Psychology Chapter 6 Learning

Eleanor wants to use classical conditioning to teach her students to run to the closet when the "intruder alert" sounds at their school. To be successful, Eleanor must begin the learning process with a(n)

Unconditioned Stimulus

Every day after class, Jerome smells delicious pizza from Steel's Pizza House on his walk home and his mouth starts to water. One day, Jerome is riding the bus home from class and sees the Steel's Pizza House sign, and even this makes his mouth start to water. Jerome has most likely experienced all of the following EXCEPT

habituation

Derek is conducting research with chimpanzees and realizes that when the chimps' behaviors lead to some sort of satisfaction, they repeat those behaviors. Derek's observations are most consistent with

the law of effect

In the wild, when Arctic wolves hunt, their efforts are only sometimes reinforced because finding food is difficult. The fact that the wolves are only sometimes reinforced for hunting is an example of _______ reinforcement

partial

Reinforcement that comes after a predetermined amount of time is called

fixed interval

A child has learned to avoid his father in the morning because his father is always grouchy at that time. Generally, being able to learn what stimuli predict pleasure or pain is consistent with Pavlov's belief that

conditioning is how we adapt to our environments

Sampson is a dolphin trainer who trains his dolphins to perform tasks by blowing a high-pitched whistle, the sound of which dolphins enjoy, immediately after the dolphins do the task. Sampson is using _______ reinforces to train the dolphins.

Secondary

Susie wants to use operant conditioning to teach her cat to sit up for a treat. A psychologist who has conducted research that would be useful to her in this situation is

Edward Thorndike

Fallon is afraid of loud sounds, like thunder. He associates lightning with thunder because it regularly precedes thunder. Thus, when Fallon sees lightning, he braces himself for hearing a big boom several seconds later. Fallon has experienced learning by associating two stimuli, which is called

classical conditioning

Gustavo watched a cooking show on television demonstrating how to make chicken Parmesan. Even though he has never made chicken Parmesan, he explains to a friend how to make it. Gustavo's knowledge of cooking chicken Parmesan is best explained by

observational learning

Courtney was bitten by her brother's pet white rat. Since then, Courtney has developed a fear of all white animals that is out of proportion with the threat. She even feels fearful when she sees a photo of a while animal. Courtney's reaction to white animals is best explained by

a classically conditioned phobia

During the winter Olympics, a skier had a terrible fall. The observers all cringed. It was as if they had fallen themselves and were able to feel the pain of the fallen athlete. According to the biological basis of observational learning, the action of ______________ might underpin the observers' behavior.

mirror neurons

Riley ate too much chocolate cake during his birthday party and was sick all night. If classical conditioning occurred and he associated the cake with being sick, then when Riley sees cake today, he will most likely

be turned off by the smell and the memory of the taste of cake

Olivia takes a drug that is supposed to help her be able to memorize material for her class more easily. The drug works by increasing neural communication in the hippocampus, and when taken repeatedly, it may also support

long-term potentiation

After struggling with a complex math problem, Stacey takes a short break. While making herself a cup of tea, she suddenly comes up with a solution. "Aha!" moments such as this are a form of ______________ learning that occurs in the apparent absence of reinforcement.

insight

Poor baby Ezra was born with a very specific type of brain damages: he has no mirror neurons in his brain. The lack of mirror neurons will most likely affect Ezra's ability to learn through

observation

Jack uses classical conditioning to teach his dog Luna to sit whenever Jack says, "Sit." But now, anything that Jack says that is similar to "Sit" causes Luna to show the conditioned response of sitting. This is most likely the result of

stimulus generalization

Dante was sitting on a rock to rest during a hike. Suddenly, he felt immense pain and looked down to see a snake had bitten him in the leg. Because of this, Dante has learned to fear snakes. If his fear is out of proportion with the danger posed by snakes, then Dante has developed

a phobia

Ralph ate sushi for lunch, and an hour later he felt sick to his stomach. In this situation, classical conditioning might occur. In other words, Ralph might learn an association between sushi and feeling sick because the two events

are paired closely in timing

Professor Kraig is known for his difficult pop quizzes, which naturally make the students feel anxious. Immediately before he springs a quiz on his students and they start to feel anxious, he always shuts down his laptop to remove his lecture slides from the overhead screen. Students soon notice that they start to feel anxious when Professor Kraig reaches for his laptop and shuts it down. In terms of classical conditioning, Professor Kraig closing his laptop is a(n)

