Exam 2
How does a generalized conditioned reinforcer gain its reinforcing properties?
A generalized conditioned reinforcer gains reinforcing properties by being paired with several primary reinforcements. This allows it to be independent of any individual primary reinforcer while maintaining or strengthening behavior for a period of time.
A more damaging criticism of the learned helplessness model of depression is what fact?
A more damagin criticism of the learned helplessness model of depression is that depressed individuals feel guilty and blame their failures on themselves and their inadequacies.
A neutral stimulus can acquire emotional or motivational properties that lead to what?
A neutral stimulus can acquire emotional or motivation properties that lead to changes in behavior. For example, a rat is conditioned to press a lever for food and subjected to a tone-shock pairing. When the tone is present it suppresses the behavior (pressing the lever).
What is the difference between primary and secondary reinforcers?
A reinforcement in general increases the probability of the response that follows. There are two different types of reinforcers, positive and secondary (conditioned). Positive reinforcers increase a response due to nature (unlearned reinforcers i.e. food, water, sex, money, etc.), secondary reinforcers control responding because they have been associated with primary reinforcers in the past.
What is the difference between affective attack and quiet biting attack as distinguished by Flynn et al?
Affective attack is similar to sham rage, there is sympathetic arousal and has a lot of emotionally laden behaviors, while quiet biting attack has little emotionality and has predatory behaviors.
If animals were kept alive by researchers after LH-damage, what eventually happened?
After LH-damage, if the experimenter didn't intervene the animal would die, but if the experimenter did intervene and help keep the animal alive, it would recover and maintain themselves, but at a weight that is below average.
Name three of the changes reported after damage to or stimulation of the hypothalamus.
After damage or stimulation to the hypothalamus there have been found changes in feeding, drinking, sexual behavior, aggressiveness, fear, and even blood components due to the hypothalamus containing a lot of blood vessels.
Aggressive responses can still be obtained from which area even after hypothalamus damage and what responses are noted in the text?
After severing the hypothalamus degenerating fibers can be found leading to the midbrain. When the midbrain was severed, stimulation of the thalamus had no effect but stimulation of the LH elicited the quiet biting attack.
When we alter our behavior as a result of observing the consequences of the behavior of others, these patterns are called ________.
Altering our behavior as a result of observing the consequences of the behavior of others is called vicarious reinforcement.
Explain what it means to say that the motivational effect of the amount of reinforcement is short-lived.
Amount of reinforcement effect is the positive correlation between amount of reinforcement and performance. Thus the more reinforcement typically leads to more intense or vigorous behavior, however, this doesn't mean that it increases duration of effect. Its been found that when a large amount of reinforcement is withdrawn it causes response to stop faster during extinction.
Another important aspect of the classical conditioning of motivated states is that the organism is ___________ in the learning process.
An important aspect of classical conditioning is that the organism is passive during the learning process. Otherwise, the organism may learn maladaptive behaviors by accidental pairings between neutral stimuli and negative emotion or emotional states.
An important point is that observational learning occurs without either the ______ or _______.
An important point is that observational learning occurs without either the practicing of a response or reinforcement.
Associations that an organism apparently cannot learn are called _______.
Associations that an organism can't learn are contraprepared associations, which is one of the biological constraints Seligman proposed. On the other end, prepared associations are events that are easily learned.
What is basal metabolism?
Basal metabolism is the energy we use to maintain bodily functions, while the body is at rest. It was found that 2/3 of energy used is by basal metabolic processes, while 1/3 is used from exercise. As we get older the basal metabolism slows because we need less energy to maintain bodily processes.
What did Berkowitz and LePage discover about the shocks delivered when a gun was in the room?
Berkowitz and Lepage found that shocks were more intense with the presence of a gun in the room. They proposed guns were a medium that elicited aggression because they are associated with violence, war, and overall aggression in the past.
Cancer patients frequently suffer loss of appetite. What did Bernstein seek to determine with her study?
