Psych Exam 3

13. Name an inappropriate behavior children sometimes engage in. a) Explain how a child might have first learned to exhibit that inappropriate behavior by being negatively reinforced for it. b) Explain how a parent could negatively punish that behavior to reduce it. c) Explain how a positive punisher could be administered to reduce that behavior.

Children will have temper tantrums a) A child might have first learned this behavior by negative reinforcement by being ignored when the temper tantrums would happen, but instead the child should have been yelled at to stop the behavior b) A parent could negatively punish that behavior to reduce it by taking an item or things the child likes away as a form of punishment c) A positive punisher could also be used to reduce the behavior by the parents spanking the child every time he or she has a temper tantrum.

16. I mentioned in class that each of the four types of learning we discussed involved the forming of an association. Pick two of the types of learning and explain what association is formed in each of those two types.

Classical Conditioning, an association is formed between the unconditioned stimuli and the conditioned stimuli. The subject has now made an association that when they receive the CS the UCS will happen. Operant Conditioning, an association is formed between the behavior and it consequence. The subject made an association, if i do this, then that will happen

15. I identified three types of elaborative rehearsal the brain likes best for moving information into long-term memory. Use each of those three strategies to explain why outlining of your notes would be an effective study technique.

Outlining my notes would organize everything into a specific topics and organization is a strategy the brain likes to process information into long term memory. The brain also likes when you make associations such as remembering acronyms or associating words together. In the outline i would draw my own version of the diagrams, because i thought up the design and how the diagram should look i will remember it better because my brain went through the process of thinking of it and executing it on paper, not someone else's. Third our brain likes when we attach meaning such as personal or emotional aspects to information. In my outline i could give examples of myself or my friends and family to help remember the definitions better.

2. In the modern world, processed foods are highly available and have been engineered to be highly palatable and reinforcing. Discuss how classical and operant conditioning can work together to explain why people often eat too much. Be sure to use the terminology of each form of conditioning in your answer.

People who often eat excessively may do so because through classical conditioning flavors associated with certain nutrients (such as sugar or fat) can become preferred without arousing any awareness of the pairing. People tend to learn this behavior in the presence of certain stimuli—a pub, a set of friends, a restaurant, or possibly the couch in front of the TV. Through operant conditioning, these stimuli are also available for association with the reinforcer, people may find a certain type of food very rewarding, increasing the amount they consume. In this way, classical and operant conditioning are intertwined.

5. You are armed with a bowl of M&M's. You are ready to do some shaping. All you need now is a subject. You notice a little boy sitting off to the side not interacting at all with anyone. How could you use shaping to get him to interact freely with others? Why is shaping a likely strategy in this situation?

Shaping is rewarding successive steps toward a goal. Shaping could be used here by giving the shy boy an M&M any time he shows an act of socialization. First i will give him one when he answers a question i ask. Then i will give him one when he talks to me on his own, but no longer will i give him one for answering my questions. Eventually when he talks with the other kids, i will give him an M&M every time he talks and plays with them, but not for talking to me. Shaping is a good strategy in this situation because it used on behavior that may be difficult to fix. Shaping also does not take very long to reach the final goal.

3. The primacy/recency effect occurs when someone is asked to retrieve a series of pieces of information from memory immediately after hearing them. Which pieces of information from the series of information do you think would be remembered best if the person were asked to retrieve the information an hour after he/she heard the information instead of immediately? Use the concepts of short-term memory, long-term memory, and elaborative rehearsal in your answer.

The first part of the information heard would be remembered as well as the last part of the information, but most likely the middle would be forgotten. Short term memory can only hold about 5-9 chunks for 20-30 seconds. However because you have to recall it an hour later not all the information in your short term will be transferred into your long term memory. To have a better chance to store and retrieve in long term memory you could use elaborative rehearsal to make associations and give the information meaning, for example, you could make visuals of the information or quiz yourself on the information.

8. A student comes to PSY 100 and passes out sign-up sheets for a study she is conducting. Students who signed up come to a room and are first asked to fill out some personality assessments. Then subjects are taken two at a time to a room where they are asked to have a conversation with each other on any topic they choose. The student running the study is careful to give all the students the same assessments and give each pair the same length of time for their conversations. The results tell her that people who are more extroverted tend to keep the conversation going better than people who are more introverted. Did this student conduct an experiment? Explain. What goal(s) of science does this study attempt to address? Explain.

This student did not conduct an experiment because no variable were manipulated, she conducted a correlational study and a naturalistic observation. The goals of science this study attempts to address are describe and predict, describing their personalities and predicting that people who are more extroverted tend to keep the conversation going better than people who are more introverted.

4. How is real-life amnesia different than amnesia that is typically portrayed on TV and in film?

Typically, in these fictionalized portrayals of amnesia, a character suffers some type of blow to the head and suddenly has no idea who they are and can no longer recognize their family or remember any events from their past. After some period of time (or another blow to the head), their memories come flooding back to them. Unfortunately, this portrayal of amnesia is not very accurate. The most widely studied amnesic patient was known by his initials H. M. For example, H. M. could not remember any event that occurred since his surgery, including highly significant ones, such as the death of his father. It is important to note that H. M.'s memory impairment was restricted to declarative memory, or conscious memory for facts and events. H. M. could learn new motor skills and showed improvement on motor tasks even in the absence of any memory for having performed the task before

9. a) If someone has learned a behavior through classical conditioning, what likely needs to be done to extinguish that behavior? Explain. b) If someone has learned a behavior through operant conditioning, what likely needs to be done to extinguish that behavior? Explain.

a) After conditioning, the response to the conditioned stimulus can be eliminated if the conditioned stimulus is presented repeatedly without the unconditioned stimulus b) If an instrumental behavior is no longer reinforced, it will also be extinguished.

