Question 1

Studies by Ader and Cohen revealed that classical conditioning can produce

Accepted Answer

The studies by Ader and Cohen demonstrated that classical conditioning could produce a phenomenon known as immunosuppression, where the immune system's normal responses are weakened or suppressed as a result of the conditioned response to a specific stimulus.

Question 2

Being able to predict the occurrence of one stimulus by the presence of another one is called

Accepted Answer

This is describing the concept of contingency, which refers to the relationship between two stimuli where the presence of one predicts the occurrence of the other. Classical conditioning describes the process of learning this association, discrimination refers to the ability to differentiate between stimuli, and association is a more general term that could apply to any kind of mental connection between two things.

Question 3

Kenny ate several hotdogs at the baseball game. Several hours later he got very nauseous and spent most of the night being physically sick. We can expect that he will

Accepted Answer

Kenny's physical sickness was most likely caused by the hotdogs he ate at the baseball game, so it is reasonable to assume that he may be unable to eat a hotdog at the next ball game he attends. However, there is no evidence to suggest that he will lose interest in or only watch baseball on TV because of this experience.

Question 4

Watson and Raynor conditioned fear in Little Albert using a ________ as a CS.

Accepted Answer

Watson and Raynor conditioned fear in Little Albert using a white rat as the conditioned stimulus (CS). They paired the presentation of the rat with a loud noise, which became the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that elicited fear. Eventually, Little Albert became afraid of the rat even without the loud noise because it had been associated with fear through conditioning.

Question 5

Some children with seizure problems bang their heads against a wall causing themselves serious injury. As a result, a psychologist might administer a brief electric shock to such a child every time she bangs her head on the wall. This would be an example of

Accepted Answer

The administration of a brief electric shock to a child to stop them from banging their head against the wall is an example of aversive conditioning. Aversive conditioning is a type of learning in which an organism learns to associate a behavior with an unpleasant or painful stimulus, which then reduces the frequency of that behavior. In this case, the electric shock is an unpleasant stimulus that the child learns to associate with the behavior of banging their head on the wall, leading them to reduce or stop engaging in that behavior. Negative reinforcement (choice A) refers to the removal of an unpleasant or aversive stimulus following a desired behavior, which increases the likelihood of that behavior being repeated. Observational learning (choice B) refers to learning that results from observing others' behaviors and their consequences. Generalization (choice C) refers to the tendency to respond in a similar way to stimuli that are similar but not identical to a learned stimulus or situation.

Question 6

In a particular TV add, an attractive model is shown with a red Corvette. Which of the following statements is correct?

Accepted Answer

The ad will work best if the Corvette precedes the appearance of the attractive person because it creates an association between the car and the attractive person, enhancing the effectiveness of the advertisement through classical conditioning.

Question 7

Yolanda is afraid of going to the dentist, but not the doctor. She is exhibiting

Accepted Answer

Discrimination is the ability to differentiate between similar stimuli and respond differently to them. In this case, Yolanda can differentiate between going to the dentist and going to the doctor and has learned to only fear the dentist. This is an example of discrimination, as opposed to generalization where the fear would extend to all medical professionals or settings, or learned helplessness where Yolanda would simply give up trying to overcome her fear. Negative punishment is the removal of a pleasant stimulus following a behavior in order to decrease the likelihood of that behavior occurring again, and is not relevant in this scenario.

Question 8

Wendell always gets anxious prior to taking a math test. In science, his class has just started a section on physics which happens to include many formulas and numbers. When the teacher announces a quiz in science, Wendell begins to feel anxious. What is Wendell demonstrating?

Accepted Answer

Wendell is exhibiting generalization by feeling anxious about the upcoming science quiz because it involves formulas and numbers, which are also present in math tests that make him anxious. This shows that his anxiety is not specific to math, but rather generalized to situations that share similar features.

Question 9

Ronald, a recovering alcoholic, has not had a drink in seven months. He has stopped visiting all of his regular bars and has lost his craving for alcohol. When his boss invites him out to "his favorite" bar one day after work, Ronald gets an overwhelming desire to have a drink. What is Ronald demonstrating?

Accepted Answer

Ronald is demonstrating renewal, which is the reappearance of a response that had been extinguished in a different context. In this situation, Ronald had stopped visiting his regular bars and had lost his craving for alcohol, but when he was invited to a new bar, his desire to drink returned.

Question 10

John is taking an agent that causes nausea every time he smokes a cigarette. This is a form of

Accepted Answer

This is aversive conditioning because an unpleasant stimulus (nausea) is being associated with a specific behavior (smoking).

