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






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






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






4. Decreasing responsiveness to a stimulus due to increasing familiarity






5. Natural reinforcement - without requirement of learning; food and water






6. 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






7. Lewin - grouping based on co-occurence in time and space; associate certain behaviours with certain rewards and cues






8. Experiment shows that there is electrical stimulation of pleasure centers in the brain used as positive reinforcement - this is evidence against drive-reduction theory






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






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






11. Type of forward conditioning; CS begins before UCS - lasts until the UCS is presented






12. Links together chains of stimuli and responses - learns what to do in response to particular triggers (leaving a building in response to fire alarm)






13. 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






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






15. Individuals are motivated by what brings most pleasure and least pain






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






17. Performance = Expectation x Value; expectancy-value theory; goals they expect they can meet and how important goal is






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






19. School of behaviourism






20. Motivation to reduce internal tension - once satisfied - back to homeostasis/ relaxation; against M.E. Olds electrical stimulation of pleasure centres






21. Naturally occurring response (e.g. salivation to food)






22. Theory of association






23. Credited with writing first educational textbook in 1903 to assess students and teaching






24. Set of characteristics indicative of one'S ability to learn






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






26. Simultaneous - higher-order/second-order - delayed forward - trace forward - backward






27. Accidental learning - unrelated items grouped together; opposite of intentional learning (e.g. dog associates car with vet)






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






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






30. 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.






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






32. Those who set realistic goals with intermediate risk feel pride with accomplishment - and want to succeed more than they fear failure - however less likely to set unrealistic or risky goals or to persist when success is unlikely






33. Learning curve






34. 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)






35. Pavlovian conditioning; teaching a response (relationship) to neutral stimulus by pairing with not-so-neutral stimulus






36. Thorndike - precursor of operant conditioning - Cause-and-effect chain of behaviour; continue what rewards - stop what doesn'T






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






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






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. Performance = Drive x Habit; will do what has worked in the past to satisfy drive






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






42. Animals strongly and automatically connect nausea and food - especially strong in children; preparedness






43. Approach-avoidance conflict; state felt when a goal has both pros and cons - typically focus on pros when far from goal - cons when close to goal






44. Response that CS elicits after conditioning; UCR and CR will be the same (e.g. salivation)






45. Ebbinghaus - when learning something new - rate of learning usually changes over time; can be positively or negatively accelerated






46. Previous learning helps learning of another task later






47. Takes place without reinforcement - knowledge not immediately expressed - e.g. learning while watching chess






48. 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






49. Operant conditioning






50. Skinner - instrumental conditioning; behaviour primarily influenced by reinforcement strategies - do what rewards - not what doesn'T