Test your basic knowledge |

GRE Psychology: Learning

Subjects : gre, psychology
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. What a person learns in one state is best recalled in that state






2. Does not produce a specific response on its own (e.g. light or bell)






3. Punishment to decrease likelihood of a behaviour - ex: drug Antabuse to treat alcoholism






4. Reward or positive event that increases likelihood of a particular response






5. Reversal of conditioning - dissociating behaviour from a cue - Repeatedly withholding reinforcement or disassociating the behavior from a cue






6. Part of motivation. One must be adequately aroused to learn or perform






7. Removal of a negative event that increases likelihood of a particular response; while punishment introduces a negative event to decrease likelihood of a response






8. Previous CS now a UCS (e.g.*bell > [ light > food > ] salivation)






9. Parents reduce temper in child by not giving into - reinforcing behavior






10. Reinforcement delivered after a consistent number of responses; vulnerable to extinction






11. Primary/instinctual (hunger or thirst) - secondary/ acquired (money or other learned reinforcers) - exploratory (seek novelty or explore) - We are primarily motivated to maintain physiological or psychological homeostasis.






12. Learn 3-20 - constant 20-50 - drops 50+






13. People learn through their culture. They learn acceptable and unacceptable behaviours through culture






14. Theory of association






15. CS presented after UCS (e.g. food - then light); proven ineffective; accomplishes only inhibitory conditioning - harder time pairing CS with UCS later even with forward conditioning






16. Need for achievement (nAch); need to pursue success or to avoid failure - goal is to feel successful






17. Associative or dissociative attitudes on 7pt scale toward objects


18. Linking a series of behaviours that result in reinforcement - one behaviour triggers the next (e.g. learning the alphabet)






19. Not all correct responses met with reinforcement; slower but more resistant; fixed ratio - variable ratio - fixed interval - variable interval; variable is best because it is unexpected - ratio gives better response since based on # of correct behavi






20. Decreasing responsiveness to a stimulus due to increasing familiarity






21. Fritz Heider'S balance theory - Charles Osgood and Percy Tannenbaum'S congruity theory - Leon Festinger'S cognitive dissonance theory; what about individuals who often seek stimulation - novel experience - or self-destruction?






22. Promotes extinction of undesirable behaviour - negative stimulus presented after behaviour to decrease likelihood of reoccurrence - Skinner thinks it is not effective in long run






23. Watson - everything can be explained by stimulus-response chains - chains are developed by conditioning; only objective and observable elements important






24. 'learning' that a specific action causes an event - when in reality the two are unrelated






25. Neutral stimulus once paired with UCS; no naturally occurring response - only with UCS pairing (e.g. light (CS) eventually produces salivation)






26. Previous learning helps learning of another task later






27. By having an apparatus (e.g. lever) - an animal controls its reinforcements (e.g. food) through behaviours (e.g. pressing) - shaping its own behaviour






28. Empty box (with a rat and a lever) - later proved the influence of reinforcement






29. Every correct response is met with reinforcement; quickest but most fragile learning - as soon as rewards stop coming - the animal stops performing






30. Type of forward conditioning; CS presented and terminated before UCS presentation






31. Relatively permanent or stable change in behaviour as the result of experience






32. Evoking responses of autonomic nervous system through training






33. Applied expectancy-value theory to individual behaviour in large organizations (e.g. those lowest on totem pole have least motivation since little incentives)






34. Rewards delivered after differing time periods; second most effective strategy in maintaining behaviour






35. Ability to discriminate between different but similar stimuli (door bell is different from phone ringing)






36. Previous learning makes learning a new task more difficult






37. How people learn in educational settings such as student and teacher attributes






38. Learning curve






39. Learning about something in general (history) for knowledge rather than learning-specific stimulus-response chains (e.g. Tolman'S experiments with animals forming cognitive maps of mazes rather than simple escape routes)






40. Students working on a project in small groups






41. Higher arousal for simple tasks (motivation) - lower arousal for complex tasks (concentration); optimal arousal is an inverted U on a graph - Y-axis: performance - X-axis: arousal - Difficult task --> upside-down U shape - Simple task --> reaches pea






42. Disassociate car from vet by taking dog on frequent car trip to the park






43. Individuals in the environment are motivated by secondary reinforcers; e.g. tokens in prisons - rehab - etc. - cashed in for more primary reinforcers (e.g. candy - books - privileges)






44. Rewards after a certain period of time rather than number of behaviours; can be argued that it does little to motivate an animal'S behaviour






45. Motivated to do what they do not want to do by rewarding themselves afterwards with something they like to do - Eat dessert after eating unwanted vegetable






46. Drive to reduce cognitive dissonance - holding conflicting ideas simultaneously whether beliefs - attitudes - or actions


47. Increased sensitivity to environment after exposure to a strong stimulus - Rubbing arm after pain?






48. Pairing of the CS and the UCS in which the CS is presented before the UCS - delayed conditioning and trace conditioning






49. Teacher encourages independent learning - only provides assistance when needed






50. Preparedness - that certain associations are learned more easily than others; animals programmed to make certain connections; Garcia effect - nausea associated with food