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Psychology - Problem Drill 09: Learning
Question No. 1 of 10
Instructions: (1) Read the problem statement and answer choices carefully, (2) Work the problems on
paper as needed, (3) Pick the answer, and (4) Review the core concept tutorial as needed.
1. Which of the following is an example of operant conditioning?
(A) An infant learns to read a face.
(B) A dog salivates when it hears a bell ring.
(C) A gorilla learns to use both hands to get food after it watches another gorilla do
this.
Question
(D) A person thinks of their mother every time they hear a certain song.
(E) A seal learns to sit up and bark because it knows it will get a herring if it does so.
A. Incorrect!
An infant learns to read a face is an example of classical conditioning.
B. Incorrect!
A dog salivates when it hears a bell ring is an example of classical conditioning.
C. Incorrect!
A gorilla learns to use both hands to get food after it watches another gorilla do this is an
example of observational learning.
Feedback
D. Incorrect!
A person thinks of their mother every time they hear a certain song is an example of
classical conditioning.
E. Correct!
The seal has learned to perform an action in anticipation of a food reward. This is an
example of operant conditioning.
Simpler animals can learn simple associations. More complex animals can learn more
complex associations, especially those that bring favorable consequences. Seals in an
aquarium will repeat behaviors, such as slapping and barking, that prompt people to toss
them a herring. By linking two events that occur close together, the seal exhibits
associative learning: the seal associates slapping and barking with receiving a herring.
The animal learned something important to their survival: they learned to associate the
past with the immediate future.
Solution
Learned associations influence people, too. During their first year, infants learn to
associate different facial expressions with their accompanying behaviors and tones of
voice, and thus to read a face. Adults form similar associations. Conditioning is the
process of learning associations. In classical conditioning, we learn to associate two
stimuli and thus to anticipate events. We learn that a flash of lightning signals an
impending crack of thunder, and so we start to brace ourselves when lightning flashes
nearby. In operant conditioning, we learn to associate a response and its consequence
and thus to repeat acts followed by rewards and avoid acts followed by punishment. We
learn that pushing a vending machine button relates to the delivery of a soda.
To simplify, we will consider these two types of associative learning separately but often,
they occur together in the same situation.
However, conditioning is not the only form of learning. Through observational learning,
we learn from others’ experiences and examples. In all these ways; by classical and
operant conditioning and by observation; we humans learn and adapt to our
environments.
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Question No. 2 of 10
Instructions: (1) Read the problem statement and answer choices carefully, (2) Work the problems on
paper as needed, (3) Pick the answer, and (4) Review the core concept tutorial as needed.
2. Which of the following statements is NOT part of Pavlov’s initial dog experiments?
(A) The dog would salivate if meat powder was placed in its mouth.
(B) The dog would get petted if it performed correctly.
(C) A musical tone was played at the same time as food was placed in the dog’s
mouth.
Question
(D) The experimenter was in an adjacent room.
(E) A device was attached to the dog to divert the saliva to a measuring instrument.
A. Incorrect!
This was part of the initial experiments.
B. Correct!
Petting the dog after it performed correctly would be part of operant conditioning and
was not part of Pavlov’s experiments.
C. Incorrect!
This was part of the initial experiments and was the neutral stimulus.
Feedback
D. Incorrect!
To eliminate the possible influence of extraneous stimuli, the experimenter was located
in an adjacent room.
E. Incorrect!
This was part of the initial experiments.
Pavlov’s new direction came when his creative mind seized on an incidental finding.
After studying salivary secretion in dogs, he knew that when he put food in a dog’s
mouth the animal would invariably salivate. He also noticed that when he worked with
the same dog repeatedly, the dog began salivating to stimuli associated with food; such
as to the mere sight of the food, to the food dish, to the presence of the person who
regularly brought the food, or even to the sound of the person’s approaching footsteps.
