learning research, which one of the following would be the best advice to give Sarah?

A) "Spell each word at least 5 times, saying the letters silently to yourself."
B) "Spell each word at least 5 times, saying the letters out loud."
C) "Spell the words until you know them all perfectly."
D) "Spell the words until you know them all perfectly, and then continue to practice spelling them several more times."

Answer 2

D

Question 3

In a series of experiments, Tolman investigated the role of reinforcement in learning. Which one of the following conclusions emerged from his research?

A) Reinforcement is essential for learning, but not for performance.
B) Reinforcement is distracting, so interferes with learning.
C) Responses can be learned even when they are not reinforced.
D) Reinforcement is important only if the organism is unmotivated.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which one of the following is the best example of paired associate learning?

A) Learning how to fly a kite
B) Learning the months of the year in order
C) Learning French grammar
D) Learning the capitals of European countries

Question 5

People are more likely to perceive this configuration of shapes: ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
$ $ $ $
• • • •
As four rows rather than as four columns. Which one of the following Gestaltist concepts best accounts for this phenomenon?

A) Closure
B) Prägnanz
C) Proximity
D) Similarity

Question 6

Hermann Ebbinghaus invented nonsense syllables to eliminate the associations that might help him learn a list of words. In studying how people learn nonsense syllables, verbal learning theorists found that:

A) People tend to form associations with them anyway.
B) People learn them almost as easily as they learn real words.
C) People learn them more easily than real words because the associations they have with real words interfere with learning.
D) The number of associations people have with words and nonsense syllables is unrelated to speed of learning.

Question 7

Which one of the following statements best describes the history of contemporary cognitive theory?

A) It has been a major force guiding learning research ever since the work of Tolman and the Gestaltists in the 1930s.
B) It has been the dominant perspective in learning research only in the past five or six decades.
C) Its roots can be traced to the work of verbal learning theory, which in turn evolved from Jean Piaget's research in Switzerland.
D) It gained prominence only when psychologists began to cast aside the need for objectivity in psychological research.

Question 8

Three of the following illustrate the Gestalt notion that "the whole is more than the sum of its parts." Which one does not reflect this idea?

A) Abby notices that a row of flashing lights look like a single moving light.
B) Bobby gazes at the stars and notices how a cluster of seven stars forms the shape of a tennis racket.
C) Cubby is learning the concept brighter. He is shown a dim light and a bright light and told that the second light is brighter. When he later sees the same bright light and an even brighter one, he correctly identifies the new light as being brighter.
D) Debby learns that "2 plus 2 equal 4" and repeats this fact to herself over and over again until she knows it perfectly.

Question 9

Frank sees an egg-shaped ball that he later "remembers" as being perfectly round. Frank's mistaken recollection is an example of the Gestalt principle of:

A) proximity
B) closure
C) Prägnanz
D) restructuring

Question 10

Based on findings from verbal learning research, which list of 3-letter syllables should be easiest to learn?

A) CAR, DOG, BUN
B) BUX, RIJ, NOP
C) TON, FIT, AIR
D) XDP, MFC, RLJ

Question 11

Mark needs to learn the planets of the solar system listed in the order of their proximity to the sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. If we consider the serial learning curve, which planets will probably be the most difficult for Mark to learn?

A) The planets closest to the sun (e.g., Mercury, Venus)
B) The middle planets (e.g., Mars, Jupiter)
C) The planets farthest from the sun (e.g., Uranus, Neptune)
D) The planets at the two ends of the list (e.g., Mercury, Neptune)

Question 12

Julia sees a set of twelve circles arranged like this: O O O O O O
O O O O O O
Using Gestalt principles, we can predict that Julia will perceive them as:

A) 2 groups of 6 circles each.
B) 6 groups of 2 circles each.
C) 3 groups of 4 circles each.
D) 4 groups of 3 circles each.

Question 13

You perceive a shape as a rectangle even though two of its lines are too short to connect at one corner. Which one of the following Gestaltist concepts best accounts for this phenomenon?

A) Closure
B) Prägnanz
C) Similarity
D) Proximity

Question 14

Mr. Fremont tells his French class, "La plume means 'pen.'" Which one of the following students in his class is exhibiting Tolman's notion of latent learning?

A) Alicia immediately repeats the sentence, "La plume means 'pen.'"
B) Bethany also repeats the sentence immediately, but she mispronounces the French word plume as "plum."
C) Caroline is reading a novel hidden between the pages of her French book and so isn't paying attention.
D) Donna says nothing at the time, but she correctly recites the French word for "pen" the next day.

