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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. 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






2. 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)






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






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






5. How to avoid something undesirable






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






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






8. 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






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






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






11. 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?






12. Law of effect






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






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






15. Theory of association






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






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






18. Medium amount of arousal best for performance






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






20. 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






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






22. The failure to generalize a stimulus






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






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






25. Previous learning helps learning of another task later






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






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






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






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






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






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






32. 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






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






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






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






36. Previous learning makes learning a new task more difficult






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






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






39. UCS and CS presented at the same time






40. 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






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






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






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






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






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






46. Decreasing responsiveness to a stimulus due to increasing familiarity






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






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






49. 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






50. Learning curve