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






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






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


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






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






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






7. Reward or positive event that increases likelihood of a particular response






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






16. 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)






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






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






19. Previous learning helps learning of another task later






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






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






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






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






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






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






26. 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)






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






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






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






30. Previous learning makes learning a new task more difficult






31. Medium amount of arousal best for performance






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






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






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






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






36. 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






37. 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)






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






39. Decreasing responsiveness to a stimulus due to increasing familiarity






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






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






42. 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?






43. School of behaviourism






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






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






46. 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






47. Not all correct responses met with reinforcement; slower but more resistant; fixed ratio - variable ratio - fixed interval - variable interval; variable is best because it is unexpected - ratio gives better response since based on # of correct behavi






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






49. Learning by watching






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