Learning Concepts

Miguel is a high school student who trained his dog, Luna, to sit whenever he says, "Sit," by rewarding her with a treat each time she does so. However, after a while, Miguel stops giving Luna treats when she sits on command. Over the next few weeks, Luna becomes less responsive to the "Sit" command and eventually stops sitting altogether when Miguel says it, even though she used to respond consistently before. Which concept best explains Luna's change in behavior?

• Spontaneous Recovery

• Generalization

• Extinction

• Shaping

After being bitten by a large black dog in the neighborhood, Emily develops a fear of all dogs. Initially, she would only feel anxious around large black dogs, but over time, she starts to feel nervous whenever she encounters any dog, regardless of size or color, even though they have not shown any signs of aggression. Emily’s anxiety seems to be extending to situations where she’s around any dog at all. Which concept best explains Emily’s reaction to dogs in general?

• Stimulus Generalization

• Discrimination

• Operant Conditioning

• Extinction

After eating a serving of clam chowder at a new restaurant, Marcus became violently ill later that night. Although it’s unclear if the chowder was the cause, Marcus now finds that he feels nauseated whenever he even thinks about clam chowder, despite having enjoyed it in the past without any issues. Interestingly, he still enjoys other seafood dishes without feeling sick. Which concept best explains Marcus's reaction to clam chowder specifically?

• A) Classical Conditioning

• B) Observational Learning

• C) Extinction

• D) Taste Aversion

A researcher studies infant feeding responses in a hospital nursery. When drops of sugar water are placed on the infants' tongues, they automatically begin sucking and show increased salivation, without any prior learning. The researcher notes that this sweet taste naturally triggers these reflexive feeding responses in all healthy newborns. In this example, the sugar water that automatically elicits these unlearned responses serves as the:

• Conditioned stimulus (CS)

• Unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

• Unconditioned response (UR)

• Neutral stimulus (NS)

Devin is training his dog, Snickers, to sit on command. After consistent practice, Snickers learns to sit every time she hears Devin say, "Sit." However, Devin goes on vacation for two weeks and stops practicing the command with her. When he returns, he notices that Snickers no longer sits when he says, "Sit." Devin decides to try the command again a few days later, and, unexpectedly, Snickers sits immediately without additional retraining. This is an example of which concept in behavioral psychology?

• Extinction

• Stimulus Generalization

• Spontaneous Recovery

• Operant Conditioning

A mother notices her 4-year-old daughter rarely helps clean up her toys. The mother decides to implement a new strategy: each time her daughter puts away her toys without being asked, she gives her a special stamp on a colorful chart. After receiving five stamps, her daughter can pick out a new story for bedtime. Over the next few weeks, the daughter begins to clean up her toys more frequently without prompting. The mother's success in increasing the desired behavior by adding something pleasant demonstrates:

• Positive reinforcement

• Negative reinforcement

• Positive punishment

• Shaping

A high school student experiences significant anxiety when called on in class, so she always completes extra credit assignments to maintain a high grade, ensuring the teacher won't need to call on her for participation points. Her anxiety decreases, and she continues this pattern of doing extra work throughout the semester. Her tendency to increase the behavior of doing extra credit because it removes the unpleasant experience of being called on demonstrates:

• Positive reinforcement

• Negative reinforcement

• Negative punishment

• Avoidance learning

A factory worker is paid a bonus for assembling electronics: she receives $20 for every 50 units she completes, regardless of how long it takes. She typically works quickly with few breaks until reaching each 50-unit goal, then briefly slows down before starting the next set. Her supervisor notices that her work pattern shows rapid, steady responses followed by brief pauses after each reward, creating a "stair-step" pattern when plotted on a graph. This pattern of reinforcement based on a set number of responses illustrates a:

• Fixed interval schedule

• Variable ratio schedule

• Fixed ratio schedule

• Variable interval schedule

A speech therapist works with a nonverbal child with autism. She starts by reinforcing any sound the child makes, then only reinforces sounds that approximate words, then only actual word sounds, and finally only clear words. When the child says "ba," she provides praise and a small reward. Over time, she only rewards closer approximations like "bah-tel" until the child can clearly say "bottle." This process of reinforcing successive approximations toward a target behavior demonstrates:

• Shaping

• Chaining

• Discrimination learning

• Generalization

A high school basketball coach notices one of her star players consistently shows up 5 minutes late to practice. After several warnings, she implements a new policy: every time the player is late, she loses 10 minutes of playing time in the next game. When the player sees her court time decreasing, she begins arriving on time to practices. The reduction in the player's tardiness due to the removal of a desired privilege (playing time) demonstrates:

• Positive reinforcement

• Positive punishment

• Negative reinforcement

• Negative punishment