Question 11

A squirrel eats an acorn, just as it does every day, but this time the acorn makes the squirrel sick. The squirrel then avoids acorns for more than a month. This avoidance behavior is

Accepted Answer

This behavior is an example of classical conditioning, where the squirrel associates the unpleasant experience of getting sick with the taste and smell of acorns, leading to the avoidance of acorns in the future.

Question 12

You are surprised to discover that classical conditioning can produce immunosuppression. The original discovery of this phenomenon involved rats, but more recent studies indicate that immunosuppression may also occur in humans. This means that

Accepted Answer

Classical conditioning can lead to immunosuppression, meaning environmental triggers (conditioned stimuli) can potentially suppress the immune system, as demonstrated in both animal and human studies.

Question 13

Grayson's dog salivates each time he hears the fridge door open. Grayson decides to try an experiment. He sets up several trials where his dog salivates upon hearing the fridge door open but does not receive any food. As a result, the dog stops salivating when the fridge door is opened. What happened?

Accepted Answer

Extinction has occurred because Grayson's dog no longer associates the sound of the fridge door opening with the delivery of food. Grayson intentionally withheld the food pairing with the sound, which eventually led to the cessation of the salivation response.

Question 14

Bubba, a very smart German shepherd, has learned that if he barks at the neighbors while they are grilling, they will throw him a treat. However, his owner, Paul, does not want Bubba to eat "people" food. When Paul is in the yard, Bubba never barks at the neighbors. According to operant conditioning principles, Bubba is demonstrating that he can

Accepted Answer

Bubba is demonstrating discrimination, as he is able to distinguish between different situations (when Paul is present vs. when he is not) and adjust his behavior accordingly. He knows that barking at the neighbors when Paul is present will not result in a treat, so he inhibits that response. This shows that he has learned to discriminate between the two situations. The other choices are not accurate descriptions of Bubba's behavior in this scenario.

Question 15

It should take about thirty minutes for the aspirin Manny just took to relieve his headache, but Manny feels better within minutes. This is an example of

Accepted Answer

The quick relief Manny experienced is likely due to the placebo effect, which is when a person experiences a positive response to a treatment due to their belief or expectation that it will work, rather than the actual active ingredients in the treatment. The aspirin may not have had time to take effect yet, but Manny's belief that it will relieve his headache immediately causes him to feel better.

Question 16

Tyler's grandmother used to receive emails from him every day so she would check her inbox regularly. Since Tyler went off to college, the emails have basically stopped. As a result, she no longer checks her inbox on a daily basis. If this pattern continues, we can expect ________ to occur.

Accepted Answer

The scenario described is an example of extinction, which is the gradual decrease in the frequency or strength of a learned response due to the lack of reinforcement or connection with a specific stimulus. In this case, Tyler's emails served as the reinforcement for the grandmother's behavior of checking her inbox, but without the emails, the behavior is no longer reinforced and therefore gradually decreases.

Question 17

Jennifer was stung by a bee several days ago. Now she cries out whenever any flying insect comes too close. Jennifer is demonstrating

Accepted Answer

Jennifer is generalizing the fear of being stung by a bee to all flying insects, which is a common response known as stimulus generalization.

Question 18

Watson and Raynor conditioned Little Albert to fear a white rat. In this study, the UCS was

Accepted Answer

The UCS in the Watson and Raynor study was a loud noise, which was paired with the presentation of the white rat in order to condition Little Albert to fear the rat.

Question 19

After getting food poisoning from the lunch cafeteria, Rodney now gets nauseous when he walks by and smells the food. What was the unconditioned stimulus in this scenario?

Accepted Answer

The unconditioned stimulus is the bad food that caused the food poisoning. This is the stimulus that naturally and automatically caused a physiological response (getting sick). The other options (smell of the food, getting nauseous from the smells) are conditioned stimuli, meaning they only caused a response (nausea) after being associated with the unconditioned stimulus (bad food).

Question 20

Marcia was romantically involved with John. Unfortunately, Marcia eventually discovered that John was being a complete jerk, so she ended the relationship. One day in the mall, she suddenly gets a whiff of the cologne that John always wore. All the former good feelings come pouring back. This is an example of

Accepted Answer

This is a clear example of spontaneous recovery, as the previously extinguished response (feelings for John) re-emerge after encountering a stimulus (John's cologne) that was previously associated with those feelings.

Quiz 6: Learning