Chapter 6: Learning

1. Conditioning is a systematic procedure in which
     A. someone is forced by others to act against his or her will.
     B. an animal is trained to perform a certain sequence of actions.
     C. associations and responses to specific stimuli are learned.
     D. beliefs about the way people will act are developed.

2. Stefan's college dining hall has "Italian nights" occasionally, with checkered tablecloths, at which they serve a food that does not agree with Stefan's digestion at all. After this happened several times, just the sight of the checkered tablecloths makes his stomach upset. In this example, getting an upset stomach from the sight of the tablecloths alone would be the
     A. unconditioned response.   B. conditioned response.
     C. unconditioned stimulus.     D. conditioned stimulus.

3. When the conditioned stimulus is presented alone, not followed by the unconditioned stimulus, what will happen to the conditioned response?
     A. It will become weaker and less likely.     B. It will become stronger and less likely.
     C. It will be conditioned to a new stimulus.     D. It will become a new conditioned stimulus.

4. A day care provider gives special stickers to the children who behave as they should, perhaps by being quiet at nap time or eating neatly, and this encourages the children to behave in the future. This person is using ______ to control the children's behavior.
     A. observational learning     B. circadian learning
     C. classical conditioning     D. operant conditioning

5. When an organism gives a conditioned response to a stimulus that is similar but not identical to the conditioned stimulus, it is
     A. operationalization.          B. cognitive restructuring.
     C. stimulus discrimination.     D. stimulus generalization.

6. When an organism has been accidentally reinforced after some behavior so the behavior increases, but the reinforcement does not actually depend on the behavior at all, the result is
     A. conditional neurosis.          B. spontaneous recovery.
     C. superstitious behavior.       D. unconditional reinforcement.

7. Classical conditioning occurs when a neutral stimulus is paired over and over with a(n)
     A. conditioned stimulus.       B. unconditioned stimulus.
     C. conditioned response.     D. discriminative stimulus.

8. When left to himself on Saturdays, Sasha spends several hours watching TV and only a few minutes straightening up his room. According to the Premak principle, his parents could use the opportunity to ______ as a reinforcer for his ______ behavior.
     A. eat favorite foods; TV watching          B. play outside; room straightening
     C. straighten his room; TV watching        D. watch TV; room straightening

9. An important problem that arises when attempting to use operant conditioning principles to control someone's behavior in real life is
     A. making sure the unconditioned stimulus is strong enough.
     B. knowing ahead of time what will act as a reinforcer.
     C. remembering to deliver the reinforcer every time.
     D. choosing between the use of punishment and reinforcement.

10. One common unintended result of using punishment to control behavior is that it may
     A. make people more aggressive in many situations.
     B. eliminate the behavior completely, even when appropriate.
     C. form a bond between the punisher and the punished person.
     D. make positive reinforcers into negative reinforcers.

11. A mother who is trying to curb a child's between-meal snacks might set a rule that there will be no snacks unless it is at least one hour since the child last ate. In this case, the child's behavior of asking for a snack will be reinforced on a ______ schedule of reinforcement.
     A. variable interval          B. fixed interval
     C. variable ratio              D. fixed ratio

12. In general, reinforcers and punishers are more effective if they are delivered
     A. after some delay.                         B. immediately after the behavior.
     C. before the desired behavior.        D. no matter what the organism does.



1. C
2. B
3. A
4. D
5. D
6. C
7. B
8. D
9. B
10. A
11. B
12. B