Exam 6: Learning

Boris is trying to use classical conditioning to teach his goldfish to come to the top of the tank to eat whenever he turns on the aquarium light. He drops food into the tank and then turns on the light. After several such trials, the fish show no more inclination to come to the top of the tank when the light is turned on than they did on the first trial. What would you suggest that Boris do to improve his training technique?

Cecil turns off all the lights in his house to avoid a huge electric bill. Cecil's behavior is an example of

George routinely comes home from work and has multiple alcoholic drinks, but rarely feels their effect. However on rare occasions, George will go to a bar with his friends. On these nights one drink is enough to get George buzzed. What concept best explains this discrepancy?

Which of the following is an example of fixed mindset?

Dr. Meyer is known for his difficult pop quizzes. Immediately before he springs a pop quiz on his students, he typically goes to the classroom door and closes it. Students soon learn to anticipate a pop quiz whenever Dr. Meyer closes the classroom door. Closing the door has become a(n)

Which of the following can be explained by Tolman's views on purposive learning?

A squirrel eats an acorn, just as it does every day, but this time the acorn makes the squirrel sick. The squirrel then avoids acorns for more than a month. This avoidance behavior is

Bubba, a very smart German shepherd, has learned that if he barks at the neighbors while they are grilling, they will throw him a treat. However, his owner, Paul, does not want Bubba to eat "people" food. When Paul is in the yard, Bubba never barks at the neighbors. According to operant conditioning principles, Bubba is demonstrating that he can

Tyler's grandmother used to receive emails from him every day so she would check her inbox regularly. Since Tyler went off to college, the emails have basically stopped. As a result, she no longer checks her inbox on a daily basis. If this pattern continues, we can expect ________ to occur.

Little Henry knows that when he goes shopping with Mommy and throws a tantrum, he never gets a treat. However, he also knows that if he throws a tantrum when his Dad takes him, his Dad always gives in. Little Henry is demonstrating

Your sorority sister is a pre-law student. After reading about the importance of control over aversive events, she decides that pop quizzes can cause physical harm and should be banned as students have no control over when they will occur. Her position has some merit because

Which of the following statements about classical conditioning is accurate?

________ is the species specific biological predisposition to learn in certain ways but not others.

Little Joseph is afraid of the nurse who gave him a shot. When another nurse walks into the room, he begins crying as well. He is exhibiting

After getting food poisoning from the lunch cafeteria, Rodney now gets nauseous when he walks by and smells the food. What was the unconditioned stimulus in this scenario?

Some children with seizure problems bang their heads against a wall causing themselves serious injury. As a result, a psychologist might administer a brief electric shock to such a child every time she bangs her head on the wall. This would be an example of

Predictability lessens stress.

Melvin is a new fifth grade teacher. Unfortunately, many of his new students have a history of failing to complete their assignments. He wants to encourage his students to complete all of their assignments and to do well on them. From a behavioral perspective, Melvin should

In Sweden, it is illegal for parents to spank their children. Since the laws were passed, youth rates of crime have

Which of the following is/are associated with Bandura's model of observational learning?