conditioned stimulus

A father takes his young daughter to the park. The girl grabs a red flower and is stung by a bee. The next day, the girl's grandmother brings her a bouquet of red flowers. When the girl sees the flowers, she becomes afraid and runs away. In this example, the conditioned stimulus is the

red flowers

Seven-year-old Michelle used to use her mother's perfume all the time, but Michelle's mother would yell at her when she found out. Based on these experiences, Michelle has learned to not use the perfume. Michelle's learning is most likely the result of __________ in the brain.

long-term potentiation

Bri is a new student at a community college. This term, she has classes in the A Wing, C Wing, and D Wing, but not in the B Wing. However, she has to walk through the B Wing all the time to get to her classes. Next term, Bri has a class in the B Wing, and she knows exactly where the room is, which is best explained by

a cognitive map

Professor Jackson wants his students to complete their reading assignments before he lectures on the material in class. He periodically gives them pop quizzes on the reading assignments. To encourage students to complete the reading assignments, the schedule of reinforcement he should use for the pop quizzes is a _______ schedule.

variable ratio

Last year, Martina was in love with Robert, but they eventually broke up. Today in the mall, Martina smells someone wearing the same cologne that Robert always wore. She is immediately filled with positive feelings, which is most likely due to

spontaneous recovery

Professor McCready wants to study animal learning by putting birds in a cage where they have to figure out how to peck a button to receive food. Professor McCready is using _______ to modify animal behavior.

a Skinner box

Claire wants to write a paper about how often animals use observational learning. Which of the following should Claire NOT include as evidence to support her point that animals use observational learning?

A rat learns to run through a maze quickly to get the food at the end of the maze.

Reinforcement that comes after a predetermined amount of time is called

fixed interval

A sudden puff of air in his left eye caused Bill to blink. In terms of classical conditioning, the air puff was a/an ______________ and the blink was a/an ______________.

US;UR

If you are trying to use classical conditioning to train your pet mouse to be afraid of a flashing light, you will most likely be successful if you

pair the light with an electric shock

Miranda is learning how to play tennis. She has a unique way of hitting a backhand shot, but after a lesson with a professional instructor, Miranda changes her backhand technique because the technique she saw her instructor use is more efficient. Miranda has learned to improve her tennis due to

observational learning

Thayer is holding her infant cousin and she smiles at the baby. The baby observes Thayer smiling and imitates the smile by smiling back. The baby most likely learned to smile in this situation based on

modeling

Tina believes in John Locke's idea of tabula rasa. When Tina's baby is born, she expects the child will most likely

be ready to learn new information based on sensory experiences

Employing a process known as ______________, when Brice was first training his dog to do a "high five" he gave it a treat for any behavior, such as lifting its paw, that approximated the desired end-goal behavior of a "high five."

shaping

Dave observed that after returning from the vet, whenever he took his dog Smooches near his car, she began to shake and whine. Which of the following types of learned response was Smooches exhibiting?

classical conditioning

Katie attached a bell to the lid of her dog's food container so it rang every time the lid was lifted, which alerted her dog to come to eat. One day, Katie removed the bell from the container and hung it on a closet door. After a month, during which her dog ran to the closet door and wasn't fed, he stopped responding to the sound of the bell. Not responding to the bell anymore is an example of

extinction

Doris works in a factory where she is paid $10 for every toy she assembles. Given that she is on a fixed-ratio schedule of reinforcement, which pattern of behavior can we generally expect from her?

She would likely be more productive than someone paid by the hour.

