Psychology- Learning Examples

Conditioning seldom occurs when a(n) _____ repeatedly comes before a(n) _____.

unconditioned stimulus; neutral stimulus

Respondent behavior is to operant behavior as _____ is to _____.

automatic; deliberate

_____ is the process of learning associations.

conditioning

Marcia is in therapy to get help in her efforts to stop smoking. Her therapist made a series of suggestions to help reduce her cravings. Which suggestion is based on Pavlov's research on classical conditioning?

In order to reduce her cravings, she should avoid places where she usually smoked.

Jeff's psychology assignment is to observe and list any behaviors of his relatives that indicate learning. Which example should be included on his list?.

Jeff's little brother whines whenever he wants something.

The eminent psychologist _____ became known for shaping rat and pigeon behaviors by delivering rewards as the animals more closely approximated a desired behavior.

Skinner

Irene is having trouble convincing her husband that spanking is not necessarily the best way to control their child's behavior. Which argument should she use to support her position?

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 1990s, singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette titled a song, "You Learn." Presumably, Morissette meant that people:

acquire new behaviors through experience.

Five-year-old Destiny is frightened by the noise thunder makes. Destiny associates lightning with thunder because lightning always precedes thunder. Thus, when Destiny sees lightning, she often cries in anticipation that she will hear thunder soon afterward. This is an example of:

classical conditioning

When Juan was a child, he was attacked by a swarm of hornets in his backyard. Now, every time he hears the sound of hornets, he immediately becomes frightened. This is an example of:

classical conditioning

Which choice correctly pairs a type of learning or conditioning with a closely related concept?

cognitive learning-observational learning

A mental representation of the layout of one's environment is called a(n) _____.

cognitive map

Dr. Jones is known for her difficult pop quizzes. Immediately before she springs a pop quiz on her students, she typically goes to the classroom door and closes it, and her students begin to feel anxious and tense. Students soon learn to anticipate a pop quiz and feel anxious whenever Dr. Jones closes the classroom door. Closing the door has become a(n) _____ stimulus.

conditioned

In classical conditioning, the _____ stimulus is an originally neutral stimulus that comes to trigger a conditioned response after association with an unconditioned stimulus.

conditioned

In classical conditioning, the learned reaction to a previously neutral stimulus is called the:

conditioned response

Sean takes his 1-year-old son, James, out for a walk. James reaches over to touch a red flower and is stung by a bumblebee sitting on the petals. The next day, James' mother brings home some red flowers. She removes a flower from the arrangement and takes it over for her baby to smell. James cries loudly as soon as he sees it. According to the principles of classical conditioning, what is the unconditioned response in this example?

crying to the bee sting

After being bitten by his neighbor's dog, Miguel experienced fear at the sight of that dog but not at the sight of other dogs. This BEST illustrates the process of:

discrimination

Pavlov's dog stopped salivating to the tone when the food was no longer paired with the tone. This is an example of:

extinction

John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner found that Little Albert's conditioned fear was elicited not only by a rat but also by a number of similar objects. Little Albert's behavior BEST illustrates stimulus:

generalization

One main difference between punishment and reinforcement is that the goal of reinforcement is to _____ a behavior, while the goal of punishment is to _____ a behavior.

increase; decrease

Linda had a severe toothache for many days before she went to the dentist. After treatment, she was much relieved. The next time she experienced pain in her teeth, she went to the dentist right away. This is an example of _____ reinforcement.

negative

In classical conditioning, the _____ is an event that elicits no response before conditioning begins.

neutral stimulus

Jill is learning how to play tennis. For her first lesson, her instructor models serving and backhand returns while Jill patiently watches. Jill then tries to imitate the sequence of swings and motions made by her instructor. Which concept BEST describes how Jill is learning to play tennis?

observational learning

Many business organizations effectively use _____ to train communications, sales, and customer service skills. Trainees gain skills faster when they are not only taught the needed skills in a classroom or lecture setting but also are able to see the skills being practiced effectively by experienced workers.

observational learning

_____ conditioning is a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed by a reinforcer or diminished if followed by a punisher.

operant

The cognitive processes in _____ involve the organism developing an expectation that a response will be reinforced or punished with or without reinforcement, whereas in _____ an organism develops an expectation that the conditioned stimulus signals the arrival of an unconditioned stimulus.

operant conditioning; classical conditioning

Conditioned reinforcers are also called _____ reinforcers.

secondary

Animals can be trained to perform many behaviors through _____; that is, by providing well-timed rewards as the animals progressively better approximate the desired behaviors.

shaping

In teaching her son to play basketball, Mrs. Richards 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

Sonya had leukemia as a child and had to undergo numerous bouts of chemotherapy. The chemotherapy always made her nauseous. As she underwent a year of treatment, the waiting room started to make her nauseous. The chemotherapy is the:

unconditional stimulus

Researchers conditioned a flatworm to contract when exposed to light by repeatedly pairing the light with electric shock. The electric shock is a(n):

unconditioned stimulus