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. 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.






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






3. 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






4. The failure to generalize a stimulus






5. 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?






6. Most time to learn but least likely to be extinguished; reinforcements are delivered after different numbers of correct responses - ratio cannot be predicted






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






8. 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






9. Previous learning makes learning a new task more difficult






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






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






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






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






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






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


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






17. Attitude change - based on balance of 'Sentiment' or liking relationships - if the net affect valence multiplies out to a positive result


18. 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)






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






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






21. Decreasing responsiveness to a stimulus due to increasing familiarity






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






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






24. 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






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






26. How to avoid something undesirable






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






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






29. Students working on a project in small groups






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






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






32. Previous learning helps learning of another task later






33. 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)






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






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






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






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






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






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






40. 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)






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






42. 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






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






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






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






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






47. Operant conditioning






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






49. Learning curve






50. John Garcia - Certain associations are learned more easily than others - Nausea & food can be paired easily - but light and nausea cannot be paired