PSY 339.01 Exam 1 Topic Quiz Answers

Which of the following offers the most promise as a "cure" for prejudice?

"Love training" "Love training" offers the most promise as a cure for prejudice. Thomas Parish and colleagues changed the negative feelings of white American children toward people from Vietnam by pairing images of Vietnamese people with positive words.

What is a reflex?

A relationship between an event and a simple response

Octavia is allergic to roses and always sneezes when she is around them. One day she visits a friend and sneezes when she sees a vase of roses on the table. Octavia's friend is puzzled because these are fake flowers. Given what you know about Pavlovian conditioning, however, you can tell Octavia and her friend that sneezing in response to the sight of a rose is what kind of a response?

Conditional Given what you know about Pavlovian conditioning, however, you can tell Octavia and her friend that sneezing in response to the sight of a rose is a conditional response. The term conditional response refers to a learned response to a stimulus. Octavia has learned over time that the sight of a rose (CS) predicts pollen (US), and that pollen causes her to sneeze (UR). Now the sight of the rose alone (CS) causes her to sneeze (CR).

Which neurotransmitter is important in reinforcement?

Dopamine

Shepard Siegel's work suggests that some deaths attributed to what phenomenon are actually the result of conditioning?

Drug overdose

Imagine that 90% of puppies who saw their mothers engaging in friendly interactions with humans grew up to be friendly toward humans, whereas only 60% of puppies who saw their mothers demonstrate fear of humans grew up to be friendly toward humans. What would this suggest about friendliness toward humans in dogs?

It is a product of both nature and nurture.

Which phenomenon suggests that we should be more likely to develop aversions to novel foods than to familiar ones?

Latent inhibition The phenomenon of latent inhibition suggests that we should be more likely to develop aversions to novel foods than to familiar ones. Latent inhibition occurs when a CR does not appear because the CS has been presented many times without the US. In other words, when someone eats a food many times and does not get sick, it will be harder for that food to become a CS for illness later.

You are at a festival where some fireworks begin to go off. Just after the first boom of the fireworks begins, someone bumps into you hard, causing your arm to ache and you to wince. When the next firework goes off, you wince after hearing the boom. Have you been conditioned to fear fireworks?

No; this could be explained by pseudoconditioning. You probably have not have been conditioned to fear fireworks; this could be an example of pseudoconditioning. Pseudoconditioning occurs when a neutral stimulus elicits a CR after a US has elicited a reflex response. A strong stimulus, such as a painful jolt, can sensitize you to other stimuli so that you react to them more or less as you would to the strong stimulus (the jolt).

Yara has a fear of snakes. She visits a therapist who has her practice relaxation techniques while she first looks at pictures of snakes. Then, when she's comfortable with that, she watches videos of snakes. When she is comfortable with the videos, she finally visits snakes at the local zoo. What technique is Yara's therapist using?

Systematic desensitization

What did work on selective breeding in foxes over a period of several decades show?

That behavioral characteristics can be selectively bred so that the descendants behave more like a different species than like their own ancestors

The equation ΔVn = c(λ - Vn - 1) is associated with which theory of Pavlovian conditioning?

The Rescorla-Wagner model In other words, the Rescorla-Wagner model argues that a limited amount of conditioning can occur in the pairing of two stimuli.

Which of the following uses topography to measure the change in behavior associated with a child having a temper tantrum?

The child threw herself on the floor, kicked, and screamed. The child's throwing herself on the floor, kicking, and screaming is a measure of the topography of her temper tantrum behavior. Topography is a measure of the form a behavior takes; in this case, the form of the behavior is throwing herself on the floor, kicking, and screaming.

Joey is hungry and would like to heat up some soup. Joey puts the soup in a pot, puts it on the stove, and turns on the burner. The soup heats up and Joey enjoys the meal. Which of the following best describes the nature of the reinforcement described here?

The soup heating up is either a natural or contrived reinforcer. It could be argued that the soup heating up is either a natural or a contrived reinforcer. Natural reinforcers follow spontaneously from a behavior: The soup heating happens naturally as a result of the burner getting hot. Yet the people who made the stove arranged the consequence that turning on the burner would result in the burner getting hot. Contrived reinforcers are set up for the purpose of modifying behavior. The distinction between the two can be tricky.