Bernstein wanted to find out if loss of appetite was a learned aversion that developed from taste of food eaten before the nausea inducing chemotherapy. An interesting discovery was that participants mostly knew that the drug was the cause of the nausea yet still developed an aversion to the ice cream.
What did Cannon and Washburn believe were the basis of hunger?
Cannon and Washburn believe that stomach contractions are the basis of hunger signals, this is because Washburn's hunger pains lined up with his stomach contractions.
Central theories of motivation emphasize what idea?
Central theories of motivation emphasize specialized brain cells detect changes in the body and triggers appropriate motivation. Role of the brain, especially the hypothalamus
Damage to the hypothalamus may also lead to hypogonadal conditions, characterized by what?
Damage to the hypothalamus causes hypogonadal conditions, which causes a lack of sexual motivation, underdevelopment of genitals, and lack of secondary sexual characteristics.
When can dehydration be fatal?
Dehydration can be fatal when more than 15% of body weight in water is lost.
How is the dominance order of monkeys maintained?
Dominance order of monkeys are typically maintained by through aggression or threats of aggression.
Heatherton and Baumeister suggest that binge eating the result of attempts to _________________.
Heatherton and Baumeister suggest that binge eating is the result of attempts to escape self-awareness.
Counterconditioning is generally preferred over extinction procedures because it provides _____________.
Counterconditioning is preferred over extinction procedures because it provides a specific positive response to replace the negative conditioned response. Counterconditioning is done by pairing the negative conditioned stimulus with a strong positive unconditioned stimulus, thus the negative conditioned stimulus loses strength by being paired with the positive unconditioned stimulus.
Give two examples of learned sexual values that differ across cultures.
Cultures vary in what is acceptable, attractive, and how its learned (preparatory stages). Some cultures find bigger people attractive while others find thinness attractive. Some cultures find that polygamy is ok while others don't. And some cultures prefer courtship over hooking up.
Which neural transmitter responds initially to an unconditioned stimulus and "learns" to respond to a conditioned stimulus?
Schultz found that dopamine neurons in the midbrain respond initially to unconditioned stimuli and then learns to respond to conditioned stimuli.
According to Seligman, learned helplessness is the laboratory analogue of what condition in humans?
Seligman found that helplessness (demotivation of behavior) is the laboratory analogue of reactive depression in humans.
What is the difference between sham rage and true rage as seen in Cannon's experiments with cats?
Sham rage is used because true emotional behavior couldn't occur without the cortex. Sham rage is very similar to true rage but its not directed toward the provoking stimulus.
Skinner emphasized the idea that reinforcement serves to strengthen the response, making it occurrence ____________.
Skinner emphasized the idea that reinforcement doesn't necessarily to strengthen the connection between the response and stimulus, but to strengthen the response itself and to make its occurrence more probable.
What is hyperphagia?
Hyperphagia is when an animal eats large quantities of food after damage to the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH).
Describe the results of the token system in the above institution example. 164
In order to keep the 25-year old women from wandering off the and learn to stay on the path, she was given tokens when walking from one building to another if she stayed on the path and was charged tokens every time she wandered off the path. Two days after the token system began wandering off the path was reduced to zero and was near zero during the entire duration and six months later wandering was no longer a problem.
How were children affected by the violence they saw in the cartoon in Bandura study?
In the Bandura study, when the children were exposed too aggressive behavior, they would show aggressive behaviors. Specifically, in the cartoon group, they were less inclined to imitate the character, but was more inclined than the control groups.
Which was the first group of pigeons to learn to peck the lighted key?
In the study, it was found that pigeons that learned to jump on a treadle with a reinforcement also were the fastest to learn to peck the lighted key to get grain.
Incentive motivation may be thought of as a mediator that comes between the ____ of some goal object and the ____ that is directed toward that object.
Incentive motivation is the mediator between the stimulus characteristics of some goal object and the responses that are directed toward the object.
What is operant (or instrumental) conditioning?
Instrumental or operant conditioning is the reinforcement of appropriate responses and occurs as a consequence of a response.