Because these “psychic secretions” interfered with his experiments on digestion, Pavlov
considered them an annoyance, until he realized they pointed to a simple but important
form of learning. From that time on, Pavlov studied learning, which he hoped might
enable him to understand better the brain’s workings.
Solution
To explore the phenomenon more objectively, Pavlov and his assistants experimented.
They paired various neutral stimuli, such as a musical tone, with food in the mouth to
see if the dog would begin salivating to the neutral stimuli alone. To eliminate the
possible influence of extraneous stimuli, they isolated the dog in a small room, secured it
in a harness, and attached a device that diverted its saliva to a measuring instrument.
From an adjacent room, they could present food; at first by sliding in a food bowl, later
by blowing meat powder into the dog’s mouth at a precise moment.
The questions they asked were fundamental. If a neutral stimulus; that something the
dog could see or hear; that normally would not be associated with food; now regularly
signaled the arrival of food, would the dog associate the two stimuli? If so, would it
begin salivating to the neutral stimulus in anticipation of the food?
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Question No. 3 of 10
Instructions: (1) Read the problem statement and answer choices carefully, (2) Work the problems on
paper as needed, (3) Pick the answer, and (4) Review the core concept tutorial as needed.
3. Which of the following pairings is TRUE regarding the terms used in classical conditioning?
(A) Salivation when food is placed in the mouth is an example of a Conditioned
Response (CR).
(B) The food stimulus an unconditioned stimulus (UCS).
(C) Salivation in response to a tone is an example of an Unconditioned response
(UCR).
Question
(D) The previously irrelevant tone stimulus that now triggered the salivation is an
example of an Unconditioned Stimulus (UCS).
(E) Conditioned = unlearned; unconditioned = learned.
A. Incorrect!
Salivation when food is placed in the mouth is an example of an Unconditioned
Response, rather than Conditioned Response.
B. Correct!
The food stimulus is considered an example of an unconditioned stimulus (UCS).
C. Incorrect!
Salivation in response to a tone is an example of a Conditioned Response, not
Unconditioned Response.
Feedback
D. Incorrect!
The previously irrelevant tone stimulus that now triggered the salivation is an example of
a Conditioned stimulus (CS).
E. Incorrect!
Conditioned=learned; unconditioned=unlearned.
Because salivation in response to food in the mouth was unlearned, Pavlov called it an
unconditioned response (UCR). Food in the mouth automatically, unconditionally,
triggers a dog’s salivary reflex. Thus Pavlov called the food stimulus an unconditioned
stimulus (UCS). Salivation in response to the tone was conditional upon the dog’s
learning the association between the tone and the food. One translation of Pavlov
therefore called the salivation the “conditional reflex”. Today we call this learned
response the conditioned response (CR). The previously irrelevant tone stimulus that
now triggered the conditional salivation we all the conditioned stimulus (CS). It’s easy to
distinguish these two kinds of stimuli and responses. Just remember:
conditioned=learned; unconditioned=unlearned.
Solution
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Question No. 4 of 10
Instructions: (1) Read the problem statement and answer choices carefully, (2) Work the problems on paper
as needed, (3) Pick the answer, and (4) Review the core concept tutorial as needed.
4. Which of the following definitions is matched correctly to its term in regards to classical
conditioning?
(A) Acquisition is the initial learning of the stimulus-response relationship.
(B) Discrimination occurs when there is a diminished response that occurs when the
CS no longer signals an impending UCS.
Question
(C) Spontaneous Recovery is the tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the CS.
(D) Generalization is the reappearance of a weakened CR after a rest pause.
(E) Extinction is the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus and
other irrelevant stimuli.
A. Correct!
It is correct that Acquisition is the initial learning of the stimulus-response relationship.
B. Incorrect!
It is the Extinction in which there is a diminished response that occurs when the CS no
longer signals an impending UCS.
C. Incorrect!
The tendency to respond to stimuli similar to the CS is called generalization.
Feedback
D. Incorrect!
It is spontaneous recovery that is the reappearance of a weakened CR after a rest pause.