Dr. Shaw has a patient who has a phobia of spiders and also loves doing puzzles. Dr. Shaw exposes the patient to spiders briefly while having the patient complete a fun puzzle. Dr. Shaw is using _______ to treat his patient's phobia.

counterconditioning

Samuel always receives a painful shock when he turns on the lamp in his study. After a while, Samuel refuses to touch the switch on the lamp. The lamp switch was a(n) ________ that elicited a(n) _______ after a period of time.

neutral stimulus; conditioned response

Lenny needs to quickly train his cows to use one specific field when they graze. The reinforcement that will allow the cows to learn most quickly is _______ reinforcement

continuous

After struggling with a complex math problem, Stacey takes a short break. While making herself a cup of tea, she suddenly comes up with a solution. "Aha!" moments such as this are a form of ______________ learning that occurs in the apparent absence of reinforcement

insight

Your psychology instructor is preparing her lecture on learning and wants to include an analogy about memes. She starts by writing "Memes are to genes as . . ." but cannot figure out how to finish the sentence. Which of the following would best complete her thought?

nurture is to nature

In Pavlov's research, dogs learned that the sound of a metronome predicted the arrival of food, so the dogs salivated at the sound of the metronome. In this research, classical conditioning occurred in part because the _______ elicited a(n) _______.

unconditioned stimulus (food); innate, unconditioned response (salivation)

Vincent wants to use systematic desensitization to treat his patient's phobia of elevators. Vincent's first step in this process should be to

show the patient a picture of an elevator until he can look at it and feel calm

You are having a great time at a work picnic. Then, a spider walks onto your picnic blanket. It looks just like the one that bit you last year and made you very sick. You immediately start to feel panic, which in this situation is most likely a(n)

conditioned response

Katie is afraid of clowns. She has been trying to overcome this fear by getting into a relaxed state and then looking at pictures of clowns. After months of this exposure, she is no longer afraid when she sees a clown. Katie has been using _______ to overcome her fear.

systematic desensitization

Dr. López believes that he may have discovered how observational learning happens in the brain. His research showed that when one person watches someone else reach into a box to retrieve an object, specific neurons become active. Dr. López has probably found

mirror neurons

Tammy is visiting the eye doctor. During her exam, a buzzer rings and a puff of air is blown into her eye, which makes her blink. This happens several times. Then Tammy blinks when she hears the buzzer because she expects that a puff of air will be blown into her eye. In this example, Tammy is showing _______ learning.

associative

A rehabilitation center reinforces patients' good behaviors with Monopoly money, which they can then trade in for food, movies, or other privileges. When they behave badly, however, the patients lose Monopoly money. To modify the patients' behavior, the center is using

a token economy

Marie eats at the Downtowner Diner and frequently reads the entire menu, but she always orders the chicken quesadilla. When she is hired to work at the Downtowner, she finds that she already knows all of the menu items and how much each one costs, which is likely the result of __________ learning

latent

Thayer is holding her infant cousin and she smiles at the baby. The baby observes Thayer smiling and imitates the smile by smiling back. The baby most likely learned to smile in this situation based on

modeling

Tracy learned to keep her tent from sagging by strengthening connections between its support poles. For Tracy to learn, changes in her brain that involved the strengthening of connections between neurons likely occurred. This process is known as

long-term potentiation

Jonathan is traveling to Italy, and his motto for his trip is "When in Rome, do as the Romans do!" This phrase suggests that Jonathan is most likely to learn how to behave in Rome based on

observational learning

A 5-year-old observes his father yelling at his older brother, who dropped and broke his dinner plate while removing it from the table. Thereafter, due to ______________, the 5-year-old is very cautious when removing his own plate.

vicarious conditioning

Caryn's mother loves the smell of vanilla candles. When Caryn visits her mother, she dislikes the smell of the candles, but after a couple of hours she no longer notices it. The fact that Caryn can now ignore the candles' scent is most likely due to a type of non-associative learning called

habituation

A month ago, Jenny was pulled over for speeding, and because it was her third ticket this year, her license was suspended. Jenny just received her license back and vows never to speed again. In this situation, having her license suspended has served as

negative punishment

When Mitch watches his brother Jacob stand on tiptoes to open the cabinet door, which of the following is most likely happening in Mitch's brain?

