Learning Quiz Questions

Question 1

Fourteen-year-old Kevin Kendall frequently uses swear words when he is with his friends because they respond positively when he does so. However, Kevin never uses those words when he is at home with his family because his parents and siblings become very upset when he uses them. Kevin’s differential use of four-letter words in different settings illustrates the concept of:

Answer 1

stimulus control.

Question 2

A psychologist tells the parents of an 8-year old to give him a “time-out” each time he torments his little sister. The parents find that, over time, the child needs less and less time in the time-out to calm down. The boy’s behavior is being controlled by which of the following?

Answer 2

Negative punishment

Question 3

According to _______________, depression is attributable to deficits in self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-reinforcement.

Answer 3

Rehm’s self-control theory

Rehm-self like themself

Question 4

Thermal (temperature) biofeedback would be most effective as a treatment for:

Answer 4

Raynaud’s disease.

Question 5

Dr. Smith tells his client, Sandy, to smoke cigarettes only at 10:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., and 8:00 p.m., to smoke only while sitting in particular chairs at home and in the office, and to smoke only a certain brand of cigarettes (one that Sandy does not particularly like). Dr. Smith is using the behavioral technique known as:

Answer 5

stimulus control.

Question 6

If an unconditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented just prior to a conditioned stimulus in order to replace an undesirable response with a more desirable one, which of the following will most likely occur?

Answer 6

The target behavior will not change in frequency. (Backward conditioning)

Question 7

: Which of the following intermittent schedules of reinforcement produces the highest rate of responding and the greatest resistance to extinction?

Answer 7

Variable ratio

Question 8

According to Miller (1956), the average number of “chunks” of information that can be retained in short-term memory is:

Answer 8

7 +/- 2. (Think “phone numbers”)

Question 9

A parent is concerned about her 6-year-old son’s thumb sucking. After reading several articles on behavioral techniques for eliminating self-reinforcing behaviors, she decides to spend an hour a day with her son using a strategy recommended in one of the articles. It involves setting a timer for 5 minutes and, during a one-hour period, giving her son a quarter for each 5-minute period that he does not suck his thumb but instead plays with the toys she has made available for him. The mother is using which of the following strategies?

Answer 9

Differential reinforcement

Question 10

An “extinction burst” occurs when:

Answer 10

reinforcement for a previously reinforced behavior is removed.

Question 11

In vivo exposure with response prevention (flooding) and implosive therapy are both based on:

Answer 11

classical extinction

Question 12

Studies using the dismantling strategy suggest that which of the following is most responsible for the therapeutic benefits of systematic desensitization?

Answer 12

Exposure to feared stimulus

Question 13

In vivo aversion therapy would be most effective as a treatment for which of the following?

Answer 13

Paraphilia

Question 14

A mother finds that, when she yells at her son, the boy stops picking on his little sister for a brief period of time. Over time, the mother finds that she has to yell more and more frequently at the boy to get him to leave his sister alone. The boy is influencing his mother’s behavior (yelling) through:

Answer 14

negative reinforcement (he is increasing her behavior through removal of yelling)

Question 15

Escape conditioning becomes avoidance conditioning when:

Answer 15

a signal is provided that indicates that an aversive stimulus is about to be delivered

Question 16

A mother has been giving her 3-year-old son a hug whenever he says “please” following a request. She decides to stop reinforcing her son in this way. Right after she stops hugging her son, she can expect that the frequency with which he says “please” will:

Answer 16

temporarily increase

Question 17

During the initial stages of a behavior change intervention, verbal or nonverbal prompts may be needed to evoke the desired behavior. However, after the behavior is established, the prompts should be gradually removed. The gradual removal of prompts is referred to as:

Answer 17

fading

Question 18

Differential reinforcement is best conceptualized as which of the following?

Answer 18

A combination of extinction and positive reinforcement

Question 19

The notion of “collaborative empiricism” is associated with:

Answer 19

Beck

Question 20

Sensory memory:

Answer 20

holds a large amount of sensory data for a brief period

Question 21

Craik and Lockhart’s (1972) levels-of-processing model:

Answer 21

implies that elaborative rehearsal is more effective than maintenance rehearsal

Question 22

Treisman and Gelade’s research (1980) provided information about:

FIT

Answer 22

feature-integration theory

Question 23

In high school, Stuart S. took Spanish for four years and, as a result, became a pretty good speaker of Spanish. During his first year of college, Stuart took French and, at the end of the year, he found that he had trouble remembering many Spanish words. This is best explained by which of the following?