E. Incorrect!
It is discrimination that is the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned
stimulus, which predicts the UCS and other irrelevant stimuli.
Acquisition, as a process in classical conditioning, is the initial learning of the stimulusresponse relationship.
After conditioning, what happens if the CS occurs repeatedly without the UCS? Will the
CS continue to elicit the CR? Pavlov found that when he sounded the tone again and
again without presenting food, the dogs salivated less and less. Their declining salivation
illustrates extinction, which is the diminished response that occurs when the CS (in this
case the tone) no longer signals an impending UCS (the food).
Solution
Pavlov found however, that if he allowed several hours to elapse after the extinction, and
then sound the tone again, the salivation to the tone would reappear spontaneously,
although weaker. This spontaneous recovery; the reappearance of a weakened CR after a
rest pause, suggested to Pavlov that extinction was suppressing the CR rather than
eliminating it. Both extinction and spontaneous recovery has been seen in humans as
well.
Another interesting result of classical conditioning is that of generalization. Pavlov and his
students noticed that a dog conditioned to the sound of one tone also responded
somewhat to the sound of a different tone that had never been paired with food.
Likewise, a dog conditioned to salivate when rubbed would also salivate somewhat when
scratched or when stimulated on a different body part. This tendency to respond to
stimuli similar to the CS is called generalization.
Discrimination is the learned ability to distinguish between a conditioned stimulus, which
predicts the UCS and other irrelevant stimuli. Depending on how they were trained,
Pavlov’s dogs also learned to respond to the sound of a particular tone and not to other
tones. It was all in how they were trained. Like generalization, discrimination has
survival value.
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Question No. 5 of 10
Instructions: (1) Read the problem statement and answer choices carefully, (2) Work the problems on paper
as needed, (3) Pick the answer, and (4) Review the core concept tutorial as needed.
5. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
(A) Through operant conditioning, an organism associates different stimuli that it does
not control.
(B) Through classical (Pavlovian) conditioning, the organism associates its behaviors
with consequences.
Question
(C) Behaviors followed by reinforcers increases, those followed by punishers decrease.
(D) Classical conditioning, but not operant conditioning, involves acquisition,
extinction, spontaneous recovery, generalization, and discrimination.
(E) Classical conditioning involves an act that operates on the environment to produce
rewarding or punishing stimuli.
A. Incorrect!
It is through classical (Pavlovian) conditioning, that an organism associates different
stimuli that it does not control.
B. Incorrect!
It is through operant conditioning, that the organism associates its behaviors with
consequences.
C. Correct!
It is true that behaviors followed by reinforcers increases, those followed by punishers
decrease.
Feedback
D. Incorrect!
Both classical and operant conditioning involves acquisition, extinction, spontaneous
recovery, generalization, and discrimination.
E. Incorrect!
It is operant conditioning that involves an act operating on the environment to produce
rewarding or punishing stimuli.
Through classical (Pavlovian) conditioning, an organism associates different stimuli that it
does not control. Through operant conditioning, the organism associates its behaviors
with consequences. Behaviors followed by reinforcers increases, those followed by
punishers decrease. This simple but powerful principle has many applications and also
several important qualifications.
Both classical and operant conditioning involve acquisition, extinction, spontaneous
recovery, generalization, and discrimination. Yet their difference is straightforward:
classical conditioning forms associations between stimuli. It also involves respondent
behavior; behavior that occurs as an automatic response to some stimulus (such as
salivating in response to meat powder and later to a tone). Operant conditioning involves
operant behavior; named because the act operates on the environment to produce
rewarding or punishing stimuli.
Solution
To distinguish between the two, we need only ask ourselves the question, “is the
organism learning associations between events that it doesn’t control (classical
conditioning), or is it learning associations between its behavior and resulting events
(operant conditioning)?