Question 15

Which one of the following is the best example of serial learning?

A) Learning how to fly a kite
B) Learning the months of the year in order
C) Learning French grammar
D) Learning the capitals of European countries

Question 16

Ms. McDevitt's class has learned how to calculate the area of a rectangle. Ms. McDevitt then asks Teresa how to calculate the area of a square. Which one of the following alternatives best describes the Gestalt perspective of how Teresa would solve this problem?

A) She would engage in trial and error behavior, attempting one solution after another, until she eventually solved the problem.
B) She would solve the problem on her own only after watching the teacher solve the problem.
C) She would think about the problem for a while and, once she realized that a square was a kind of rectangle, be able to solve the problem.
D) Through a process of shaping, with her teacher reinforcing her for appropriate responses, she would eventually solve the problem.

Question 17

Harry and Sam are both taking French; Harry is also taking German, but Sam is not. Harry and Sam learn these French vocabulary words in their French class: head - la tête
Eye - l'œil
Mouth - la bouche
The following day, Harry learns these German vocabulary words in his German class:
Head - der Kopf
Eye - das Auge
Mouth - der Mund
A week later the two boys are given a French vocabulary quiz in which they are asked to give the French words for head, eye, and mouth. Other things being equal, findings from verbal learning research would lead us to predict that:

A) Due to retroactive inhibition, Harry will get a lower grade on the quiz than Sam.
B) Due to proactive inhibition, Harry will get a higher grade on the quiz than Sam.
C) Due to retroactive facilitation, Harry will get a lower grade on the quiz than Sam.
D) Due to proactive facilitation, Harry will get a higher grade on the quiz than Sam.

Question 18

Which one of the following best illustrates Tolman's notion of a cognitive map?

A) You study a map of Australia until you can reproduce it with considerable accuracy.
B) You study a map of Australia but reproduce it with many distortions in shape and location.
C) After walking around campus for a few days, you learn where buildings are in relation to one another.
D) The concepts table and chair are more closely associated in memory than the words bed and refrigerator.

Question 19

Tolman was interested in examining the role of expectations in behavior. Which one of the following statements most accurately describes the method he used to study expectations?

A) He never reinforced any given response in the same way twice.
B) He reinforced a response the same way for several trials, then abruptly changed the type or amount of reinforcement.
C) He asked subjects what they were expecting a particular response to accomplish.
D) He gave his subjects a lengthy survey that included two or three questions concerning their expectations about the experiment.

Question 20

Which one of the following statements reflects Tolman's notion of purposive behaviorism?

A) Organisms sometimes reinforce themselves (e.g., by feeling proud).
B) Organisms behave in order to attain particular goals.
C) Behavior can be altered by reinforcement, but not by punishment.
D) When organisms discover that a particular response is no longer reinforced as it has previously been, they increase the frequency of that response for a short time.

Question 21

Describe what is meant by serial learning and paired associate learning and give a real-life example of each.

Question 22

These four teachers claim to be practicing principles from cognitive psychology. Based on the following information, which one is not?

A) Ms. Anthony, a high school biology teacher, draws a hierarchy on the board showing how mammals, fish, birds, reptiles, and amphibians are all vertebrates, and how vertebrates and invertebrates are both animals.
B) Mr. Bottenberg, a fourth grade teacher, suggests that his students try to learn their spelling words by thinking about similarly spelled words that they already know.
C) Mr. Conrad, a junior high school soccer coach, asks his players to practice passing the ball to one another as they run down the field, then openly praises those players who are passing skillfully.
D) Ms. Danforth, a third grade teacher, introduces her class to the topic of multiplication by showing them how it relates to addition.

Question 23

Which one of the following statements best describes contextual views of learning?

A) Information stored in long-term memory is highly interrelated, such that everything is either directly or indirectly connected with everything else.
B) Learners can tackle complex tasks more successfully when they have other people or concrete tools to assist them in their efforts.
C) Practice in applying principles of deductive and inductive reasoning leads to more logical thought processes in a variety of contexts.
D) People of all ages-but especially young children-learn most effectively when they can relate a new concept to their own experiences.

Question 24

Describe three general implications of cognitive learning theories for classroom practice. Illustrate each implication with a concrete example of what a teacher might do.

Question 25

Three of the following are assumptions that underlie contemporary cognitive theories of learning. Which one is not such an assumption?