What is the CR when it comes to drug use?

The suppression of the effects of the drug The CR when it comes to drug use is the suppression of the effects of the drug. This produces tolerance. The CR differs from the UR and generally manifests as physiological changes that prepare the person for the drug by reducing its effects.

What is a general behavioral trait?

The tendency to engage in a certain kind of behavior

According to the one-process theory of avoidance, the avoidance response is reinforced by _______.

a reduction in the number of aversive events

Some who study animal learning and behavior argue that inhumane treatment of research animals is __________.

bad science

In within-subjects experiments, each subject's performance is compared with their performance during a ______.

baseline period In within-subjects experiments, each subject's performance is compared with their performance during a baseline period. The baseline period is often an initial period before the experiment treatment occurs and/or a period after the experimental treatment is completed.

The best way to define learning is to say that when learning occurs, _______.

behavior changes

The kind of study that is most likely to involve a large number of participants is one with a ________.

between-subjects design

Each time a buzzer sounds, a rabbit is injected with a small dose of morphine. Soon the rabbit shows increased pain sensitivity after hearing the buzzer. Remi believes that this means the buzzer allows the rabbit's body to adjust for the incoming drug. Remi is an advocate of ________.

compensatory response theory Each time a buzzer sounds, a rabbit is injected with a small dose of morphine. Soon the rabbit shows increased pain sensitivity after hearing the buzzer. Remi believes that this means the buzzer allows the rabbit's body to adjust for the incoming drug. Remi is an advocate of compensatory response theory. Compensatory response theory suggests that the CR prepares the animal for the US by compensating for its effects.

A stimulus that consists of two or more stimuli presented simultaneously is known as a ________ stimulus.

compound stimulus

The rate of conditioning is affected by the degree to which the US is ___________.

contingent on the occurrence of the CS The rate of conditioning is affected by the degree to which the US is contingent on the occurrence of the CS. Contingency refers to the extent that the occurrence of the US depends on the CS. Various experiments have suggested that the effectiveness of Pavlovian procedures varies with the degree of contingency between CS and US, such that the greater the contingency, the greater the learning.

Any variable that is allowed to vary freely is a(n) __________.

dependent variable

Variation and natural selection are the foundations of what phenomenon?

evolution

Spontaneous recovery is associated with _______.

extinction Spontaneous recovery is associated with extinction. Spontaneous recovery is the reappearance of a CR after extinction.

A teacher who looks for an increase in the number of correct performances per minute is using _______ as a measure of learning.

fluency A teacher who looks for an increase in the number of correct performances per minute is using fluency as a measure of learning. Fluency combines errors and rate to measure learning by counting the number of correct responses per minute.

The number of operant procedures indicated in the contingency square is ______.

four Thus, the contingency square identifies four outcomes: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment.

A researcher put rats in an open enclosure and then bred the most fearful with one another. After several generations of breeding the most fearful rats with each other, the rats proved extremely fearful. This suggests that fearfulness may be a _________.

general behavioral trait

Any variable that an experimenter manipulates is a(n) ________.

independent variable

Marjorie drives a school bus. Sometimes the kids get rather noisy. She decides to play music the kids like through speakers on the bus, but whenever the kids get too noisy, she turns the music off. When they quiet down, she turns the music back on. In this way, she hopes to get the kids to make less noise. Marjorie is probably going to measure learning as a change in response _________.

intensity

The time between conditioning trials is called the _______.

intertrial interval

In Pavlovian conditioning, contiguity usually refers to the ________.

interval between CS-US trials In Pavlovian conditioning, contiguity usually refers to the interval between CS-US trials. Contiguity refers to the closeness in time or space between two events. In Pavlovian conditioning, this means the interval between the CS and US.

The chief advantage of learning over natural selection as a means of adapting to change is that learning _______.

is faster

Using an ABA reversal design is rather like using a ______.

light switch you can think of using an ABA reversal design as turning a light switch on and off to observe whether it controls a given light. By switching back and forth between A and B conditions, the researcher can demonstrate the extent to which a behavior depends on the independent variable.

