Exam 7: Learning and Adaptation: the Role of Experience

Classical conditioning is to operant conditioning as

Following the inappropriate pairing of a conditioned stimulus with an aversive unconditioned stimulus, an individual is most likely to develop

You are doing some research on place cells in humans. If the biology is the same as in rats, we would expect the place cells to resemble a

Sonia's mother is often busy and doesn't pay very much attention to her. When Sonia cries or screams, her mother scolds her. Though she doesn't like being scolded, Sonia prefers getting some attention to having no attention at all. Sonia learns that when she wants her mother's attention, she should scream or cry. Eventually, however, Sonia's mother realizes that Sonia only wants attention, so she stops coming over when Sonia cries and screams. What should happen as a result?

Have you ever eaten something and then gotten sick afterwards? Chances are probably good that you avoided eating that particular food again in the future, even if it was not the food that caused your illness. This idea that we are "prewired" to learn behaviours related to survival as a species is called

This form of learning has strong adaptive significance because if we responded continuously to every stimulus in the environment, we would quickly become fatigued and overwhelmed. This form of learning is called

The key factor in determining whether extinction will occur or not is

Last week, Jessica threw a temper tantrum in the middle of the grocery store because her mother had said she could not have a candy bar. After 5 minutes of screaming and crying, Jessica got a candy bar. Now Jessica is throwing another temper tantrum in the grocery store because she was told that she could not have an ice cream cone. The frequency of Jessica's behaviour has been influenced by _____________.

When it comes to exams, Natalie is very confident that she can always get a high grade. According to Bandura's social-cognitive theory, Natalie is high in

Shaping is defined as the process in which _____________.

Susan is staying with some friends who have a dog. Each night, when she has turned off the TV and is heading for bed, she gives the dog a treat. Soon the dog gets very excited whenever Susan turns off the TV at night because he has learned what this signal means. When Susan eventually leaves her friends' house, the dog continues to get excited when the owners turn off the TV, but since the owners don't give the dog a treat at this time, the dog's behaviour soon returns to normal. The change in the dog's behaviour after Susan's departure best illustrates the concept of

Imagine that you have a headache. You take two aspirin and notice that in a few minutes, your headache starts to subside. Because the aspirin effectively eliminated your headache, you would probably be more likely to take them again the next time you have a headache. This example best demonstrates the process of

Snakes, closed spaces, wild animals, and airplanes are common sources of phobias for humans. Why might it be that humans are less often treated for phobias involving rainbows, smiles, or cheerful people?

Pavlov is known as the one who discovered ____________, which has been described as one of the most important discoveries in the history of psychology.

Habituation has strong adaptive significance because it allows organisms to learn not to respond to _____________ stimuli.

Advertisers often develop commercials for alcohol that include young, attractive individuals having a good time so that consumers will learn to associate their product with having a pleasant experience. This would be an example of

Ahmen adopts a dog from the local animal shelter. When Ahmen's mother comes home that day, she runs to the dog to pet her, but the dog cowers and puts her tail between her legs. The dog continues to exhibit this response whenever Ahmen's mother approaches her. Eventually, after several weeks, the dog cowers less until finally, Ahmen's mother is able to pet the dog. What the dog has learned is that Ahmen's mother will not harm her; therefore, her response decreases with time. This is an example of

For a traditional behaviourist, the most troubling aspects of Tolman's latent learning research with rats was that learning was happening without any _____________.

Explain how operant extinction, positive punishment, and negative punishment differ.

An antecedent is a(n) ___________ that is present ___________ a given behaviour has been displayed.