Question 1

As an advertising executive on Bay Street in Toronto, JB is quite fond of using classical conditioning techniques in order to get the public to like his client's products. JB notices an interesting study in which college students looked at slides of either beige pens or blue pens while either popular or unfamiliar music played in the background. Design an advertising campaign that JB could develop based on this study. Be specific in describing the product that JB is marketing and the steps he takes to make it a well-liked product among the Canadian public.

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Question 2

In a classic experiment, Edward Tolman and C. H. Honzik placed three groups of rats in mazes and observed the behaviour of the rats daily for more than two weeks. What were the three conditions in this experiment? What did the results suggest?

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Question 3

What situation led Keller and Marian Breland to propose the concept of instinctive drift?

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Question 4

Many people confuse negative reinforcement with positive punishment. What is the best way to keep these terms straight?

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Question 5

Intermittent reinforcement schedules vary in how the reinforcers are delivered. Describe the two major types of intermittent schedules.

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Question 6

In what ways might higher-order conditioning explain why some words trigger emotional responses in us? Give an example of a positive response that could be formed through higher-order conditioning. Give an example of a negative response that could be formed through higher-order conditioning. In what ways might higher-order conditioning contribute to prejudice?

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Question 7

Albert Bandura and his colleagues had nursery school children watch a short film of two men, Rocky and Johnny, playing with toys. What did the researchers learn about observational learning through this study?

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Question 8

It is interesting to note that the two individuals most closely associated with behaviourism didn't plan the aspects of their research findings that became influential worldwide. Explain how Ivan Pavlov won a Nobel Prize for his work on digestion, but became renowned for his work on conditioning. Years later, when B. F. Skinner ran low on food pellets for his rats, he made a fortuitous discovery regarding reinforcement schedules. Describe Skinner's research regarding these schedules.

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Question 9

Harry and Sally want their daughter to begin using her utensils correctly at the dinner table. But they can't reinforce her appropriate behaviour because she doesn't ever use her fork and knife appropriately! What conditioning procedures would be useful in this situation? Briefly describe how Harry and Sally might behave in order to reinforce their goal in this example.

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Question 10

As the activities director of a nursing home, Betty wants to help the residents become more independent and to make many of their own daily decisions. Create an example describing how Betty could use positive reinforcement in order to strengthen the independence of the residents.

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Question 11

"That is my opinion and nothing you say is going to change it!" In Chapter 1, What Is Psychology? one of the critical thinking guidelines that we learned about was "Examine the Evidence." Is your opinion supported by evidence? How reliable is this evidence? Did the evidence come from a reliable source? In Chapter 7, Learning and Conditioning, we read that many people assume that fines, long prison terms, yelling, and spanking are good ways to get rid of undesirable behaviours. What does the evidence show? What six drawbacks often lead punishment to fail?

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Question 12

List six reasons why punishment fails.

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Question 13

Harry and Sally want their daughter Olivia to enjoy the opera. They tell her that they will pay her $20 for attending The Barber of Seville with them. How could their plan backfire?

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Question 14

Give a possible reason that explains how extrinsic rewards tend to undermine the pleasure of doing something for its own sake.

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Question 15

In Chapter 7, Learning and Conditioning, we read about the problems Keller and Marian Breland encountered when they ignored biological constraints by trying to condition pigs to drop large wooden coins in a box. The Brelands realized that the pig's rooting instinct, using its snout to uncover and dig up edible roots, was keeping it from learning the task. People are also influenced by the evolutionary history of our human species. Integrate the information learned in Chapter 3, Genes, Evolution, and Environment, with information about operant and classical conditioning. In your essay, include a discussion of language.

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Question 16

In classical conditioning procedures, it is sometimes possible for higher-order conditioning to occur. Explain this process and then illustrate its use citing the research on the acquisition of classically conditioned responses by cancer patients during chemotherapy.

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Question 17

A favourite experimental tool of radical behaviourists is the Skinner box. Describe how Skinner demonstrated operant conditioning of a rat using the Skinner box.

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Question 18

In Chapter 1, one of the critical thinking guidelines that we learned about was "Consider Other Interpretations." Before settling on one interpretation of the evidence, critical thinkers generate as many interpretations as possible. For example, an athlete wears a new pair of socks and then surpasses her own record for the number of baskets made during a game. Her socks become "lucky" and she makes sure to wear them for each basketball game. What type of reinforcement explains the fact that she clings to her socks as a lucky charm? What other interpretations should she consider?

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Question 19

What is actually learned in classical conditioning? The answer varies depending on the theorist's approach. What is actually learned in classical conditioning according to the traditional Pavlovian approach? What is actually learned in classical conditioning according to many contemporary psychologists? How has the imaginative research of Robert Rescorla supported the contemporary view? Describe the support for the contemporary view using the example in the textbook about the employee receiving telephone calls with disastrous outcomes.

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Question 20

In classical conditioning procedures, it is sometimes possible for higher-order conditioning to occur. Explain this process. Describe the research on higher-order conditioning in which slugs were the research subjects.

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