LearningCurve 6b. Operant Conditioning; Biology, Cognition, and Learning

operant conditioning

A demonstration of operant conditioning would involve giving a reward during the first set of trials.

the law of effect

A demonstration of the law of effect would involve giving a reward during the first set of trials.

classical conditioning

Classical conditioning involves only automatic or reflex behaviors.

Which statement is evidence for the environmental, rather than the genetic, transmission of aggression? a. Monkey siblings that were reared with their mothers showed greater aggression as adults. b. Monkey siblings that were reared apart from their mothers showed greater aggression as adults. c. Monkeys who were reared with their mothers and exposed to high levels of aggression showed greater aggression as adults. d. Monkeys who were reared apart from their mothers and exposed to high levels of aggression showed greater aggression as adults.

Monkeys who were reared apart from their mothers and exposed to high levels of aggression showed greater aggression as adults.

To determine if watching television violence and playing violent video games cause children to act more aggressively, which research study would you conduct? a. Examine the association between the number of violent video games in the home and aggressive acts in the household. b. Randomly assign some children to play violent video games and some children to play educational games and then measure aggressive behaviors. c. Examine the correlation between the number of hours watching violence on television and aggressive acts in school. d. Record the number of times a child hits their siblings and the number of hours the child is engaged in playing violent video games.

Randomly assign some children to play violent video games and some children to play educational games and then measure aggressive behaviors.

Irene is having trouble convincing her husband that spanking isn't necessarily the best way to control their child's behavior. Which argument should she use to support her position? a. Parents who spank are more effective parents. b. When spanked, children do not forget the punished behavior. They simply suppress it, and are not taught what behavior to exhibit in its place. c. Spanking will help the child reduce his or her own aggressive behavior in the future. d. Spanking will teach a child how to behave appropriately.

When spanked, children do not forget the punished behavior. They simply suppress it, and are not taught what behavior to exhibit in its place.

In the classic "Bobo doll" research, Bandura and his colleagues (1961) demonstrated that _____ may be acquired through observational learning. a. athletic skills b. prosocial behavior c. aggressive behavior d. phobias

aggressive behavior

Conditioned taste aversion is a real-word example of _____ in action. a. operant conditioning b. negative punishment c. classical conditioning d. observational learning

classical conditioning

Kate has a kind of picture in her head of her hometown, a mental representation of its layout and the location of key landmarks such as rivers, buildings, freeways, and parks. This representation is called a(n): a. mental GPS. b. internal navigator. c. cognitive blueprint. d. cognitive map.

cognitive map.

If the onset of a light reliably signals the onset of food, a rat in a Skinner box will work to turn on the light. In this case, the light is a _____ reinforcer.

conditioned

Jonah works in a packaging plant. For every 100 packages he completes, he is given an additional 10-percent increase in his hourly pay. This is a _____ reinforcement schedule. a. variable-interval b. fixed-interval c. variable-ratio d. fixed-ratio

fixed-ratio

An experimenter visits a preschool with a big box of magic markers and paper. The children are told that they can draw as many pictures as they want. The children enjoy the task very much. On another visit, the children are told that, for every picture they draw, they would earn a prize. Two weeks later when the experimenter returned, he offered up the markers and paper for play but said that no prizes would be given. The children played very little with the markers because extrinsic rewards can undermine _____ motivation.

intrinsic

Learning that is not immediately demonstrated in overt behavior is called _____ learning.

latent

A rat is allowed to explore a maze for several trials. On the last trial, he finds a piece of food at the end of the maze. On the following trial, his speed through the maze increases dramatically. This is an example of:

latent learning.

Johnny is "hammering" the nail in with his toy hammer as his father is hammering the deck boards. His behavior is a clear example of: a. reinforced learning. b. modeling. c. classical learning. d. observational conditioning.

modeling.

Nannette's daughter refused to brush her teeth and threw her toys across the room. Nannette gave her daughter a 20-minute time out. This is an example of a: a. positive punishment. b. negative punishment. c. negative reinforcer. d. conditioned reinforcer.

negative punishment.

John B. Watson believed that psychology should be the science of:

observable behavior.

Four-year-old Mia watched her mother sing while she was brushing her hair. The next day, Mia's mother saw Mia singing while brushing her dog. Mia acquired the behavior through _____ learning.

observational

Albert Bandura's Bobo doll experiments were intended to demonstrate:

observational learning.

This research device, developed by B. F. Skinner, contains a bar that an animal can manipulate to obtain a food or water reinforce. The bar is attached to a recording device. This device is known as a(n):

operant chamber.

If children get attention for doing cartwheels, they will repeat the trick if they find this attention to be enjoyable. This BEST illustrates: a. spontaneous recovery. b. respondent behavior. c. operant conditioning. d. latent learning.

operant conditioning.

In teaching her son to play basketball, Mrs. Williams initially reinforces him with praise for simply dribbling while standing still, then only for walking while dribbling, and finally only for running while dribbling. She is using a procedure known as _____.

shaping

A guest will be spending time in Mrs. Bartos' classroom. To make sure her students imitate this guest's prosocial behaviors, Mrs. Bartos should pick someone who the children think is: a. different from them. b. kind of average but works hard. c. boring. d. similar to them.

similar to them.