Question 1

Ian is starting to eat baby food. He really likes it. Soon he gets really excited when he hears the pop occurs when the sealed bottles of baby food are opened. One day his mom is opening a bottle of mustard pickles. Ian comes running when he hears the pop. Ian's response to the popping of a sealed lid is exhibits that he has _________the popping sound from his baby food bottles.
A) generalized
B) extinguished
C) habituated
D) recovered spontaneously

Accepted Answer

Ian has generalized the response of getting excited at the sound of the pop to other items besides his baby food bottles. This means that he has associated the popping sound with the anticipation of getting something he likes to eat.

Question 2

Janice is trying to teach her dog to heel, so she buys a choke collar. Every time the dog strains on the leash, the collar restricts around his neck. When the dog drops back to walk beside her, the collar loosens up. In theory, this should cause the dog to learn to walk beside Janice. What type of consequence is this?
A) Positive reinforcement
B) Negative reinforcement
C) Aversive/positive punishment (punishment by application)
D) Response cost/negative punishment (punishment by removal)

Accepted Answer

This is an example of negative reinforcement, as the discomfort of the collar tightening is removed when the dog exhibits the desired behavior of walking beside Janice.

Question 3

Stuart hates passing the neighbours' house on his walk home from school because the bulldog there barks at him. Because of this, Stuart became anxious around all dogs; however, his family recently adopted a Labrador retriever. The dog is very gentle and never barks at Stuart, and now Stuart is anxious only around the bulldog down the street. Stuart has learned to
A) generalize.
B) discriminate.
C) condition the bulldog.
D) condition the Labrador retriever.

Accepted Answer

Stuart has learned to discriminate between the gentle Labrador retriever, which doesn't bark at him and the bulldog down the street, which does. Discrimination is the ability to differentiate between stimuli and respond differently to each of them. In this case, Stuart can differentiate between the two dogs and has learned to respond anxiously only to the bulldog on his street, while feeling comfortable around their gentle Labrador retriever.

Question 4

Bryn adopted her cat, Minnie, from the local shelter. She feeds Minnie dry food, but the previous owner fed her only canned food. Every time Bryn opens her refrigerator, her new cat comes running. Bryn never gives Minnie food after she opens the refrigerator, however, so eventually the cat stops showing up. Once in a while, though, Minnie will come running when Bryn opens the refrigerator, as if food is forthcoming. This reappearance of Minnie's old behaviour is called
A) generalization.
B) extinction.
C) habituation.
D) spontaneous recovery.

Accepted Answer

Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of a previously extinguished response (in this case, coming running when the refrigerator opens) after a period of time has passed without reinforcement (in this case, receiving food from the refrigerator). This is the most appropriate term for Minnie's behavior in this scenario. The other options are not as fitting: generalization refers to the extension of a response to similar stimuli, habituation refers to a decrease in response to repeated stimulus presentation, and extinction refers to the gradual elimination of a response through lack of reinforcement.

Question 5

Jessie is a dog trainer who needs to coax a dog to put on a muzzle without being anxious. Since the dog is unlikely to spontaneously begin putting on the muzzle, Jessie first rewards his dog for going near the muzzle, then for touching the muzzle, then for putting his head in the muzzle, and so on until the dog puts on the muzzle easily. This process is called
A) habituation.
B) adaptation.
C) generalization.
D) shaping.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Jessie is a dog trainer who needs...

Question 6

Bryn adopted her cat, Minnie, from the local shelter. She feeds Minnie dry food, but the previous owner fed her only canned food. Every time Bryn opens her refrigerator, her new cat comes running. Bryn never gives Minnie food after she opens the refrigerator, however, so eventually the cat stops showing up. The cat's learned response to the sound of the refrigerator being opened has been
A) generalized.
B) extinguished.
C) habituated.
D) recovered spontaneously.

Accepted Answer

The cat's learned response to the sound of the refrigerator being opened was to associate it with getting food, which was reinforced by the previous owner who fed Minnie canned food every time the refrigerator was opened. Because Bryn never gives Minnie food after opening the refrigerator, the association between the sound of the refrigerator and food is gradually extinguished, and the cat stops showing up. Therefore, the best choice is B, extinguished.

Question 7

Angela's dog, Molly, got sprayed by a skunk. She spent the weekend cleaning the house and Molly. At work on Monday, one of his colleagues mentions that he might want to take a shower, because everyone can smell her when he walks into a room. She is confused, because he cannot smell the skunk. What has happened?
A) Angela has been on a variable-ratio schedule.
B) Angela has habituated to the smell of the skunk.
C) Angela is demonstrating escape conditioning.
D) Angela was biologically prepared to like this particular smell.

