Question 1

David Krech studied the relationship between environment and intelligence by experimenting with rats in specifically-constructed environments. Which of the following is NOT one of his research conclusions?
A)Rearing in an enriched environment results in higher intelligence.
B)Rearing in an impoverished environment results in lower intelligence.
C)Rearing in a specific environment may affect intelligence level, but changing environments will also affect intelligence level.
D)Rearing in an enriched environment affects brain composition.

Accepted Answer

Krech's study was limited to examining the resulting intelligence levels of rats reared in one of two environments; he did not investigate the impact of changing environments after initial rearing. He did discover that brain composition was affected by environment.

Question 2

Psychological tests for intelligence are based on a number of theories about intelligence that have been developed over the last century or so. In the 1920s, a psychologist proposed that intelligence is a single factor (termed the g factor), rather than being composed of more than one type. Which psychologist presented this theory?
A)Spearman
B)Thurstone
C)Cattell
D)Carroll

Accepted Answer

Spearman was responsible for the initial theory of g factor intelligence. Other researchers investigated and expounded on his idea, adding subtypes to the idea of singular intelligence.

Question 3

Following Spearman's g factor theory of intelligence, a group of researchers developed a more complex theory involving three strata of intelligence, with a number of intelligence types delineated under the general "g" level. Whose research is this newer theory based on?
A)Carroll
B)Cattell
C)Thurstone
D)Sternberg

Accepted Answer

Cattell initiated the three strata theory of intelligence, in which stratum III represents general intelligence, stratum II represents a few types of broad cognitive abilities, and stratum I represents many narrow cognitive abilities.

Question 4

Which idea is the Montessori method of education primarily based on?
A)Spontaneous self-development
B)Directed learning processes
C)Homeschool-style learning
D)Collaborative learning

Accepted Answer

Maria Montessori developed her educational method based on the idea that children thrive in an environment where they are provided with tools for self-directed learning and that children have inner natural guidance for their best learning style.

Question 5

Edward Thorndike studied animal behavior and learning processes. He formulated a theory of learning based on his research. The law of effect is one component of that theory. What does this law state?
A)Conditioned responses cannot be unlearned.
B)Learning is lost through not performing learned behaviors.
C)Responses may be altered by a resulting state of affairs in the environment.
D)Environment largely controls responses

Accepted Answer

The law of effect states that if a response is followed by a favorable state of affairs, it is strengthened; the converse is also true. Thorndike also posited that not doing learned behavior results in forgetting, in his law of exercise.

Question 6

Albert Bandura's work in personality psychology and social cognitive theory has significantly shifted perspectives on learning and behavior. What was his conclusion from the 1961 Bobo doll experiment?
A)That aggression is largely learned through observation and imitation
B)That aggression is largely innate, but is fostered by environment
C)That aggression is a result of unhealthy same-sex relationships in childhood
D)That males and females are equally inclined towards aggression, but social pressures impact each group's expression of the trait

Accepted Answer

The Bobo doll experiment demonstrated that children exposed to aggressive behavior that had no negative consequence were far more likely to demonstrate aggressive behavior, both physically and verbally. He concluded that observing aggressive behavior in a same-sex adult had a greater impact than in an opposite-sex adult. He also concluded that males tend to be more aggressive than females based on the quantitative results of the study.

Question 7

Albert Bandura's work in personality psychology and social cognitive theory has significantly shifted perspectives on learning and behavior. He introduced a theory stating that individuals learn behavior through observation and through the existence of positive or negative reinforcement of specific behaviors. What is this theory called?
A)Observational learning theory
B)Social learning theory
C)Self-efficacy theory
D)Social cognitive theory

Accepted Answer

Bandura's social learning theory states that behavior is learned through observation of both performance of certain behaviors and positive or negative reinforcement of behaviors.

Question 8

Different types of punishment produce varying types of change. When moderate punishment is used in combination with the opportunity to learn acceptable responses, what type of change typically results?
A)Temporary change
B)Permanent change
C)Modular change
D)Systematic change

Accepted Answer

Moderate punishment, in combination with opportunities to learn new acceptable behavior, generally results in permanent, rather than temporary change. It is more effective than other methods of punishment that elicit only temporary change.

Question 9

F. Skinner spent much of his time analyzing behavior and coined the term operant conditioning. How did he define punishment?
A)"a necessary evil to motivate a subject"
B)"the highest level of persuasion"
C)"the commonest technique of control in modern life"
D)"the most valuable technique of control in modern life"

Accepted Answer

Skinner called punishment "the commonest technique of control in modern life." He regularly employed punishment in operant conditioning experiments.

