Question 1

The proper order of events required for classical conditioning to occur is CS---US---UR.

Accepted Answer

Classical conditioning occurs when a neutral stimulus (CS) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US) that elicits an unconditioned response (UR). The CS eventually elicits a conditioned response (CR) that is similar to the UR.

Question 2

Negative reinforcement is a type of punishment that decreases the behavior it follows.

Accepted Answer

Negative reinforcement is NOT a type of punishment, but rather a type of operant conditioning where the removal or avoidance of a particular stimulus increases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated in the future.

Question 3

A child calls his black cat "Binkie" but does not call other black cats this name, which illustrates operant stimulus discrimination.

Accepted Answer

The child's behavior of only calling his specific black cat "Binkie" and not other black cats indicates stimulus discrimination, which is a type of operant conditioning.

Question 4

Superstitious behaviors are observed in people, not in other animals.

Accepted Answer

Superstitious behaviors have been observed in other animals, such as pigeons, through experiments where they associate random actions with rewards, similar to human superstitions.

Question 5

In Thorndike's law of effect, events critical for conditioning occur before the response.

Accepted Answer

In Thorndike's law of effect, the critical events for conditioning (rewards or punishments) occur after the response, not before. This principle suggests that behaviors followed by satisfying consequences are more likely to recur, while those followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated.

Question 6

Advertisers often try to use higher-order conditioning by pairing images that evoke good feelings with pictures of their products.

Accepted Answer

Higher-order conditioning involves pairing a neutral stimulus with a conditioned stimulus that has already been associated with a specific response. In advertising, this can involve pairing images that evoke positive emotions with a product in order to create a positive association between the two.

Question 7

The concept of a response chain helps explain how the entire sequence of events necessary to prepare a meal is reinforced by the final dining experience.

Accepted Answer

The concept of a response chain is a learning theory that suggests a behavior can be reinforced by the entire sequence of events leading up to the behavior's outcome. In the context of preparing a meal, the response chain includes all the actions necessary to plan, shop for, cook, and present the meal, and these actions are reinforced by the satisfaction of the final dining experience.

Question 8

A teacher does not respond to the students who call out a question without raising their hands.By withholding her attention from these students who do not raise their hands, she is eliminating this behavior through operant extinction.

Accepted Answer

Operant extinction involves withholding a reinforcement that was previously given for a behavior, which causes the behavior to decrease over time. In this case, the reinforcement is the teacher's attention, and by not responding to students who don't follow the expected behavior of raising their hands, the teacher is effectively using operant extinction to decrease the occurrence of that behavior.

Question 9

Every time Mac's dog heard the sound of the electric can opener he began to salivate because he associated the sound with the food.In this example, the dog's salivation to the sound of the can opener would be the unconditioned response.

Accepted Answer

The dog's salivation to the food would be the unconditioned response, while his salivation to the sound of the can opener would be the conditioned response.

Question 10

Presenting the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus will result in stimulus generalization.

Accepted Answer

Presenting the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus leads to extinction, not stimulus generalization. Stimulus generalization occurs when a response is elicited by stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus.

Question 11

As new stimuli become less like the original conditioned stimulus, an animal's responding tends to increase.

Accepted Answer

This statement is incorrect. As new stimuli become less like the original conditioned stimulus, an animal's responding tends to decrease. This is known as stimulus discrimination.

Question 12

In Pavlov's experiments, the meat powder (food)placed on the dog's tongue was the conditioned stimulus.

Accepted Answer

The meat powder (food) was the unconditioned stimulus, and the sound of the bell was the conditioned stimulus.

Question 13

A reward will reliably increase responding, while a reinforcer will increase responding only occasionally.

Accepted Answer

The statement is actually the opposite of what is true. A reinforcer will reliably increase responding, while a reward may only increase responding occasionally. The reason for this is that a reinforcer is given immediately after the desired behavior, while a reward is given after a certain period of time or after completing a task. This delay can sometimes make the reward less effective in increasing responding.

Question 14

With most classical conditioning, the optimal delay between CS and US is from half a second to about five seconds.

Accepted Answer

This is true. Research suggests that for most classical conditioning, the optimal delay between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (US) is from half a second to about five seconds. If the delay is too short or too long, conditioning may not occur or may occur less effectively.

Question 15

We pick up phones that are ringing, but rarely answer phones that are silent, which illustrates the concept of stimulus control.

Accepted Answer

Stimulus control refers to the concept that the presence or absence of stimuli can influence our behavior. In this case, the ringing phone serves as a stimulus that prompts us to answer it, while a silent phone does not elicit the same response.

Question 16

You are a very good bowler now, but you did not start out that way.Your father reinforced you for each small improvement you made over several months through a process known as shaping.

Accepted Answer

The passage clearly states that the father reinforced the bowler for small improvements over several months through shaping, implying that the bowler did not start out as a good bowler and had to improve over time.

Question 17

Emotional conditioning applies to animals, such as dogs and cats, as well as to humans.

Accepted Answer

Emotional conditioning is a type of learning in which an organism learns to respond to a previously neutral stimulus in a particular way based on the emotional association it has developed with that stimulus. This type of conditioning is seen in both animals and humans.

Question 18

Every time you give advice to a friend she suddenly turns cold and distant.Lately, you have stopped offering her advice because your advice was rejected, which is a form of negative punishment.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Every time you give advice to a...

Question 19

Developing a fear of sharks after watching a movie that depicts "man-eating sharks" would have to take place through vicarious classical conditioning.

Accepted Answer

Vicarious classical conditioning occurs when we learn to associate a stimulus with a response through observing someone else receive reinforcement or punishment. In this case, the movie depicting man-eating sharks would serve as the stimulus, and the fear of sharks would be the learned response through observing the characters' reactions and the consequences portrayed in the film.

Question 20

Three-year-old Jake ran up to the neighbor's new lab puppy.The puppy barked loudly and playfully jumped up on Jake, knocking him down.Although Jake was not hurt, the experience did frighten him.The next time he saw the lab puppy, he hugged his mother's knees and began to cry.Regarding the development of Jake's fear of dogs, this puppy served as the conditioned stimulus.

Accepted Answer

The lab puppy served as the conditioned stimulus because it caused Jake to develop a fear of dogs after the initial negative experience.

Quiz 6: Conditioning and Learning.