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Question No. 6 of 10
Instructions: (1) Read the problem statement and answer choices carefully, (2) Work the problems on paper
as needed, (3) Pick the answer, and (4) Review the core concept tutorial as needed.
6. Which of the following statements is FALSE regarding B.F. Skinner and Operant
Conditioning?
(A) He elaborated on the “law of effect”.
(B) He believed that rewarded behavior is likely to recur.
(C) He developed a “behavioral technology” that revealed principles of behavior
Question
control.
(D) He taught pigeons to do pigeon-like behaviors for rewards.
(E) He explored the precise conditions that foster efficient and enduring learning.
A. Incorrect!
It is true that B.F. Skinner elaborated on the “law of effect”.
B. Incorrect!
It is true that B.F. Skinner believed that rewarded behavior is likely to recur.
C. Incorrect!
It is true that B.F. Skinner developed a “behavioral technology” that revealed principles of
behavior control.
Feedback
D. Correct!
It is un-pigeon-like behaviors that B.F. Skinner taught pigeons to do for rewards.
E. Incorrect!
It is true that B.F. Skinner explored the precise conditions that foster efficient and
enduring learning.
B.F. Skinner became modern behaviorism’s most influential and controversial figure. His
work elaborated a simple fact of life that psychologist Edward L. Thorndike called the law
of effect: rewarded behavior is likely to recur. Using Thorndike’s law of effect as a
starting point, Skinner developed a “behavioral technology” that revealed principles of
behavior control. These principles also enabled him to teach pigeons such un-pigeon-like
behaviors as walking in a figure 8, playing ping-pong, and keeping a missile on course by
pecking at a target on a screen.
Skinner developed an operant chamber, popularly known as the Skinner box. The box is
typically soundproof, with a bar or key that an animal presses or pecks to release a
reward of food or water, and a device that records these responses. Skinner and other
operant researchers explored the precise conditions that foster efficient and enduring
learning.
Solution
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Question No. 7 of 10
Instructions: (1) Read the problem statement and answer choices carefully, (2) Work the problems on paper
as needed, (3) Pick the answer, and (4) Review the core concept tutorial as needed.
7. All of these statements are true regarding reinforcers EXCEPT:
(A) Reinforcement is any event that increases the frequency of a preceding response.
(B) A positive reinforcer may be a tangible reward such as praise or attention or an
activity.
Question
(C) Negative reinforcement weakens a response.
(D) Reinforcers vary with circumstance.
(E) Food is a positive reinforcer for hungry animals.
A. Incorrect!
It is true that reinforcement is any event that increases the frequency of a preceding
response.
B. Incorrect!
It is true that a positive reinforcer may be a tangible reward such as praise or attention,
or an activity.
Feedback
C. Correct!
Negative reinforcement, strengthens a response by reducing or removing an aversive
stimulus, rather than weakens a response.
D. Incorrect!
It is true that reinforcers vary with circumstance.
E. Incorrect!
It is true that food is a positive reinforcer for hungry animals.
In Skinner’s world, reinforcement is any event that increases the frequency of a preceding
response. A positive reinforcer may be a tangible reward. It may be praise or attention.
Or it may be an activity. Most people think of reinforcers as rewards but actually,
anything that serves to increase behavior is a reinforcer. For example, yelling at
someone, if it increases behavior, even if it is offending behavior, is a reinforcer.
Reinforcers vary with circumstance. What’s reinforcing to one person may not be to
another. What’s reinforcing in one situation may not be in another.
Solution
There are two basic kinds of reinforcement. One type, positive reinforcement,
strengthens a response by presenting a typically pleasurable stimulus after a response.
Food is a positive reinforcer for hungry animals; attention, approval, and money are
positive reinforcers for most people. The other type, negative reinforcement, strengthens
a response by reducing or removing an aversive stimulus. Taking aspirin may relieve a
headache. Dragging on a cigarette will reduce a nicotine addict’s pangs. Pushing the
snooze button silences the annoying alarm. All these consequences, assuming they do
affect behavior, provide negative reinforcement. When someone stops nagging or
whining, that, too, is a reinforcer.