Question 10

Edward Thorndike studied animal behavior and learning processes. He formulated a theory of learning based on his research; one component of that theory is the law of readiness. Which of the following statements is not part of the law of readiness?
A)It is satisfying to perform an act when one is ready to do so.
B)It is annoying to not perform an act when one is ready to do so.
C)It is annoying to perform an act when one is not ready to do so.
D)It is satisfying to perform an act when one is encouraged to do so.

Accepted Answer

The law of readiness outlines the idea that goal-directed behavior is satisfying to complete and that prevention of performing goal directed behavior is annoying. It does not include the idea that encouragement to perform an act one is not ready to perform can be satisfying.

Question 11

Edward Thorndike studied animal behavior and learning processes. He formulated a theory of learning based on his research; one component of that theory is the idea of associative shifting. Which of the following best describes this idea?
A)When stimulus S is paired with stimulus Q, response R will be disconnected from stimulus S.
B)When stimulus S is paired with response R, stimulus Q will also be paired with response R if it is paired with stimulus S.
C)When stimulus S is paired with response R, stimulus Q will also be paired with response R if it presented with stimulus S multiple times.
D)When stimulus S is paired with stimulus Q, response R will be paired with both S and Q if it occurs with both stimuli.

Accepted Answer

The idea of associative shifting states that when stimulus S is paired with response R, stimulus Q will also be paired with response R if it presented with stimulus S multiple times. Response R is shifted from stimulus S to stimulus Q through repeated simultaneous exposure to both.

Question 12

Edward Thorndike studied animal behavior and learning processes. He formulated a theory of learning based on his research. He was an early proponent of active learning theory. What does that theory state?
A)Children learn better with active involvement of teachers or other adults.
B)Children learn better with active involvement from other children.
C)Children learn better without active involvement from other children.
D)Children learn better if they are self-directed, rather than receiving guidance from teachers.

Accepted Answer

The active learning theory, as it was initially conceived of, states that children should guide their own learning, rather than being instructed by teachers (similar to the Montessori idea of learning). The term now refers to the idea that people learn better when they bear the greatest responsibility of learning and to educational processes built on that idea.

Question 13

A child observed an attack of someone on the street by a man in a yellow jacket. Now he is afraid of any man in a yellow jacket he encounters. What is this phenomenon known as?
A)Second-order conditioning
B)Transference
C)Reaction shifting
D)Signal strength

Accepted Answer

This is known as second-order conditioning. When a conditioned stimulus acts like or presents similarly to an unconditioned stimulus, the elicited response to the non-threatening conditioned stimulus is the same as to the threatening unconditioned stimulus.

Question 14

In operant conditioning, a number of factors, as well as the style of conditioning employed, affect both short- and long-term outcome. Which of the following is NOT one of the factors considered to affect conditioning?
A)Deprivation
B)Immediacy
C)Size
D)Age

Accepted Answer

Age is not one of the four factors traditionally considered to affect operant conditioning. Those are: deprivation/satiation, immediacy (of consequence), size (a cost-benefit analysis of consequence), and contingency (reliability of consequence).

Question 15

Escape conditioning and avoidance conditioning are two types of operant conditioning. Which of the following is NOT a similarity of these two methods?
A)They both employ negative (aversive) stimuli
B)They both have ethical concerns
C)They both provide immediate aversive stimuli upon target response
D)They both build include time for desired response to be performed before consequence

Accepted Answer

Escape conditioning provides immediate aversive stimuli in response to a behavior, while avoidance conditioning uses a neutral stimulus followed by a short period allowing for the subject to provide a desired response in order to avoid the aversive stimulus entirely.

Question 16

Edward Tolman was a behavioral psychologist. His experiments with rats led to a theory that animals can learn connections between stimuli without a biological event to reinforce learning. What is this theory known as?
A)S-S view
B)S-R view
C)Reinforcement theory
D)Behavioral theory

Accepted Answer

Tolman's S-S view of behavior claims that animals can learn connections between stimuli without a biological event to reinforce learning. This idea was supported by an experiment he (and colleagues) conducted wherein rats, when hungry, were able to find food in a maze on first trial after previously given the chance to explore the maze when not hungry.

Question 17

Theories about reward and punishment based in classical and operant conditioning techniques have also been applied to the workplace. What has research about reward and punishment theories found to be true?
A)Positive punishment increases productivity.
B)Performance-contingent rewards increase productivity.
C)Non-performance contingent rewards increase satisfaction.
D)Performance-contingent punishment increases productivity.

Accepted Answer

Reward and punishment theory concludes that performance-contingent rewards increase performance and overall satisfaction, while non-performance contingent rewards do not. Punishment in the workplace is not strongly linked with better performance.