Answer 23

Retroactive interference

Question 24

Betsy’s parents give her a quarter each time she practices her violin and another quarter each time she completes her homework. Betsy is 9 years old. If Betsy’s parents stop paying her for completing her homework, they are most likely to find that Betsy will:

Answer 24

spend less time doing homework but more time practicing the violin

Question 25

Which type of reinforcement schedule causes a behavior to be most resistant to extinction?

Answer 25

Variable ratio

Question 26

An example of using stimulus control for the treatment of obesity is to:

Answer 26

limit the client’s exposure to events and objects that prompt overeating

Question 27

Whenever four-year-old William whines, his parents try to ignore him. Occasionally, however, William’s mother or father picks him up when he whines. As a result, William’s whining has increased. The increase in William’s whining is due to which of the following?

Answer 27

Intermittent reinforcement

Question 28

Sensate focus was developed by Masters and Johnson (1970) as a technique for reducing performance anxiety related to sexual intercourse. If viewed as a behavioral technique, sensate focus is best described as a form of:

Answer 28

counterconditioning (NOT operant or classical extinction, NOT covert sensitization)

Question 29

Which of the following best describes “backward conditioning?”

Answer 29

It involves presentation of the unconditioned stimulus prior to presentation of the conditioned stimulus and is rarely effective.
Classical: Bell > Meat Powder > Salivation
Backward: Meat Powder > Bell > Salivation

Question 30

When conducting a study to investigate the phenomenon known as “blocking,” you will present the CS prior to the US; then, once the CR is established:

Answer 30

present the original CS simultaneously with a second CS prior to the US

Question 31

You are using in vivo aversive counterconditioning to reduce a client’s consumption of alcohol. To maximize the effectiveness of the treatment, the aversive stimulus (electric shock) should be applied:

Answer 31

just as the client begins drinking (delay conditioning- CS right before the US)

Question 32

To make sure that the housekeeper you hired does a good job, you decide to pay him for each chore he does well rather than giving him an hourly or weekly salary. You have apparently been influenced by which of the following individuals?

Answer 32

Skinner

Question 33

As described in the multi-store model, __________ memory is the aspect of memory that is involved in the recall of information acquired within the past few hours to days.

Answer 33

long-term

Question 34

A person consistently avoids an object that produces a classically conditioned anxiety response because avoidance is:

Answer 34

negatively reinforced (phobias are acquired through classical conditioning but avoidance is maintained through reinforcement, in this case, negative reinforcement because the reinforcement removes anxiety)

Question 35

From the perspective of Beck’s cognitive-behavioral therapy, the modification of maladaptive cognitions requires which of the following?

Answer 35

The experience of affective arousal

Question 36

Masaaki M. has not yet learned to distinguish between a cow and a horse. When he sees a cow, he sometimes says “horse” and he sometimes calls a horse a “cow”. To help him learn the difference between these two animals, Masaaki’s parents make the sounds “moo” or “neigh,” as appropriate, whenever the boy encounters a cow or horse. Masaaki’s parents are using which of the following techniques?

Answer 36

Prompting

Question 37

A behavioral psychologist warns that “a single exception can reinstate the target response and may even maintain it for an extended period of time.” Apparently, the psychologist is referring to the use of which of the following learning techniques to eliminate an undesirable response?

Answer 37

Extinction

Question 38

Meichenbaum and Jaremko’s (1982) stress inoculation is best described as a type of

Answer 38

coping skills training

Question 39

In his studies on memory and forgetting, Ebbinghaus:

Answer 39

used himself as the research subject

Question 40

The assumption underlying the use of implosive therapy for treating a phobia is that:

Answer 40

extinction of a conditioned response occurs when the CS is repeatedly presented without the US

Question 41

When using aversive conditioning as a treatment for cocaine use, cocaine would be the:

Answer 41

conditioned stimulus (electric shock would be the US)

Question 42

From the perspective of learning theory, phobic anxiety is:

Answer 42

elicited by unconditioned (aversive) stimuli or stimuli that have been associated with the conditioned stimuli

Question 43

When treating a client with panic disorder, a practitioner of Beck’s cognitive-behavioral therapy would initially help the client:

Answer 43

see how they misinterpret the meaning of their symptoms
“correct faulty information processing and to modify dysfunctional beliefs and assumptions that maintain maladaptive behaviors and emotions”

Question 44

The keyword method is most useful for:

Answer 44

remembering word pairs

Question 45

The “tip-of-the-tongue” phenomenon is believed to be due to which of the following?