Mitch's mirror neurons are being activated

If getting $1 for every correct answer on this test makes you study harder for the next test, then being given $1 is a form of

positive reinforcement

Billy hates it when his upstairs neighbor wakes up early to take a shower. He is typically abruptly awakened when the water starts, but then he gets used to the noise and goes back to sleep. In this example, Billy is showing learning through

habituation

When Ibrahim was six years old, he became terrified when the family's parrot flew at him and bit him on the nose. Since then, he's been afraid of all birds. Ibrahim's bird phobia illustrates the classical conditioning process of

generalization

Lorraine just got a new puppy, and she wants to train it to go through the flap in the back door. Every third time the puppy goes through the flap, Lorraine gives him a doggie treat. Lorraine is using a __________ schedule of reinforcement to train the puppy

fixed ratio

Seventeen-year-old Ryan watches his father fix a broken part on the family car. Then Ryan sees that his mother gives his father lots of affection because he fixed the car. Based on this experience, Ryan will be more likely to fix his girlfriend's car if it breaks. This fact shows how Ryan has been influenced by

vicarious conditioning

Simone's desk at her new job is right next to an air conditioner. After a week of being chilly, she brings a sweater to work. Simone's change in behavior, which is based on her prior experience, is an example of

learning

Dr. Brimfield believes that humans learn best when they are given the opportunity to act on their environments and make associations between their behavior and the effects it produces. Dr. Brimfield is most likely to use _______ to teach his daughter to play the violin.

operant conditioning

A conditioned stimulus is

conditioned stimulus is

Rayvonte, a recent college graduate, is impressed when his cousin puts his résumé on their university's job board and then receives many job interviews. Rayvonte decides to post his résumé in hopes of finding his first professional job. He most likely posted his résumé on the job board as a result of

vicarious conditioning

Thomas is a 10 year old in treatment for his phobia of dogs. His therapist gives Thomas his favorite treats whenever he can be near a dog without crying. Now Thomas can be in the same room with a dog without being afraid. The therapist successfully treated Thomas's phobia through the use of

counterconditioning

You want to teach your dog to stop scratching at the door when he wants to go out. You do so by swatting his nose with a newspaper each time he scratches the door. By creating consequences for your dog's behavior, you have used _______ to train him.

operant conditioning

Channing believes that the best way to get his boyfriend to clean up after himself is by initiating sex as soon as his boyfriend cleans up the apartment. Channing knows that sex is a _______ reinforce that will likely _______ the probability that his boyfriend will clean the apartment in the future.

primary: increase

Tripp is serving a 10-year prison sentence when he is informed by his parole board that he is getting out of jail early for good behavior. If the early release has the effect of increasing Tripp's good behavior in the future, then early release is an example of

negative reinforcement

Advertisers use classical conditioning in their commercials by showing ads. For example, they pair something that reflexively elicits pleasant feelings, such as the face of the actor Brad Pitt, with a product, such as the perfume Chanel No 5. If Brad Pitt elicits a response from you that is innate and does not require any prior learning, he is being used as a(n)

unconditioned stimulus

Mario believes that his son is learning to be aggressive because he plays violent video games. In what way could observational learning explain the connection Mario sees between media and his son's behavior?

Children who watch violence in video games tend to show more aggressive thoughts and actions.

Braxton's friend Shayla is caught cheating on a test and receives an "F." Braxton learns the consequences of cheating by watching Shayla be punished for this action. Braxton has learned through

vicarious conditioning

When explaining to his wife how positive reinforcement and positive punishment are similar, Jackson correctly says that both

add a stimulus

Reynold believes that reinforcement affects the performance of a behavior more than the acquisition of a behavior. Reynold's belief is consistent with the ideas of the cognitive theorist

Edward Tolman

You carpool with a friend to school every morning and he always drives. One day, your friend is sick and you have to drive yourself. Even though you have never actually driven to school, you know the exact route to take in order to get there from your house, which is most likely the result of

latent learning

Albert has a beautiful garden in his backyard and notices that hummingbirds come to feed on the flowers at the same time each day in order to get the sweetest nectar. The hummingbirds are being rewarded for their feeding behavior on a _______ schedule of reinforcement.

fixed interval

George is traveling to visit his friend Ryan in a neighboring town but has to take a detour due to road construction. At first George feels lost, but then he notices a sign for Madison Street and immediately knows where he is and how to navigate to Ryan's house. In this situation, George has reached Ryan's by using

a cognitive map

If Dr. Raybel wants to observe how people learn to play a new game, he may want to consult the founder of behaviorism,

John Watson

After repeated studying, Cressida is able to remember all of the state capitals. Now when she hears the word Michigan, she quickly thinks of the word Lansing. Cressida's learning is most likely due to long-term potentiation, which

strengthens synaptic connections