Module 26: AP Psychology

Which of the following is the best example of learning?

• A dog salivates when food is placed in its mouth.

• A honeybee stings when the hive is threatened.

• A child cries when his brother hits him.

• A child feels ill after drinking sour milk.

• A child flinches when he sees lightning because he is afraid of thunder.

Answer explanation

The flinching at LIGHTNING demonstrates learning because the child is actually afraid of the sound of thunder and has come to understand (perhaps unconsciously) that lightning is associated with thunder.

In classical conditioning, the conditioned stimulus

• naturally triggers a response.

• is a naturally occurring response.

• is initially neutral, and then comes to trigger a response.

• prompts spontaneous recovery.

• is a reward offered for completing a behavior.

The most crucial ingredient in all learning is

• shaping.

• modeling.

• experience.

• intrinsic motivation.

• maturation.

A sea slug learns to withdraw its gill after repeatedly being squirted by water. After repeated squirting, the withdrawal response lessens. Which term would learning theorists use to describe this reaction?

• operant conditioning

• negative reinforcement

• conditioned stimulus

• habituation

• law of effect

Pets who learn that the sound of an electric can opener signals the arrival of their food illustrate

• shaping.

• extrinsic motivation.

• associative learning.

• observational learning.

• negative reinforcement.

The researcher most closely associated with the study of classical conditioning is

• Edward Thorndike.

• Edward Deci.

• B. F. Skinner.

• Albert Bandura.

• Ivan Pavlov.

In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, infants develop a fear of books after books are repeatedly presented with a loud noise. In this fictional example, the loud noise is a(n)

• unconditioned stimulus.

• unconditioned response.

• conditioned stimulus.

• conditioned response.

• preconditioned stimulus.

Answer explanation

neutral stimulus: books

unconditioned stimulus: noise

unconditioned response: fear

conditioned stimulus: books

conditioned response: fear

The infant Albert developed a fear of rats after a white rat was associated with a loud noise. In this example, fear of the white rat was the

• US.

• UR.

• CS.

• CR.

• SA.