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






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






3. Evoking responses of autonomic nervous system through training






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






5. Born with certain physiological needs - will be tension if not satisfied; when it is - return to state of homeostasis and relaxation






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






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






8. 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






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






10. Theory of association






11. What a person learns in one state is best recalled in that state






12. Differential reinforcement of successive approximations; Skinner rewarded rats first for being near lever then for touching it - reward for behaviours that brought them closer to the desired one (e.g. pressing lever)






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






14. Shaping; Skinner rewarded rats first for being near lever then for touching it - reward for behaviours that brought them closer to the desired one (e.g. pressing lever)






15. Not-so-neutral stimulus - elicits response without conditioning (e.g. salivation)






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






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






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






19. 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)






20. Learning by watching






21. School of behaviourism






22. Teach to performance a desired behaviour to get away from a negative stimulus






23. 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






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






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






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


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






28. Opposite of stimulus discrimination; make same response to a group of similar stimuli (e.g. fire alarms may sound different but same response)






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






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






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






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






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






34. Operant conditioning






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






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






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






38. In classical conditioning - the inability to infer a relationship between a stimulus and response due to the presence of a more prominent stimulus






39. Medium amount of arousal best for performance






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






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






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






43. Learning curve






44. Previous learning makes learning a new task more difficult






45. Decreasing responsiveness to a stimulus due to increasing familiarity






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






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






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


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






50. Reappearance of an extinguished response - even without further conditioning - after the child'S tantrum behaviour has been extinguished - the child may suddenly throw a tantrum again