Imagine a worried student who, after goofing off and getting a bad exam grade, studies
harder for the next exam. The student’s studying may be reinforced by reduced anxiety
(negative reinforcement) and by a better grade (positive reinforcement). Whether it
works by giving something desirable or by reducing something aversive, reinforcement is
any consequence that strengthens behavior.
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Question No. 8 of 10
Instructions: (1) Read the problem statement and answer choices carefully, (2) Work the problems on paper
as needed, (3) Pick the answer, and (4) Review the core concept tutorial as needed.
8. Which of the following is TRUE regarding reinforcement schedules?
(A) Fixed-ratio schedules reinforce a response only after a specified number of
responses.
(B) Variable-interval schedules provide reinforcers after an unpredictable number of
responses.
Question
(C) Variable-ratio schedules reinforce the first response after a fixed time period.
(D) Fixed-interval schedules reinforce the first response after varying time intervals.
(E) People checking for the mail more frequently as the delivery time approaches is
an example of a variable-interval schedule.
A. Correct!
It is true that fixed-ratio schedules reinforce a response only after a specified number of
responses.
B. Incorrect!
It is variable-ratio schedules that provide reinforcers after an unpredictable number of
responses.
C. Incorrect!
It is fixed-interval schedules that reinforce the first response after a fixed time period, not
variable-ratio schedules.
Feedback
D. Incorrect!
It is Variable-interval schedules that reinforce the first response after varying time
intervals, not fixed-interval schedules.
E. Incorrect!
People checking for the mail more frequently as the delivery time approaches is an
example of a fixed-interval schedule, not example of a variable-interval schedule.
Fixed-ratio schedules reinforce behavior after a set number of responses. Like people
paid on a piecework basis, laboratory animals may be reinforced on a fixed ratio. Rats
may receive a food pellet only after the bar is pressed thirty times. Once conditioned, the
animal will pause only briefly after a reinforcer and will then return to a high rate of
responding.
Variable-ratio schedules provide reinforcers after an unpredictable number of responses.
This is what gamblers and fishermen experience; unpredictable reinforcement; and what
makes gambling and fishing so hard to extinguish. Like the fixed-ratio schedule, the
variable-ratio schedule produces high rates of responding, because reinforcers increase as
the number of responses increases.
Solution
Fixed-interval schedules reinforce the first response after a fixed time period. Like people
checking more frequently for the mail as the delivery time approaches, or checking to see
if the cookies are done or the Jell-O is set, pigeons on a fixed-interval schedule peck a key
more frequently as the anticipated time for reward draws near, producing a choppy stopstart pattern rather than a steady rate of response.
Variable-interval schedules reinforce the first response after varying time intervals. Like
the “you’ve got mail” that finally rewards persistence in rechecking for email, variableinterval schedules tend to produce slow, steady responding. This makes sense, because
there is no knowing when the waiting will be over.
Animal behaviors differ, yet Skinner contended that these reinforcement principles of
operant conditioning are universal. According to Skinner, it matters little what response,
what reinforcer, or what species you use. The effect of a given reinforcement schedule is
pretty much the same. Behavior shows astonishingly similar properties.
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Question No. 9 of 10
Instructions: (1) Read the problem statement and answer choices carefully, (2) Work the problems on paper
as needed, (3) Pick the answer, and (4) Review the core concept tutorial as needed.
9. Which of the following refers to observational learning?
(A) Observational learning plays a minor role in learning.
(B) Observational learning is especially true among higher animals, especially
humans.
Question
(C) The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior is often called copying.
(D) Mirror neurons are not involved in observational learning.
(E) The imitation of models is not involved in shaping a child’s development.
A. Incorrect!
Observational learning plays a rather large role in learning.
B. Correct!
It is true that observational learning is especially true among higher animals, especially
humans.