What is (acc. to text) the most difficult organism with which to demonstrate learned helplessness?
It has been found that rats are the most difficult organism to demonstrate helplessness unless the action is too difficult or unnatural then helplessness is present.
Humans eat in response to various cues other than those associated with homeostasis. When does regulation tend to be poor?
It has been found that regulation tends to be poor when only internal cues are available.
Why is it not clear that anorexics patients have a true loss of appetite?
It is not clear why anorexic patients have a true loss of appetite because they have bizarre eating habits and refusal to eat.
Because a normal weight individual has about a one-month supply of stored energy some researchers view obesity as what?
It was found that in a normal weight individual, 15% of their body weight is stored body fat, which is one month supply of calories (energy). Researchers view it as continued storage of energies that go above the normal reserves.
When did Blodgett's nonreinforced rats begin to demonstrate that they had learned the maze?
It was found that the nonreinforced rats learned a little bit of the maze, but once food was introduced to the group their performance matched the reinforced group. The introduction to food increased quality and presented a strong change in performance.
Garcia, Ervin, and Koelling showed that the taste-illness connection can be made in rats even when the interval is as long as _______.
It was found that the taste-illness connection could be made in rats when the interval between taste and illness was as long as 75 minutes.
What do Kaye and Weltzin speculate about food-restriction by anorexics?
Kaye and Weltzin speculate that anorexics restrict food due to low serotonin levels, which decreases feelings. Basically, food restriction equals high reward because it decreasing negative mood states.
What is the effect of hormone replacement therapy in AH vs VMH-lesionied female mammals?
Lesion in the anterior hypothalamus cease the estrous cycle in female mammals. Replacement therapy in the anterior hypothalamus with estrogen fail to reestablish the cycle suggesting that the part of the AH contains sensitive cells to circulating female sex hormones. While replacement therapy, when there are lesions in the ventromedial hypothalamus are able to restore sexual behavior.
Lesions in the lateral hypothalamus produce what effect?
Lesions in the lateral hypothalamus (LH) produce an effect that causes animals to stop eating (aphagia) or drinking (adipsia).
What did Liddell use classical conditioning to study in sheep and goats?
Liddell wanted to study the relationship between neurotic, maladaptive behaviors, and the stimuli that trigger those behaviors. To do so, Liddell used classical conditioning to study the emotionality in goats and sheep. The study found that experimental neurosis was developed when electric shocks were used to condition leg flexion and the animal's task was made difficult. Neurosis was then generalized and they developed an irregular heart rate while sleeping and were sensitive to external stimuli.
When do people learn the rules of sexual behavior, according to Luria?
Luria states that most people learn the rules of sexual behavior during their adolescents, they gain this knowledge typically from friends of the same sex, sexual exploration with a partner and masturbation.
What is M, and how do many theorists believe that M is established?
M or mediate is incentive motivation that is established through classical conditioning. M gets between the stimulus and response (S M R) and has separate links S > M and M > R. Each link then can be affected by conditions in the situation
What did Miller's study of classical operant interactions demonstrate?
Miller's study of classical operant interaction demonstrated that fear can used to motivate learning to reduce it. In his study, rats were placed in one compartment that shocked them and they would escape into another to avoid it. In the following trials the rats would have to learn how to turn a wheel or pull a lever in order to get to the other compartment.
Mineka and Kihlstrom argued that experimental _______ is not generated by classical conditioning procedure by the organism's lack of _______ or ______.
Mineka and Kihlstrom argues that experimental neurosis is not generated from the conditioning procedure but by the organism's lack of predictability or controllability.
Money is not only a generalized condition reinforcer, it is also a ______.
Money is a generalized condition reinforcer and it's also a reminder as a token of the other reinforcers it buys.
The motivational properties of reinforcement have led some theorists to propose that reinforcement and incentive motivation are what?
Motivational properties of reinforcement led some theorists to believe that reinforcement and incentive motivation are just different names (labels) for the same phenomena. Based on one's point of view is if the research on reinforcement could be evidence on incentive motivation and vice versa.
