Question 1

According to this perspective of operant conditioning, the best predictor of behaviour is the perceived contingency between a behaviour and its consequences. This is the ___________ perspective of operant conditioning.

Accepted Answer

The cognitive perspective of operant conditioning emphasizes the role of mental processes and the individual's perception of the contingency between behaviors and their consequences. This contrasts with the traditional behaviorist view, which focuses more on observable behaviors and reinforcements without considering internal mental states.

Question 2

When young animals are raised in "enriched" environments, they tend to have heavier brains with more dendrites and synapses and have higher concentrations of various neurotransmitters. Instances like these most clearly demonstrate how

Accepted Answer

Learning experiences can alter biological structures and functions, such as increasing brain weight and the complexity of neural connections, demonstrating the impact of environmental enrichment on biological aspects of the brain.

Question 3

Which of the following best demonstrates how learned taste aversions can be used to help animals?

Accepted Answer

Learned taste aversions occur when an animal associates the taste of a specific food with an unpleasant symptom, such as nausea. In choice D, a coyote learns to avoid eating sheep after consuming sheep hide laced with lithium chloride, which causes nausea. This method is used to protect livestock by teaching predators to avoid them, demonstrating a direct application of learned taste aversions to help animals (in this case, sheep) by deterring predators.

Question 4

Biological factors can influence learning as evidenced in the concepts of ________________.

Accepted Answer

Preparedness and instinctual drift are biological factors that influence learning. Preparedness refers to the idea that certain associations are learned more readily due to evolutionary factors, while instinctual drift involves the tendency for an animal's innate responses to interfere with conditioned responses.

Question 5

In classical conditioning, the key factor is not how often the conditioned stimulus is paired with the unconditioned stimulus, but how well the conditioned stimulus predicts the appearance of the unconditioned stimulus. This is referred to as

Accepted Answer

Expectancy is the key factor in classical conditioning, as it refers to the anticipation or prediction that the conditioned stimulus will be followed by the unconditioned stimulus, leading to learning.

Question 6

According to the concept of instinctual drift, which of the following statements would be true?

Accepted Answer

Instinctual drift refers to the tendency of an animal to revert to instinctive behaviors that can interfere with learned responses. Pigeons naturally peck for food, so training them to peck a button for food aligns with their instinct, making it easier than training them to peck to escape a shock, which is not instinctive.

Question 7

The text discussed an experiment in which rats were exposed to x-rays that were paired with sweet water, a light, and a buzzer. The x-rays made the rats ill and the researchers wanted to know which stimuli would become associated with the illness. The results revealed that the rats avoided only the sweet water. The findings from this experiment were used to demonstrate the concept of ________.

Accepted Answer

The concept demonstrated is "preparedness," which suggests that organisms are biologically predisposed to make certain associations more easily than others. In this experiment, rats more readily associated taste (sweet water) with illness than they did with visual or auditory stimuli (light or buzzer), illustrating this concept.

Question 8

Cognitive learning theorists believe that the most important factor in learning through classical conditioning is

Accepted Answer

Cognitive learning theorists emphasize the importance of the predictability of the unconditioned stimulus by the conditioned stimulus, meaning how reliably the conditioned stimulus signals the arrival of the unconditioned stimulus is seen as the most crucial factor in learning through classical conditioning.

Question 9

In order to prevent coyotes from killing ranchers' sheep, pieces of sheep flesh have been laced with lithium chloride, a nausea-inducing drug. It is hoped that the coyote will then associate the nausea with the sheep and become less likely to kill them. This applied research capitalize son the phenomenon of

Accepted Answer

This approach relies on preparedness, where animals (including coyotes) are biologically predisposed to make certain associations, such as associating a specific taste with sickness, more easily than others. This makes the learning process faster and more enduring in preventing undesirable behavior, like attacking sheep.

Question 10

Which of the following provides the most direct evidence for the existence of cognitive maps in animals?

Accepted Answer

Cognitive maps allow animals to visualize and navigate their environment, even when direct paths are blocked. The rat's ability to find an alternative route demonstrates this mental mapping capability.

Question 11

Edward Tolman's research on how rats performed in mazes provided powerful evidence suggesting that

Accepted Answer

Edward Tolman's research is most famous for introducing the concept of cognitive maps. His studies with rats in mazes showed that the rats seemed to develop a mental representation of the maze's layout, which they used to navigate through it more efficiently over time, even without direct rewards at every turn. This suggested that learning could occur via internal processes, not just through external rewards and punishments, challenging the behaviorist perspective that dominated psychology at the time.

Question 12

The behavioural view of learning is both challenged and questioned by

Accepted Answer

The behavioral view, which emphasizes observable behaviors and the ways they're learned, is challenged by concepts like insight and cognitive maps because these concepts involve internal cognitive processes that cannot be directly observed. Insight refers to the sudden realization of a problem's solution, and cognitive maps are mental representations of physical locations, both suggesting that learning involves internal understanding not accounted for by simple stimulus-response relationships.

Question 13

In explaining the effects of operant conditioning, which of the following is most likely to be emphasized by a cognitive psychologist?

Accepted Answer

Cognitive psychologists emphasize the role of mental processes in learning, including the awareness of the contingencies between behaviors and their consequences, which is central to understanding operant conditioning from a cognitive perspective.

Question 14

The fact that exposure to stimulating environments seems to slow down the declines in cognitive functioning that usually occur in late adulthood best demonstrates how ________.

Accepted Answer

The fact that stimulating environments can slow cognitive decline in late adulthood illustrates how learning and environmental experiences (in this case, the stimulation from the environment) can have a direct impact on biological processes, such as cognitive functioning. This demonstrates the principle that learning influences biology.

Question 15

Rats and human patients experience pleasure when the hypothalamus is stimulated and will act as if they have just been _________.

Accepted Answer

Stimulation of the hypothalamus can trigger pleasure responses in both rats and humans, which acts as a reinforcement, encouraging them to repeat the behavior that led to the stimulation.

Question 16

Which of the following is most related to the concept of instinctual drift?

Accepted Answer

Instinctual drift refers to the phenomenon where an animal's learned behavior is overridden by innate behaviors. In choice A, the chicken's reaction to the ball as if it were food is an example of instinctual drift, where its natural food-pecking behavior overrides the trained behavior to play baseball.

Question 17

The concept of instinctual drift refers to

Accepted Answer

Instinctual drift is the phenomenon where an animal's learned behavior tends to revert to its instinctual behaviors over time, rather than sticking to the behavior that was conditioned. This shows the powerful influence of innate behaviors even in the face of learned responses.

Question 18

A researcher conducts an experiment in which rats in one group (Group 1) receive 10 learning trials in which they receive a shock after a light is lit. Another group of rats (Group 2) receives the same 10 trials in which the shock is paired with the light, but they also receive 10 additional random trials in which the light is not followed by a shock. According to the expectancy model of classical conditioning, we would expect the tone to become a conditioned stimulus for fear for the rats

Accepted Answer

The answer of A researcher conducts an experiment in which...

Question 19

Snakes, closed spaces, wild animals, and airplanes are common sources of phobias for humans. Why might it be that humans are less often treated for phobias involving rainbows, smiles, or cheerful people?

Accepted Answer

We are biologically and cognitively prepared to acquire certain fears more than others due to evolutionary factors. Fears of snakes, closed spaces, and other dangers have historically signaled real threats to survival, making us more predisposed to develop phobias around them.

Question 20

The expectancy model was discussed in the context of classical conditioning and it asserted that the key factor in learning is how well the ________.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The expectancy model was discussed in the...

Quiz 7: Learning and Adaptation: the Role of Experience