Accepted Answer

Habituation occurs when an individual is no longer responsive to a repeated stimulus, such as a smell. In this case, Angela may have become habituated to the skunk smell after spending the weekend cleaning it from both her home and dog, and is no longer able to perceive the odor.

Question 8

When they go grocery shopping, Sonia's mother is often busy and doesn't pay very much attention to her. When Sonia throws a tantrum in the store, her mother pays attention and scolds her. Though she doesn't like being scolded, Sonia prefers getting some attention to having no attention at all. Sonia learns that when she wants her mother's attention, she should scream or cry. What is the reinforcer in this situation?
A) The mother's attention
B) The screaming
C) Sonia
D) The mother's busyness

Accepted Answer

The reinforcer in this situation is the mother's attention, as Sonia learns that her tantrums result in her mother paying attention to her.

Question 9

Gavin recently went deep-sea fishing with some friends. Unfortunately, he was extremely seasick the entire time he was on the boat, and now when he sees boats he feels queasy. In this situation, the conditioned stimulus is the
A) sea.
B) boat.
C) friend who invited Gavin.
D) nausea.

Accepted Answer

The conditioned stimulus is the boat because it is what caused Gavin's nausea to become a conditioned response. The sight of the boat became associated with the feeling of nausea, leading to a fear or queasiness response when he sees boats in the future.

Question 10

Irinia's dog loves to go for walks, and she always puts a leash on him when they go out. At first, the dog wagged his tail only when they got outside; eventually, he began to wag his tail when she picked up the leash. Irinia recently locked herself out of her place, so she has begun picking up her keys and putting them in her pocket before she takes down the leash. Now the dog begins to wag his tail when she picks up her keys. What kind of learning has happened?
A) Operant conditioning
B) Discriminatory
C) Higher-order conditioning
D) Persistence

Accepted Answer

The dog has learned to associate the sound of the keys with going for a walk, which is an example of higher-order conditioning.

Question 11

Sonia's mother is often busy and doesn't pay very much attention to her, but when Sonia cries or screams, her mother scolds her. Though she doesn't like being scolded, Sonia prefers getting some attention to having no attention at all. Sonia learns that when she wants her mother's attention, she should scream or cry. Eventually, however, Sonia's mother realizes that Sonia only wants attention, so she stops coming over when Sonia cries and screams. What should happen as a result?
A) The mother will learn to discriminate against Sonia.
B) Higher-order conditioning.
C) Sonia's screaming behaviour will be extinguished.
D) Sonia's screaming behaviour will be reinforced.

Accepted Answer

Sonia's screaming behaviour was initially reinforced by her mother's scolding response, as this was the only way for her to receive attention. However, when her mother stops responding, the reinforcement is removed, and the behaviour becomes less likely to occur in the future. This process is known as extinction. Therefore, the correct answer is C - Sonia's screaming behaviour will be extinguished.

Question 12

Kaori is playing on the floor while her mother cooks. Her mother sets a spoon on the counter and goes to the refrigerator. Kaori grabs the spoon, burns her fingers, jerks her hand away, and begins to cry. The next time her mother sets a spoon down on the counter, Kaori remembers that she got burned the last time and does not try to touch it. We can say that this experience produced a relatively enduring change in Kaori's behaviour; in other words, Kaori has _____________________ something.
A) discriminated
B) spontaneously recovered
C) learned
D) habituated

Accepted Answer

The scenario describes how Kaori learned not to touch the spoon after she got burned. This learning experience resulted in a relatively enduring change in her behavior, demonstrating the process of learning. Choices A, B, and D do not accurately describe what happened in the scenario.

Question 13

Investigations of subconscious racial bias measures the ___________ between different ideas, such as race and crime. Faster reaction time is an indicator of a stronger link.
A) operant conditioning
B) spontaneous recovery
C) association
D) discrimination

Accepted Answer

Investigations of subconscious racial bias measure the association between different ideas, such as race and crime. Faster reaction time is an indicator of a stronger link.

Question 14

Irinia's dog loves to go for walks, and she always puts a leash on him when they go out. The dog used to wag his tail as soon as they got outside, but now he wags his tail when Irinia picks up the leash. The period of time in which the dog learned to associate the leash with walks is called the ____________________ interval.
A) acquisition
B) generalization
C) habituation
D) persistence

Accepted Answer

The period of time in which the dog learned to associate the leash with walks is called the acquisition interval. The acquisition interval refers to the period during which an individual or animal is learning a new behavior through reinforcement or punishment. In this case, the dog learned that the sight of the leash meant he was going for a walk, so he started wagging his tail at the mere sight of it.