Briefly describe 3 of the 7 types of aggression presented in the text.
Moyer presented at least 7 types of aggression: Predatory, intermale, fear-induced, irritable, territorial defense, maternal, and instrumental aggression. Predatory aggression is elicited by a natural object of prey. Intermale aggression is released by the presence of another male usually without provocation. Fear-induced aggression occurs when there is no escape.
At what point were the dogs apparently unable to make the discrimination?
Once there was an established conditioned response to the circle, an eclipse was added without feeding. The dog was able to discriminate between the circle and the eclipse, so Pavlov began adjusting the eclipse to resemble the circle more and more and the dog would be able to discriminate between them until the eclipse reached a 9:8 ratio. That is when the dog's behavior became violent and even testing the original discrimination between the circle and the 2:1 eclipse there was no evidence of discrimination.
Studies consistently show that for both humans and non-humans ____________- in the foods available leads to larger __________ of food consumed.
Studies consistently show that for both humans and non-humans greater variety in the foods available led to larger amounts of food being consumed.
Why do positive and negative contrast effects have important implications for the motivation of behavior?
Positive and negative contrast effects have important implications regarding the motivation of behavior because they show the history of reinforcement influences responding on current conditions of reinforcements.
In Crespi's experiment, rats formerly receiving large and small amounts of reinforcement were all given a medium amount. What happened to performance?
Prior to switching to a common level of reinforcement, the group receiving large amounts of reinforcement were running the fastest, and those getting the small amounts were running the slowest. After the switch, the group that had been getting the largest amount of reinforcement performed worse than the control (exemplifying negative contrast), and the group that had been getting the smallest amount performed better than the control (exemplifying positive contrast).
What one hormone appears to be the key development of male or female sexual behavior? UNSURE
Testosterone is the key development hormone of male or female sexual behavior. UNSURE
The Burish et al. study showed what effect of progressive muscle relaxation therapy and guided relaxation imagery?
The Burish et al. study found that progressive muscle relaxation therapy and guided relaxation imagery on cancer patients before chemotherapy decreased the feelings of nausea during chemo after three or four sessions. PMRT and GI reduced severity and possibly prevented the development.
Name the five structures of the limbic system.
The five structures of the limbic system are: hypothalamus, anterior thalamic nuclei, the cingulate gyrus, the hippocampus, and the amygdala are all parts of the limbic system.
Research has shown that the mammalian brain is essentially _______ unless altered by the presence of other hormones.
The mammalian brain is female unless the there is testosterone present.
Why is it difficult to poison rats?
The reason it is difficult to poison rats is that after they are poisoned they avoid the bait that made them ill.
Where are the receptors of the glucose-sensitive system located?
The receptors of the glucose-sensitive system are in the liver.
The ______________ generated by Pavlov's discrimination experiment was apparently the result of the increasing difficulty of the discrimination.
The result of increasing the difficulty of discrimination is experimental neurosis, which interferes with the organism's behavior when the organism can no longer discriminate.
What does the set-point theory argue?
The set-point theory argues that everyone has a normal body weight that is consistently maintained and saw the lateral hypothalamus as a regulator of the body's normal weight or set point.
What does social contagion theory propose about bulimia?
The social contagion theory combines some aspects of the three approaches and proposes that binge eating can provide an escape from self-awareness and bulimia may have a physical basis.
What are the three major symptoms of anorexia according to the text?
The three major symptoms of anorexia is large reduction in weight due to restriction of food intake, amenorrhea (absence of menstruation) which can happen before weight loss, and a distortion of attitudes towards eating such as denial of needing to eat, enjoying losing weight, and wanting extreme thinness.
What were the tokens employed in the Fox et al. mining study, and where could the recipients use them?
The tokens in the mining study were stamps given at the end of each month if there were no loss-time injury, the group would receive more stamps if nobody in their group were injured, and they gave safety suggestions that were adopted by the mine. The employees were then able to redeem their stamps for items at a redemption store.
