1. One basic form of learning occurs during the process of __________, which is evident when an organism does not respond as strongly or as often to an event following multiple exposures to it.

b. habituation

2. Even trout can learn through operant conditioning, as evidenced by their

c. ability to press a pendulum to get food.

3. The behaviors learned with classical conditioning are __________, whereas those learned with operant conditioning are __________.

a. involuntary; voluntary

4. Every time you open the pantry where dog food is stored, your dog starts to salivate. His reaction is a(n)

b. conditioned response.

5. Your first love wore a musky-scented perfume, and your heart raced every time he or she appeared. Even now when you smell that scent, your heart speeds up, suggesting the scent is a(n)

b. conditioned stimulus.

6. Avoiding foods that induce sickness has __________. This taste aversion helps organisms survive.

a. adaptive value

7. Little Albert was an 11-month-old baby who originally had no fear of rats. In an experiment conducted by Watson and Rayner, he was classically conditioned to fear white rats through the pairing of a loud noise with exposure to a rat. His resulting fear is an example of a(n)

c. conditioned emotional response.

8. __________ indicates that if a behavior is followed by a pleasurable outcome, it likely will be repeated.

d. The law of effect

9. Which of the following is an example of negative reinforcement?

c. A dog whining in the morning, leading an owner to wake up and take it outside

10. All your friends tell you that you look fabulous in your new jeans, so you start wearing them all the time. This is an example of

a. positive reinforcement.

11. A child is reprimanded for misbehaving, but then she seems to misbehave even more! This indicates that reprimanding her was

b. positive reinforcement.

12. In Bandura’s Bobo doll study, children who saw an adult attacking and shouting at the doll:

a. were more likely to display aggressive behavior.

13. According to research, children who watch TV programs with violent role models are:

d. at increased risk of abusing their spouses when they become adults.

14. Rats allowed to explore a maze, without getting reinforcers until the 11th day of the experiment, subsequently behaved in the maze as if they had been given reinforcers throughout the entire experiment. Their behavior is evidence of

a. latent learning.

15. Wolfgang Köhler’s research on chimpanzees suggests that animals are capable of thinking through a problem before taking action, and having a sudden coming together of awareness of a situation, leading to the solution of a problem. This is called:

b. insight.

16. What is the difference between stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination?

Stimulus generalization is the tendency for stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus to elicit the conditioned response, whereas stimulus discrimination is the ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli sufficiently different from it. Once an association is forged between a CS and a CR, the learner often responds to similar stimuli as if they are the original CS (stimulus generalization).

17. Describe an example of how you have used shaping and partial reinforcement to change your behavior. Which schedule of reinforcement do you think you were using?

Answers will vary, but can be based on the following definitions. Shaping is the use of reinforcers to guide behavior to the acquisition of a desired, complex behavior. Partial reinforcement is a schedule of reinforcement in which target behaviors are reinforced intermittently, not continuously (see Figure 5.3 to view the four different schedules of reinforcement).

18. What is the difference between primary reinforcers and secondary reinforcers? Give an example of each and explain how they might be used to change a behavior.

Answers will vary, but can be based on the following definitions. Primary reinforcers satisfy biological needs, such as for food, water, or physical contact. Secondary reinforcers do not satisfy biological needs, but often gain their power through their association with primary reinforcers. A primary reinforcer used to change behavior might be food. A college tries to increase student participation by providing food at important school functions. Money can be used as a secondary reinforcer. Employees are paid money, which increases attendance at work.

19. How are punishment and negative reinforcement different? Give examples of negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment and explain how they aim to change behavior.

Answers will vary, but can be based on the following definitions. Punishment decreases the likelihood of the behavior it follows. On the other hand, negative reinforcement increases the likelihood of a behavior recurring. See Table 5.3 for examples.

20. Some studies show that watching violent films is associated with violent behaviors. Why are such studies unable to show a cause-and-effect relationship between a film’s content and viewers’ behavior?

Answers can vary. The studies that have found an association between violent films and violent behaviors are correlational: They highlight a link between the films and the behaviors, not necessarily a cause-and-effect relationship. There are other factors that have to be considered. For example, parenting could influence both television viewing and aggression. A parent who is emotionally neglectful may place a child in front of a television all day, such that the child is more likely to imitate some aggressive behaviors seen on the TV. Simultaneously, the child may resent her parent for ignoring her, and the resentment could lead to aggressive behavior. In this example, is it the television programming or the parenting that is leading to aggression?