Question 18

Classical conditioning focuses on responses that are automatic, rather than learned. If you feed your dog every day at 9 am and he starts to stare at his food bowl around 9 am before you've fed him, what kind of conditioning has occurred?
A)Delay conditioning
B)Temporal conditioning
C)Trace conditioning
D)Backward conditioning

Accepted Answer

Temporal conditioning is the type of conditioning that occurs when an unconditioned stimulus is consistently presented at the same time. Food is an unconditioned stimulus (it elicits an automatic, rather than learned, response) and time acts as a conditioned stimulus. The dog is conditioned to believe he will receive food at a particular time, so he anticipates it.

Question 19

John Watson's experiment with a young child and a white rat demonstrated the effectiveness of classical conditioning. He paired exposure to the rat with a loud noise and the child learned to be afraid of the rat. The child also demonstrated fear around other white furry objects. What is this an example of?
A)Conditioned generalization
B)Stimulus generalization
C)Stimulus extrapolation
D)Backward conditioning

Accepted Answer

The child's learned fear of white furry objects other than the rat he was exposed to is an example of stimulus generalization. He generalized the qualities of the rat to other objects and demonstrated his learned response (fear) to them. This occurs without deliberate influence of the experimenter.

Question 20

In Pavlov's classical conditioning dog experiment, he paired a neutral stimulus (a tone) with an unconditioned stimulus (meat) repeatedly until the neutral stimulus became a conditioned stimulus (the dog learned to salivate upon hearing the tone). He then paired the tone with a new neutral stimulus, such as a flash of light, repeatedly, until the learned response was elicited from the dog upon exposure to the flash of light. What is this known as?
A)Third order conditioning
B)Higher order conditioning
C)Backward conditioning
D)Multiple stimulus conditioning

Accepted Answer

Pairing a conditioned stimulus with a new neutral stimulus until the latter also becomes a conditioned stimulus is known as higher order conditioning. In this case, pairing the flash of light with the tone is second order conditioning (the first conditioned response was to the tone, the second is to the light). Third order conditioning could be achieved by pairing a new stimulus with the light. It is believed that conditioning beyond third level is not possible.

Quiz 3: Cognitive Affective Bases of Behavior

David Krech studied the relationship between environment and intelligence by experimenting with rats in specifically-constructed environments. Which of the following is NOT one of his research conclusions?

Following Spearman's g factor theory of intelligence, a group of researchers developed a more complex theory involving three strata of intelligence, with a number of intelligence types delineated under the general "g" level. Whose research is this newer theory based on?

Which idea is the Montessori method of education primarily based on?

Edward Thorndike studied animal behavior and learning processes. He formulated a theory of learning based on his research. The law of effect is one component of that theory. What does this law state?

Albert Bandura's work in personality psychology and social cognitive theory has significantly shifted perspectives on learning and behavior. What was his conclusion from the 1961 Bobo doll experiment?

Different types of punishment produce varying types of change. When moderate punishment is used in combination with the opportunity to learn acceptable responses, what type of change typically results?

F. Skinner spent much of his time analyzing behavior and coined the term operant conditioning. How did he define punishment?

Edward Thorndike studied animal behavior and learning processes. He formulated a theory of learning based on his research; one component of that theory is the law of readiness. Which of the following statements is not part of the law of readiness?

Edward Thorndike studied animal behavior and learning processes. He formulated a theory of learning based on his research; one component of that theory is the idea of associative shifting. Which of the following best describes this idea?

Edward Thorndike studied animal behavior and learning processes. He formulated a theory of learning based on his research. He was an early proponent of active learning theory. What does that theory state?

A child observed an attack of someone on the street by a man in a yellow jacket. Now he is afraid of any man in a yellow jacket he encounters. What is this phenomenon known as?

In operant conditioning, a number of factors, as well as the style of conditioning employed, affect both short- and long-term outcome. Which of the following is NOT one of the factors considered to affect conditioning?

Escape conditioning and avoidance conditioning are two types of operant conditioning. Which of the following is NOT a similarity of these two methods?

Edward Tolman was a behavioral psychologist. His experiments with rats led to a theory that animals can learn connections between stimuli without a biological event to reinforce learning. What is this theory known as?

Theories about reward and punishment based in classical and operant conditioning techniques have also been applied to the workplace. What has research about reward and punishment theories found to be true?

Classical conditioning focuses on responses that are automatic, rather than learned. If you feed your dog every day at 9 am and he starts to stare at his food bowl around 9 am before you've fed him, what kind of conditioning has occurred?