Classical Conditioning
A dog learns to salivate when it hears a bell after the bell has repeatedly been paired with food. What type of learning is this?
Classical conditioning
A student receives a piece of candy every time they finish their homework. The student starts finishing homework more often. What process is occurring?
Positive reinforcement
A child watches an older sibling wave hello and then copies the behavior. What type of learning is this?
Observational learning
What is a heuristic, and how does it differ from an algorithm?
Heuristic: shortcut
Algorithm: step by step, guarantees a solution
What is the availability heuristic?
Judging how likely or common something is based on how easily examples come to mind.
In Pavlov's experiment, food naturally causes a dog to salivate. Identify the unconditioned stimulus and the unconditioned response.
UCS: Food
UCR: Salivation
A seat belt alarm stops beeping when a driver buckles up. Buckling up becomes more frequent. What is this called?
Negative reinforcement
In observational learning, what is a model?
A person whose behavior is observed and imitated.
You are looking for your keys and check the last place you remember using them first. What general problem-solving approach might this illustrate?
Heuristic
After watching several news reports about airplane accidents, a person believes flying is more dangerous than driving. Which heuristic may explain this judgment?
Availability heuristic
A tone is repeatedly paired with an air puff that makes a person blink. Eventually, the tone alone causes blinking. Identify the conditioned stimulus and conditioned response.
CS: Tone
CR: Blinking
A teacher assigns extra chores after a student repeatedly disrupts class, and the disruptions decrease. Is this positive or negative punishment?
Positive
In John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner’s Little Albert experiment, a young child was exposed to a white rat paired with a loud, frightening noise. Eventually, Albert showed fear of the rat even without the noise. What type of learning does this demonstrate?
Classical conditioning
A person solves a puzzle suddenly after struggling with it for several minutes, saying, 'Now I see it!' What is this called?
Insight
Someone assumes a quiet person who enjoys reading must be a librarian, ignoring that there are far more people in other occupations. Which heuristic is at work?
Representative heuristic
After conditioning, a dog salivates to a bell. The bell is presented repeatedly without food, and salivation gradually decreases. What is this process called? What might happen if the bell later produces salivation again after a rest?
Extinction
A parent stops reminding a teenager to clean their room once the teenager begins doing it regularly. The teenager cleans more often. Explain the consequence and why it is not punishment.
Negative reinforcement
Parent removes the aversive reminder
Which psychologist is best associated with the behaviorist perspective in psychology?
John Watson
A mechanic keeps using the same repair method that worked on older car models, even though it does not work on a new model. What problem-solving obstacle is this?
Mental set
A medical treatment is described as having a 90% survival rate. Another description says it has a 10% mortality rate. Although equivalent, the descriptions lead to different choices. What concept explains this?
Framing
A child becomes afraid of one particular dog after being frightened by it. Later, the child fears other similar-looking dogs but not cats. Identify the two learning phenomena that best explain this pattern.
Acquisition
Generalization
A rat receives food after every fifth lever press. Another rat receives food after varying numbers of lever presses, averaging five. Which schedule is fixed-ratio and which is variable-ratio?
FR: first
VR: second
A student watches a classmate use a study strategy and later uses it successfully. Identify the observer, the model, and the learned behavior.
Observer: student
Model: classmate
Learned behavior: study strategy
You must find the shortest route through a maze. Explain when an algorithm would be preferable to a heuristic, and give one limitation of each.
Algorithm: slow but guarantees solution
Heuristic: faster but may miss the shortest route
A person believes a favorite supplement works, dismisses studies showing no benefit, and searches only for testimonials supporting it. Identify which bias is at work.
Belief perseverance