AP Psychology Learning Quiz

Which of the following is the best example of shaping?

• A child receives five dollars each time he cleans his room.
• An employee receives a termination notice after coming to work late every day over a period of three months
• A child gets candy from a dispenser one time but gets nothing from the dispenser the next two times.
• A teacher rewards a student for sitting quietly for ten minutes on Monday, fifteen minutes on Tuesday, twenty minutes on Wednesday, and thirty minutes on Thursday.
• A rat receives a mild shock each time it tries to open the door of its cage.

After several trials during which a dog is given a certain kind of food at the same time that a specific tone is sounded, there is evidence of conditioning if the dog salivates when

• the tone only is presented
• the food only is presented
• the food and tone are presented together
• a different tone is presented with the food
• a different kind of food is presented without a tone

As Susie left for work, she said “goodbye” to her husband and slammed the door. The loud sound of the door made her husband flinch. After many mornings of hearing “goodbye” followed by a door slam, her husband flinches when he hears her say “goodbye.” In this scenario, hearing the word “goodbye” is the

• unconditioned stimulus
• conditioned stimulus
• conditioned response
• unconditioned response
• positive reinforcer

Emiko’s cat often meows for food. Emiko decides to eliminate the behavior by feeding the cat only when it does not meow. Over the next few weeks, she sometimes ignores the cat when it meows. Other times, she feeds the cat when it meows. Which of the following is the most reasonable prediction to make about the cat’s meowing for food?

• It will disappear due to extinction
• It will decrease overall but not extinguish.
• It will remain unchanged due to a continuous schedule of reinforcement.
• It will increase due to a variable schedule of reinforcement.
• It will increase due to positive punishment

Because studies of learning show that events occurring close together in time are easier to associate than those occurring at widely different times, parents should probably avoid which of the following?

• Corporal punishment
• Mild punishment
• Consistent punishment
• Inescapable punishment
• Delay of punishment

An individual’s fear of dogs that is lost as the individual is exposed to dogs in nonthreatening situations is referred to by behaviorists as a fear that has been

• satiated
• suppressed
• repressed
• extinguished (extinction)
• punished

For extinction to occur, which of the following must be true of the conditioned response (CR), the conditioned stimulus (CS), and the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) ?

• The CR occurs after the CS but does not occur after other stimuli.
• The CR occurs after a stimulus that is similar to the CS
• The CS and the UCS are repeatedly paired, and the CR gains strength.
• The CS is repeatedly presented in the absence of the UCS, and the CR loses strength.
• When the CR loses strength, a rest period is given, after which the CS again elicits the CR.

In Ivan Pavlov's experiments in classical conditioning, the dog's salivation was

• an unconditioned stimulus only
• an unconditioned response only
• a conditioned response only
• both an unconditioned and a conditioned stimulus
• both an unconditioned and a conditioned response

Learned helplessness is most likely to result when

• responses have no effect on the environment
• young organisms fail to imprint at the critical period
• a response is reinforced independently
• reinforcement occurs on an intermittent schedule
• an organism receives negative reinforcement

Which of the following is the best example of a learning predisposition (Preparedness)?

• Pigeons can be trained to play tic-tac-toe
• Cats become quicker at escaping out of boxes with practice.
• A chimpanzee suddenly realizes it can use a stick to retrieve an out-of-reach banana.
• Rewarding a person for a behavior leads to an increase in that behavior.
• It is easier to condition a person to be fearful of rats than of cars.