Describe the "typical bulimic"
The typical bulimic is described as female, white, college educated, and in their early 20s. The women tended to come from middle to upper class families with multiple children.
What effect does serving the vagus nerve have on the experience of hunger in humans?
The vagus nerve is a source of information, when severing the vagus nerve it causes stomach contractions to stop, however, it does not stop the experience of hunger.
Some of the weight increase for men and women over the past century is probably due to what two factors?
The weight increase for men and women over the past century is due to a change in work patterns that require less activity and the increased sedentary lifestyle of Americans. Change in activity patterns was suggested by the constant intake in calories since the 1900s.
What is the difference between osmometric and volumetric thirst?
There are two motivational mechanisms used for maintaining fluids. Osmometric thirst, maintains intracellular fluids, while volumetric thirst maintains extracellular thirst.
Name three general categories of explanation proposed for understanding bulimia.
There have been several categories that explain bulimia, such as sociocultural approach, clinical/psychiatric approach, and the epidemiological/risk factors approach.
What was Rachman able to produce through the pairing of stimuli in three young, single men?
Through the pairing of photos of boots and nude women, Rachman produced a boot fetish in three young men. After the experiment, the fetish was extinguished.
What does the reduction of refractory period in hypothalamus-midbrain lesioned male rats suggest?
When a lesion is present between the hypothalamus and midbrain the refractory period is reduced suggesting that the hypothalamus may inhibit sexual activity.
Animals exposed to helpless situations also seem to develop a particular type of deficit. What is it? Briefly - where might you see this in the real world?
When animals are exposed to a helpless situations they develop a learning deficit and when they learn how to escape the situation they tend to revert back to their original behavior and endure the situation. Meaning that helpless animals learn the consequences of actions can't be altered by its behavior. This can also be seen in humans when they are faced with a helpless situation they are resistant/slower at learning.
What is sensory specific satiety?
When one is exposed to an unchanging diet it leads to decreased eating, this is due to a constant diet decreasing the perceived pleasantness of the food. Sensory specific satiety is also related to traits of food such as taste or texture and when overexposed to them it develops sensory specific satiety.
Identify the following in Pavlov's experiments: [US, UR, CS, or CR?]. Salivation to meat powder Bell Meat powder Salivation to bell
Unconditioned stimulus is the meat powder Unconditioned response is the salivation to the meat powder Conditioned stimulus is the bell Conditioned response is the salivation to the bell
What did Watson and Rayner condition Albert to fear, and what aversive stimulus did they use to induce that fear?
Watson and Rayner were trying to condition Albert to be scared of a small white rat. First, they tested what scared him and made it the unconditioned stimulus. After presenting the pairing (rat and UCS) he became weary of the rat and was found that it was generalized to other white fluffy objects. This study was a little skewed due to Albert being conditioned between tests.
According to Razran, why are we often unaware of the reasons for our behavior?
We are often unaware of the reasons for our behavior because some of it is done unconsciously and thus results in interoceptive conditioning.
What external stimulus is often provided to us when a urine sample is required (for medical tests for example)?
A typical external stimulus when a urine sample is required is running water. The sound of running water is associated with urination and became a CS for urination.
Anorexia nervosa is much more common in females than in males, and on the rise for whom?
Anorexia nervosa is most common in adolescents and young adult females and is rising in the elderly.
How do Chinese anorexics seem to differ from anorexics in Western cultures?
Chinese anorexics differ from western anorexics first by not showing fear of obesity or an overall distortion of body image, but they reduce food intake because food makes them feel bloated. Second, it was found that they show lower levels of depression and tend to come from lower socioeconomic classes than high socioeconomic classes in Western cultures.
Because a larger percentage of body weight is fat in obese individuals, they need _________ to maintain their weight.
Due to the large percentage of body weight being fat in obese individuals they don't need as many calories to maintain their weight, which is the result of a lowered metabolism.
How may human aggression be reinforced and maintained by secondary reinforcement?