C. Incorrect!
The process of observing and imitating a specific behavior is often called modeling.
Feedback
D. Incorrect!
Mirror neurons are in a frontal lobe area adjacent to the brain’s motor cortex and provide
a neural basis for observational learning.
E. Incorrect!
The imitation of models helps to shape a child’s development.
Thus far in the tutorial, we have discussed associative, conditioning methods of learning,
but learning occurs not only through conditioning but also from our observations of
others. This is especially true among higher animals, especially humans. Observational
learning, in which we observe and imitate others, plays a large role in learning. The
process of observing and imitating a specific behavior is often called modeling. We learn
all kinds of social behaviors by observing and imitating models. We can glimpse the roots
of observational learning in other species. For example, gorillas learn and generalize
complex actions, such as learning to use both hands to prepare plants for eating, by
observing other gorillas.
Solution
Imitation is all the more striking in humans. So many of our ideas, fashions, and habits
travel by imitation that these transmitted cultural elements now have a name: memes.
Recently, neuroscientists have discovered mirror neurons in a frontal lobe area adjacent
to the brain’s motor cortex that provide a neural basis for observational learning. These
neurons fire when the person/animal is observing another person or animal. The
imitation of models helps to shape a child’s development. Shortly after birth, an infant
may imitate an adult who sticks out his tongue. By 9 months, infants will imitate novel
play behaviors. By age 14 months they will imitate acts modeled on television.
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Question No. 10 of 10
Instructions: (1) Read the problem statement and answer choices carefully, (2) Work the problems on paper
as needed, (3) Pick the answer, and (4) Review the core concept tutorial as needed.
10. When discussing the effect of TV on observational learning, which of the following is
FALSE?
(A) Wherever television exists, it becomes the source of much observational learning.
(B) During their first 18 years, most children in developed countries spend more time
watching television than they spend in school.
Question
(C) Correlation studies find no link between violence-viewing and violent behavior.
(D) The violence effect seems to stem from a combination of factors including
imitation.
(E) Watching cruelty fosters indifference.
A. Incorrect!
It is true that wherever television exists, it becomes the source of much observational
learning.
B. Incorrect!
It is true that during their first 18 years, most children in developed countries spend more
time watching television than they spend in school.
C. Correct!
Correlation studies do link violence-viewing with violent behavior.
Feedback
D. Incorrect!
It is true that the violence effect seems to stem from a combination of factors including
imitation.
E. Incorrect!
It is true that watching cruelty fosters indifference.
Examples of observational learning come from research on media models of aggression.
Wherever television exists, it becomes the source of much observational learning. During
their first 18 years, most children in developed countries spend more time watching
television than they spend in school. The question then becomes, does viewing televised
aggression influence some people to commit aggression? Correlation studies do link
violence-viewing with violent behaviour. Some of the findings include: the more hours
children spend watching violent programs, the more at risk they are for aggression and
crime as teens and adults; compared with those who watch less than an hour of TV daily
at age 14, those who watch more than three hours at this age commit five times as many
aggressive acts at age 16 or 22; and finally, in the United States and Canada, homicide
rates doubled between 1957 and 1974, coinciding with the introduction and spread of
television. Moreover, census regions that were late in acquiring television had their
homicide rate jump correspondingly later.
Solution
The violence effect seems to stem from a combination of factors including imitation. One
research team observed a sevenfold increase in violent play immediately after children
viewed the “Power Rangers”. Boys often precisely imitated the characters’ flying karate
kicks and other violent acts. Prolonged exposure to violence also desensitizes viewers;
they become more indifferent to it when later viewing a brawl, whether on TV or in real
life. While spending three evenings watching sexually violent movies, male viewers in one
experiment became progressively less bothered by the rapes and slashings. Three days
later, they also expressed less sympathy for domestic violence victims than did research
participants who had not been exposed to the films, and they rated the victims' injuries as
less severe. Watching cruelty fosters indifference.
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