LEARNING THEORY

Question 1

Question ID #18124: A \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ stimulus signals that performance of a behavior will result in reinforcement. 
Select one: 
A. conditioned   
B. unconditioned 
C. discriminative 
D. second-order

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Question ID #18125: Although he was unable to carry out his plans, John Watson outlined several methods for removing Little Albert's classically-conditioned fear reaction to white rats. One plan involved repeatedly confronting Albert with a white rat without the loud noise in order to produce extinction of his fear response. This technique now underlies the behavioral treatment known as: 
Select one: 
A. covert sensitization. 
B. flooding.   
C. response cost. 
D. stress inoculation.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Question ID #18106: Meichenbaum and Jaremko's (1982) stress inoculation is best described as a type of: 
Select one: 
A. coping skills training. 
B. crisis intervention. 
C. aversive counterconditioning. 
D. habit reversal training.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Question ID #18091: As described in the multi-store model, \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ memory is the aspect of memory that is involved in the recall of information acquired within the past few hours to days. 
Select one: 
A. working   
B. sensory 
C. long-term 
D. prospective

Answer 4

C

Question 5

Question ID #18083: The use of shaping to establish a complex behavior depends on which of the following? 
Select one: 
A. desensitization 
B. positive reinforcement 
C. alternate response training 
D. higher-order conditioning

Answer 5

B

Question 6

Question ID #18646: \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ research with chimpanzees led to his conclusion that the performance of a new behavior may be the result of insight learning. 
Select one: 
A. Kohler's   
B. Tolman's 
C. Watson's 
D. Thorndike's

Answer 6

A

Question 7

Question ID #18052: In a study on learning and memory, participants in the experimental group learned two lists of nonsense syllables (first List A, then List B) and were then asked to recall List A. Participants in the control group also learned List A but, instead of learning List B, were asked to count backward from 10 numerous times before being asked to recall List A. Results of the study indicated that participants in the control group recalled more words from List A than did participants in the experimental group. These results are best explained by which of the following? 
Select one: 
A. proactive interference 
B. retroactive interference   
C. trace decay 
D. serial position effect

Answer 7

B

Question 8

Question ID #201: In 1989, Abramson, Metalsky, and Alloy revised the 1978 learned helplessness theory of depression. In their revision, \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ is conceptualized as a proximal and sufficient cause of depressive symptoms. 
Select one: 
A. non-contingent reinforcement 
B. a depressogenic cognitive style 
C. an external locus of control 
D. a sense of hopelessness

Answer 8

D

Question 9

Question ID #18073: Sensate focus was developed by Masters and Johnson (1970) as a technique for reducing performance anxiety related to sexual intercourse. If viewed as a behavioral technique, sensate focus is best described as a form of: 
Select one: 
A. classical extinction. 
B. operant extinction. 
C. counterconditioning.   
D. covert sensitization.

Answer 9

C

Question 10

Question ID #18094: Tommy Tyrant, a bright four-year-old, has learned that if he starts crying as soon as his mother begins to yell at him for misbehaving, his mother will stop yelling and will play with him instead, which is what Tommy wanted in the first place. In this situation, the mother's yelling is acting as: 
Select one: 
A. a discriminative stimulus. 
B. an unconditioned stimulus. 
C. a conditioned response.   
D. a primary reinforcer.

Answer 10

A

Question 11

Question ID #18105: Lewinsohn’s behavioral model proposes a causal link between ______________ and depression.
Select one:
A. a lack of reinforcement from the environment
B. accidental external reinforcement for depressogenic behaviors
C. a high need for perfectionism
D. chronic physical and psychological stress

Answer 11

A

Question 12

Question ID #18084: You are using in vivo aversive counterconditioning to reduce a client’s consumption of alcohol. To maximize the effectiveness of the treatment, the aversive stimulus (electric shock) should be applied:
Select one:
A. when the drink is first presented to the client.
B. right before the client takes a drink.
C. just as the client begins drinking.
D. immediately after the client has finished a drink.

Answer 12

C

Question 13

Question ID #18141: The various intermittent schedules of reinforcement are associated with different response patterns. Which of the following schedules and patterns is incorrectly matched?
Select one:
A. variable ratio: stable rates of responding with high resistance to extinction
B. variable interval: smooth, stable rates of responding with moderate to low resistance to extinction
C. fixed ratio: post-reinforcement response pauses with moderately high resistance to extinction
D. fixed interval: smooth but slow rates of responding with moderate resistance to extinction

Answer 13

D

Question 14

Question ID #18067: Bandura’s social learning theory posits that:
Select one:
A. people can acquire behaviors without actually performing them.
B. reinforcement is unnecessary for learning to occur.
C. learning reflects a series of internal S-R connections.
D. learning is facilitated when the individual is provided with adequate “social scaffolding.”