Human aggression can be reinforced and maintained by secondary reinforcement by social approval (peers, attention, audience, etc.) For example social approval is a strong secondary reinforcer for aggressive behavior in gangs.
What causes the condition called hypovolemia?
Hypovolemia activates when compensatory mechanisms to restore fluid balance when there is a loss of extracellular space. There are many causes for hypovolemia, such as loss of large blood loss, diarrhea, and vomiting.
If a child hits a playmate and gets a toy as a result, what is likely to happen in future?
If a child was to hit another and receives a toy it is likely that they are going to hit others to get what they want. Operant conditioning principles states that by operant conditioning a response leads to consequence, and if the consequence is reinforcing then it will increase the probability of the behavior.
How is interoceptive conditioning defined?
Interoceptive conditioning defined by Razran, is where the unconditioned stimulus, the conditioned stimulus, or both are applied to the internal organs or mucosa.
What is a major determinant of when we eat? [Two things, neither of which is hunger].
One of the major determinants of when we eat is memory, memory triggers (of when and how much we last ate). Another is the cues in our surroundings that tell us that food is available, such as smell and time.
Historically, hunger motivation has been viewed as a two-process system. Described the two processes.
One process of hunger motivation is the short-term process that monitors glucose levels and there is the long-term process that monitors lipids.
Of the three basic biological drives (hunger, thirst, and sex), which one has the smallest amount of regulation that is social and not directly physiological.
Out of the three basic biological drives sex & aggression has the smallest amount of regulation and is more social and not directly physiological.
Continued presentation of the conditioned stimulus without the unconditioned stimulus leads to what effect (on the conditioned stimulus)?
Removing the unconditioned stimulus, while continuing the presentation of the conditioned stimulus will continue the conditioned response, but will lead to extinction as a result.
What did the institutionalized 25-year-old women receive tokens for in the text example?
The 25 year old women received tokens for staying on the path and was charged tokens for wandering off the path.
The VMH is considered to be a ______ center, while the LH is a _________ center.
The VHM is considered to be the satiety center, which will "turn off" eating when energy intake is sufficient, while the LH is considered to be the hunger center and when new energy sources are needed will "turn on" eating.
As an example of behavior modeling, what did an airline do after receiving a barometric bomb threat in July of 1971, and where had they seen that particular solution?
The air line modeled what the scriptwriters wrote in the show and diverted the flight to Denver that had an altitude of 5,339 feet.
In the homeostatic model, when changes move the body away from some optimal value, mechanisms trigger circuits that generate motivation to ___________
The homeostatic model when changes move the body away from an optimal value, mechanisms trigger circuits that produce motivation to return the organism to a balanced state (homeostasis).
Though other brain structures are involved in the regulation of sexual behavior, the _________ is of major importance.
The hypothalamus is of major importance for the regulation of sexual behavior.
What is the key to understanding the phenomenon of learned helplessness?
The key to understanding learned helplessness is the concept of control. Trauma alone isn't enough to invoke learned helplessness, if they are able to control the trauma in any way.
The most likely stimulus for regulation around a set-point is _______.
The most likely stimulus for regulation around a set point is body fat. It was proposed that the lateral hypothalamus and the ventromedial hypothalamus work reciprocally to determine a set point for adipose (fatty) tissue.
What must be considered (about learning) if we are to understand motivation?
To get a better understanding of motivation biological constraints must be considered because a species can learn a response to one environmental circumstance but not for another due to evolution one type of evolution to be easily formed.
Before we can profit from the modeled behavior of others what must we do?
To profit from the modeled behavior of others we must attend to their behavior.
If the kidneys detect a drop in blood volume, what happens?
When the kidneys detect a drop in blood volume, they will secrete renin. Renin will then convert angiotensinogen to angiotensin II, which stimulates the adrenal cortex to secrete aldosterone. Aldosterone causes the kineys to increase its reabsorption of sodium and in turn water. Basically, when the kidneys detect a drop in blood volume causes an increase in the amount of water retained through reabsorption