A) Mental events can be studied indirectly by observing behavior.
B) Humans often learn by relating new information to what they already know.
C) Researchers can study mental events only by abandoning objectivity.
D) Humans sometimes learn differently than other species do.

Question 26

Contemporary information processing theories of learning can best be described as theories that:

A) Focus on how people solve problems
B) Propose that people learn in distinctly computer-like ways
C) Deal primarily with how people develop the ability to think abstractly
D) Explain how people interpret and remember the events they experience

Question 27

Based on findings from verbal learning research, which list of 3-letter syllables should be most difficult to learn?

A) CAR, DOG, BUN
B) BUX, RIJ, NOP
C) TON, FIT, AIR
D) XDP, MFC, RLJ

Question 28

Contemporary cognitive learning theories share a number of common underlying assumptions. Describe four of these assumptions.

Question 29

Explain what Gestalt psychologists meant by the phrase, "The whole is more than the sum of its parts." Give two examples-one related to perception and one related to learning-to illustrate your explanation.

Question 30

Over the course of history, science has continued to evolve as new data emerge and scientists offer new ideas to explain those data. This continuing process of change in scientific thinking over the years best reflects the idea of:

A) information processing theory
B) individual constructivism
C) social constructivism
D) Prägnanz

Question 31

Identify two contributions that each of the following made to contemporary cognitive learning theory:

Question 32

The four researchers below are all conducting research on how people learn paired associates. Which of them is most clearly drawing an inference about a cognitive process?

A) Dr. Andrade tells some people to repeat each pair out loud several times, and these people perform better than people not told to repeat pairs. He concludes that oral repetition facilitates learning.
B) Dr. Barnard tells some people to form a visual image of each pair, and these people remember more pairs correctly than subjects not told to form images. She concludes that visual imagery facilitates learning.
C) Dr. Carrera records the brain waves of people studying paired associates and subjects quietly meditating. She observes that there are different patterns of brain waves for the two activities.
D) Dr. Davis compares how similarly twins and pairs of unrelated children learn paired associates. Finding greater similarity in the performance of twins, he concludes that learning ability is influenced by heredity.

Question 33

Which one of the following teaching strategies best reflects the perspective of cognitive psychology?

A) Mr. Atherton plans classroom activities that are likely to elicit desirable student behaviors.
B) Mr. Birleffi makes sure that he performs classroom tasks in exactly the same way he wants his students to perform them.
C) Mr. Camacho tells his students both what they should do and what they should not do as they use the equipment in his chemistry lab.
D) Mr. Darwin has students recall personal experiences related to new concepts they are studying.

Question 34

Early behaviorists argued that because thinking cannot be observed, it cannot be studied objectively and scientifically. How would a cognitive psychologist be most likely to respond to this argument?

A) "Modern technology allows us to study thought processes very precisely."
B) "By studying people's responses to various stimuli, we can draw inferences about thought processes that may underlie those responses."
C) "We study mental events, which aren't the same thing as thinking."
D) "We can determine what people are thinking simply by asking them to describe their thoughts. The things they say are observable behaviors that we can measure objectively."

Question 35

Which one of the following scenarios best reflects the basic idea of social constructivism?

A) Two students discuss possible interpretations of the proverb "We only know the worth of water when the well is dry."
B) A teacher assigns a laboratory activity using cumbersome equipment that students can only use successfully by working in pairs.
C) Four students in a study group divide the day's reading assignment into four sections. Each student reads a section and then teaches the material to the other group members.
D) When a student borrows a classmate's marker without asking and then leaves the cap off overnight (rendering it dry and useless the following morning), her teacher reminds her of one of the class rules: Students must respect one another's property.

Question 36

Which one of the following scenarios best reflects the basic idea of individual constructivism?

A) A student tries to make sense of a poorly written and confusing magazine article.
B) A teacher assigns a laboratory activity using cumbersome equipment that students can only use successfully by working in pairs.
C) A student practices playing the F major scale on his violin until he can play it perfectly.
D) Four students in a study group divide the day's reading assignment into four sections. Each student reads a section and then teaches the material to the other group members.

Question 37

A number of learning principles emerged from early verbal learning research. Which one of the following statements contradicts what verbal learning theorists found?

A) People tend to organize unorganized information.
B) People are more likely to remember general ideas than word-for-word information.
C) Practicing for a long time all at once is more effective than practicing for short periods on different occasions.
D) People sometimes change information into a form they can learn and remember more easily.