1. a) Describe how anticipation is important in classical conditioning. b) Describe how anticipation is important in operant conditioning. Do NOT use any examples in your answers to a) or b).

a) Anticipation is important in Classical Conditioning because we anticipate the conditioned response after the association between the unconditioned stimulus and the conditioned stimulus is formed. b) Anticipation is also important in Operant conditioning because we anticipate a consequence from a behavior after the association between the two have been made. The strengthening of a reinforced response.

6. a) Choose a specific theory of forgetting discussed in class or the text. In terms of that explanation, explain why hearing a good example of a concept in class will help with retrieval of that concept at a later time. b) In terms of what the brain likes best for processing information, why would generating your own example be even more effective than hearing someone else's example?

a) Cue Theory, is when you don't make enough associations which makes it harder to retrieve later .Hearing a good example such as something unusual or something that can relate to you personally will make it easier to retrieve later. b) the Brain likes personal associations so linking an example with something personal in your life will definitely be easier to remember and recall versus someone else's example

10. As a researcher I want to find out if people with more fiber in their diet engage in more physical activity than those with less fiber in their diet. For this type of question a) what goal(s) of science am I addressing? Explain. b) what kind of systematic observation(s) am I likely to employ? Explain. c) what type of conclusion (e.g., causal, correlational, descriptive) could I possibly reach? Explain.

a) Describe and predict, because describing would conduct the surveys that are given to the people and predicting if a relationship between the two variable exists. b) Correlational studies and surveys would be the best type of structured observations. You could give a survey to the participants to see how much the engage in physical activity and then ask them if they eat certain fiber foods and how often they consume them. c) Correlational, because you were searching to see if there was a relationship between people who engage in more physical activity and the fiber intake in their diets

11. a) How can generalization (learning) occur with operant conditioning? b) How can discrimination (learning) occur with classical conditioning?

a) Generalization can occur with classical learning if someone responds differently to similar stimuli. Parents giving money to children if they do good on a test, if the parents change the reward the child will still be motivated to do well on tests because it is a desirable reward. b) Discrimination can occur with classical conditioning if someone responds differently to similar stimuli. If a dog hears a bell before every time it receives food, it will distinguish between the bell that means food and a bike bell.

7. a) My semantic memory is much better than my episodic memory. How about you? Tell me if your episodic memory or semantic memory is stronger, and tell me how you can recognize that. b) Use the principle of distinctiveness to explain why emotion plays a strong role in the encoding and storage of information in memory.

a) I feel my episodic memory is stronger because I recall personal facts and experiences a lot better than general facts and knowledge. b) Distinctiveness is when an event stands out they tend to be much more resistant to forgetting mainly due to the strong emotions that are typically associated with them. For example, my dads death, I was only three at the time....

12. a) Describe how you personally use maintenance and elaborative rehearsal to prepare for tests. b) What do you do to make sure you have sufficiently consolidated the information you are studying? Explain.

a) I use Maintenance to prepare for tests by repetition of the information, especially the vocabulary, that is going to be on the test. I will use elaborative rehearsal to attach associations or meanings to the information instead of just repeating it. I will put the information into my words, connect my associations, and use visual aids to help me remember b) To make sure that i have successfully consolidated or transferred the information for short term to long term memory i will test myself with forced retrieval. Forcing myself to retrieve the information over an over again before the actual test will make it easier for me to recall the information during the test.

17. a) Using the terminology of classical conditioning, describe or diagram how a student might come to experience considerable joy each time she enters her Wentz Science Center classroom. b) Using research on memory, explain why a student who learned concepts in a specific WSC classroom might perform better on a test over those concepts if the test is also taken in the same WSC classroom.

a) UCS--------------------- UCR Candy------------------ happy CS--------------------CR Entering classroom------happy b) It is called state-dependent learning. We tend to remember things better if they were learned or experienced in the same setting or emotion as when we are trying to recall the information. If the student were testing in a different classroom they might not be able to remember as much information if they were to take the test in the same class they learned the information for the test.

14. Your roommate tells you that she is doing poorly on the essay tests in her history course because there is a lot of material to read and the questions ask for a deep understanding of the course concepts. You ask her how she has been studying for the tests. Your roommate says that she reads the material when it is assigned, rereads it and her class notes the two days before the test, and goes over her notes with another student in the class the day before the test. a) Using course concepts, explain to your roommate two weaknesses with her study strategy. b) In terms of what the brain likes for information processing, suggest a new study plan for your roommate.

a) two weaknesses is my roommates study strategies are that one she is not making associations with what she is reading. If she just keeps rereading information she will not remember nearly as much because she is not making those associations. She is never testing or quizzing herself on the information to see if she can actually remembers it b) First she should take notes herself (not the class notes) and draw pictures to help her remember. Even though reading the class notes are good she will remember what she writes in her own notes better. Then she should also test herself, testing effect or forced retrieval after she reads and then keep retesting herself on all the information until the actual test.