Behavior refers to anything a person or other organism does that can be _______.

measured

Tiffany chooses to train her dog with treats as reinforcers first thing in the morning before he eats breakfast. Training her dog before he has eaten is an example of a __________.

motivating operation A motivating operation changes the effectiveness of a consequence. This is an example of a motivating operation known as an establishing operation, since it makes food a more potent reinforcer.

The theory of avoidance that has the least evidence against it is the _______.

one-process theory The theory of avoidance that has the least evidence against it is the one-process theory. The problems with the two-process theory have led many researchers to embrace the one-process theory. The one-process theory of avoidance has an elegant simplicity, but we cannot yet claim it has won the day

An experimenter presents a flash of light and a bell simultaneously, followed by food. Conditioning proceeds satisfactorily, but when the experimenter presents the light and bell separately, they find that the bell is an effective CS, but the light is not. The experimenter has demonstrated _______.

overshadowing The experimenter has demonstrated overshadowing. When a compound stimulus is presented and one stimulus becomes an effective CS but the other does not, we call that overshadowing. The overshadowed stimulus does not go entirely unnoticed; it simply does not serve as an effective CS.

The term used to refer to any intense and persistent sexual interest that is not typical is ___________.

paraphilia

People are most likely to tolerate painful and humiliating events if these events consistently __________.

precede positive events

Clark Hull's explanation of reinforcement assumes that reinforcers _____.

reduce a drive Clark Hull's explanation of reinforcement assumes that reinforcers reduce a drive. According to Hull, drives, or motivational states, underlie literally all behavior

Sylvia believes that the reinforcement properties of an event depend on the extent to which it provides access to high-probability behavior. Sylvia is most likely an advocate of _______ theory.

relative value Relative value theory suggests that different kinds of behavior have different values, relative to one another, at any given moment. These relative values determine the reinforcing properties of behavior.

Modal action patterns are induced by events called ______.

releasers

The level of deprivation is less important when the reinforcer used is a(n) _________ reinforcer.

secondary econdary reinforcers do not "wear out" as quickly as primary reinforcers. Primary reinforcers can lose their effectiveness when a person is satiated.

The statement "high-probability behavior reinforces low-probability behavior" best describes __________.

the Premack principle

When researching why your bicycle is squeaking, you stumble upon two possible explanations. One of them suggests that your bicycle squeaks because you need to put air in your tires. The other suggests that it squeaks because you need to wave your magic wand at the bike and chant a spell. Since you follow the natural science approach, you decide to try putting air in your tires because _____.

the causes of natural events include only natural phenomena

Ellen had a sandwich and a slice of cheesecake for lunch and later that day came down with the stomach flu. After she recovered, she had developed a taste aversion to cheesecake. The CS and US in this example were __________, respectively.

the cheesecake and the stomach flu Ellen had a sandwich and a slice of cheesecake for lunch and later that day came down with the stomach flu. After she recovered, she had developed a taste aversion to cheesecake. The CS and US in this example were the cheesecake and the stomach flu, respectively. The US is the stimulus that actually made Ellen sick (the stomach flu) and the CS is the stimulus that Ellen learned to associate with feeling sick (the cheesecake).

Senatorial candidate Garcia's popularity increased dramatically after she was seen on television shaking hands with a very popular public figure. This likely occurred because the popular public figure acted as a(n) __________.

unconditional stimulus for positive feelings Advertisers attempt to use classical conditioning to sell more products or promote their political candidates by pairing products (the CS, their political candidate) with stimuli that reliably elicit positive emotions (the US, the popular public figure). They do this on the assumption that people will endorse things they like.

Soren usually smokes cigarettes when he drinks coffee; however, he quit smoking several days ago. When Soren drinks coffee now, he experiences cravings for cigarettes. Soren is experiencing __________.

withdrawal from the effects of the nicotine in the cigarettes Soren usually smokes cigarettes when he drinks coffee; however, he quit smoking several days ago. When Soren drinks coffee now, he experiences cravings for cigarettes. Soren is experiencing withdrawal from the effects of the nicotine in the cigarettes. For a person addicted to a drug (nicotine in cigarettes), failure to take the drug produces strong cravings for the drug and other feelings of discomfort called withdrawal.