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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. 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






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






3. Medium amount of arousal best for performance






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






5. 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






6. Theory of association






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






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. Decreasing responsiveness to a stimulus due to increasing familiarity






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






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






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






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






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






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






16. 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)






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






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






30. 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)






31. Takes place without reinforcement - knowledge not immediately expressed - e.g. learning while watching chess






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






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






34. Law of effect






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






36. 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






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






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






39. Evoking responses of autonomic nervous system through training






40. 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)






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






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






43. Learning curve






44. How to avoid something undesirable






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






46. 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?






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


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






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






50. later proved experimentally - Classical conditioning