Question 15

Irinia's dog loves to go for walks, and she always puts a leash on him when they go out. The dog used to wag his tail as soon as they got outside, but now he wags his tail when Irinia picks up the leash. One day, Irinia is cleaning out her garage and pulls some old bungee cords out of a box. Her dog begins to jump around and wag his tail the same way he does when he thinks they are going for a walk. The dog has ___________________ the stimulus of the leash to the bungee cords.
A) discriminated
B) unconditioned
C) extinguished
D) generalized

Accepted Answer

The dog has generalized the stimulus of the leash to the bungee cords, meaning he has associated the bungee cords with going for a walk because they are similar to the leash. This is shown by his tail-wagging behavior when Irinia pulls out the bungee cords. Discrimination would be if the dog only wagged his tail for the specific leash Irinia uses for walks. Unconditioned and extinguished do not apply in this scenario.

Question 16

When they go grocery shopping, Sonia's mother is often busy and doesn't pay very much attention to her. When Sonia throws a tantrum in the store, her mother pays attention and scolds her. Though she doesn't like being scolded, Sonia prefers getting some attention to having no attention at all. Sonia learns that when she wants her mother's attention, she should scream or cry. Sonia's mother is unintentionally teaching her daughter using which type of learning?
A) Operant conditioning
B) Discriminatory
C) Higher-order conditioning
D) Classical conditioning

Accepted Answer

Sonia's mother's scolding is a form of punishment, which is a key aspect of operant conditioning. Sonia learns that throwing a tantrum (the behavior) leads to receiving attention (the consequence). As a result, she is more likely to repeat the behavior in the future to get attention. This type of learning is associated with operant conditioning.

Question 17

Gavin recently went deep-sea fishing with some friends. Unfortunately, he was extremely seasick the entire time he was on the boat, and now when he sees boats he feels queasy. In this situation, the conditioned response is the
A) sea.
B) boat.
C) friend who invited Gavin.
D) nausea.

Accepted Answer

The conditioned response is the response that is learned through the conditioning process (in this case, classical conditioning). In this situation, the conditioned response is the nausea that Gavin experiences when he sees boats. This response has been associated with the previous experience of being seasick on the boat, and has now become a learned response to the sight of boats.

Question 18

Irinia's dog loves to go for walks, and she always puts a leash on him when they go out. The dog used to wag his tail as soon as they got outside, but now he wags his tail when Irinia picks up the leash. In this case, what is the conditioned stimulus?
A) Irinia
B) The leash
C) Going for a walk
D) The wagging tail

Accepted Answer

The conditioned stimulus is the stimulus that elicits the conditioned response after being paired with the unconditioned stimulus. In this case, the unconditioned stimulus is going for a walk, and the unconditioned response is the dog wagging its tail. The conditioned stimulus is the leash, which has become associated with going for a walk and now elicits the wagging of the tail when Irinia picks it up.

Question 19

A key principle in many therapies that treat phobias and fears is that the phobia or fear is learned and can therefore be
A) adaptive.
B) unlearned.
C) counterconditioned.
D) habituated.

Accepted Answer

The key principle in many therapies that treat phobias and fears is that the phobia or fear is learned and can therefore be unlearned. This process is known as extinction, where the individual learns that the feared object or situation is no longer associated with the negative consequences previously associated with it.

Question 20

Gavin recently went deep-sea fishing with some friends. Unfortunately, he was extremely seasick the entire time he was on the boat, and now when he sees boats he feels queasy. This is an example of
A) habituation.
B) spontaneous recovery.
C) discrimination.
D) classical conditioning.

Accepted Answer

Gavin's queasiness when seeing boats is a result of classical conditioning, where his negative physical response (nausea) became associated with the boat through repeated pairings, leading to a conditioned response (feeling queasy when seeing boats).

Quiz 7: Memory

Gavin recently went deep-sea fishing with some friends. Unfortunately, he was extremely seasick the entire time he was on the boat, and now when he sees boats he feels queasy. In this situation, the conditioned stimulus is the

Investigations of subconscious racial bias measures the ___________ between different ideas, such as race and crime. Faster reaction time is an indicator of a stronger link.

Gavin recently went deep-sea fishing with some friends. Unfortunately, he was extremely seasick the entire time he was on the boat, and now when he sees boats he feels queasy. In this situation, the conditioned response is the

Irinia's dog loves to go for walks, and she always puts a leash on him when they go out. The dog used to wag his tail as soon as they got outside, but now he wags his tail when Irinia picks up the leash. In this case, what is the conditioned stimulus?

A key principle in many therapies that treat phobias and fears is that the phobia or fear is learned and can therefore be

Gavin recently went deep-sea fishing with some friends. Unfortunately, he was extremely seasick the entire time he was on the boat, and now when he sees boats he feels queasy. This is an example of