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






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






3. Learned reinforce - often through society; money - prestige - rewards






4. How to avoid something undesirable






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






14. 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)






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






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






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






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






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






20. 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)






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






22. 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






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






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






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






26. School of behaviourism






27. 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.






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






29. The failure to generalize a stimulus






30. Theory of association






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






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






33. Decreasing responsiveness to a stimulus due to increasing familiarity






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






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






36. 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






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






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






39. later proved experimentally - Classical conditioning






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






49. Continuous motions easier to learn - once started continues naturally - bike; discrete divided into parts and do not facilitate recall of each other - setting up chessboard






50. UCS and CS presented at the same time