Answer 45

Inadequate retrieval cues

Question 46

Which of the following is an example of higher-order conditioning?

Answer 46

A conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US) until a conditioned response (CR) is established; subsequently, a second CS is paired with the first CS until it also elicits a CR.

Question 47

Which of the following refers to the performance of a task in which the meaning of a stimulus depends on the stimuli it is paired with?

Answer 47

Configural learning

Question 48

Which of the following explains associative learning in which simultaneous firing of cells leads to pronounced increases in synaptic strength between those cells, and provides a biological basis for the pairing of stimulus and response in classical conditioning?

Answer 48

Hebbian rule

Question 49

Using clicker training is an example of _______ and has been extensively studied in animals. An illustration would include a horse persistently watching, approaching, touching, and even mouthing the clicker before shifting its attention and moving to the location where food is delivered.

Answer 49

sign tracking

Question 50

In classical conditioning, ________ occurs when individuals are unable to form an association between a new neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus due to interference by the neutral stimulus.

Answer 50

Blocking

Question 51

Reinforcement delivered on a set schedule versus a positive response is known as:

Answer 51

Noncontingent reinforcement

Question 52

The concept of _______ refers to the idea that some stimuli, despite repeated pairings, do not become associated with a specific unconditioned stimulus.

Answer 52

contrapreparedness

Question 53

Dopamine is central to reinforcing the quality of events and is found in which of the following areas of the limbic system that influences behavior reinforcement?

Answer 53

Nucleus accumbens

Question 54

A rat is trained to press a lever to receive food. During this, the rat is occasionally exposed to a series of brief shocks that are preceded by a tone. As a result, when the rat hears the tone, lever pressing is reduced. This is an example of which of the following?

Answer 54

Conditioned suppression

Question 55

According to Beck (1976), overgeneralization, personalization, and magnification are examples of which of the following?

Answer 55

Cognitive distortions (NOT automatic thoughts)

Question 56

Food deprivation is a _______. If an individual is hungry, food is reinforcing, but if an individual is satiated, food is less reinforcing.

Answer 56

Motivating operation

Question 57

Treisman and Gelade’s (1980) feature-integration theory (FIT) would be of most interest to a psychologist researching which of the following?

Answer 57

Visual attention

Question 58

In an experiment, a tone and light are repeatedly presented together to a hungry dog. Even though the tone has never been paired with food, the dog salivates when the tone is presented. This is an example of which of the following?

Answer 58

Sensory preconditioning

Question 59

After flinching in response to several presentations of air puffs to the eye, an individual then flinches when a loud tone sounds. This best describes an example of which of the following?

Answer 59

Pseudoconditioning

Question 60

Which of the following was derived by Martin Fishbein and states that attitudes are developed and modified based on assessments about beliefs and values?

Answer 60

Expectancy-value theory

Question 61

During _______ the individual attends to emotionally disturbing material in brief sequential doses while simultaneously focusing on an external stimulus.

Answer 61

EMDR

Question 62

Which of the following is likely the best way to memorize pairs of unrelated words?

Answer 62

Create a visual image that links each word pair

Question 63

A child is rewarded for brushing their teeth before bedtime and not rewarded when they do not brush their teeth before bedtime. This is an example of which of the following?

Answer 63

Differential reinforcement

Question 64

Skinner found that __________ can lead to “superstitious” behaviors.

Answer 64

Non-contingent reinforcement

Question 65

Which of the following is the gradually decreasing and eventually ceasing the use of a reinforcement schedule?

Answer 65

thinning

Question 66

Which of the following is most useful for explaining the phenomenon known as the “serial position effect”?

Answer 66

The multi-store (three-box) model of memory

Question 67

While treating a client for snake phobia, a therapist handles the snake and then guides the client through a series of steps until she is able to handle the snake herself. This technique is referred to as:

Answer 67

Participant modeling (not in-vivo desensitization)