Answer 14

A

Question 15

Question ID #11: All of the following techniques are based on principles of classical conditioning except: 
Select one: 
A. systematic desensitization. 
B. covert sensitization. 
C. response cost.   
D. implosive therapy.

Answer 15

C

Question 16

Question ID #18150: Emelina E., age 4, has learned that, when she approaches her father while he is watching a football game on TV, her father ignores her, but when she approaches her father while he is watching any other type of TV show, he is willing to talk to and play with her. As a result, Emelina only approaches her father when he is not watching football. Emelina's behavior illustrates which of the following? 
Select one: 
A. stimulus fading 
B. shaping 
C. stimulus control   
D. pseudoconditioning

Answer 16

C

Question 17

Question ID #18147: When using punishment to modify behavior, habituation is most likely to be a problem when:
Select one:
A. the intensity of the punishment is gradually increased over time.
B. the individual is given brief vacations from punishment.
C. different methods of punishment are alternately applied to the target behavior.
D. the use of punishment is restricted to one or two (versus numerous) behaviors.

Answer 17

A

Question 18

Question ID #18120: Which of the following is an example of negative reinforcement?
Select one:
A. A child continues to misbehave in class because of the negative attention he gets from his teacher whenever he does so.
B. A husband stops smoking because, whenever he smokes, his children and wife berate him and tell him hes going to die from lung cancer.
C. A student stops misbehaving in class because his teacher makes him sit in the corner for 10 minutes whenever he misbehaves.
D. A graduate student smokes cigarettes in order to alleviate anxiety he feels about his ability to receive good grades in his classes.

Answer 18

D

Question 19

Question ID #18074: "If a child's whining and crying secures his parents' attention, the child is likely to whine and cry again." Which of the following individuals is most likely to agree with this statement? 
Select one: 
A. Bandura 
B. Ebbinghaus 
C. Watson 
D. Thorndike

Answer 19

D CORRECT The first name that probably came to mind when you read this question was Skinner, but, unfortunately, his name is not one of the answers. However, Thorndike was a predecessor of Skinner and proposed the law of effect, which predicts that behaviors that are followed by satisfying consequences will tend to occur again.

Question 20

Question ID #18097: A person who argues that "all psychopathology has a similar set of underlying dysfunctional beliefs" is most likely sympathetic with the views of: 
Select one: 
A. Beck.   
B. Ellis. 
C. Glasser. 
D. Meichenbaum.

Answer 20

B

Question 21

Question ID #18070: A functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is conducted to identify \_\_\_\_\_\_\_ variables. 
Select one: 
A. controlling 
B. moderator 
C. dependent 
D. organismic

Answer 21

A

Question 22

Question ID #18060: As an initial intervention with a client who has received a diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder, a practitioner of Beck’s cognitive-behavioral therapy is most likely to do which of the following?
Select one:
A. work with the client to develop a hierarchy of depression-inducing situations
B. have the client maintain a record of his/her automatic thoughts during the following week
C. conduct a functional analysis to determine the clients explanation for his/her symptoms
D. ask the client to identify exceptions to his/her typical depression-inducing events

Answer 22

B

Question 23

Question ID #18119: Socratic dialogue and collaborative empiricism are most associated with which of the following therapeutic approaches?
Select one:
A. Kelly’s personal construct therapy
B. Glasser’s reality therapy
C. Ellis’s rational-emotive behavioral therapy
D. Beck’s cognitive-behavioral therapy

Answer 23

D

Question 24

Question ID #18111: Meta-analyses of research on EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) suggest that its effectiveness for alleviating the symptoms of PTSD is attributable to which of the following? 
Select one: 
A. imaginal exposure   
B. higher-order conditioning 
C. relaxation training 
D. fixed visual attention

Answer 24

A

Question 25

Question ID #18135: Prior to taking an important test, Delwood D. feels very anxious and, on the basis of this anxiety, concludes that he's not prepared for the test and will fail it. Delwood is exhibiting which of the following? 
Select one: 
A. polarized thinking 
B. demanding expectations 
C. catastrophizing 
D. emotional reasoning

Answer 25

D

Question 26

Question ID #18128: When using aversive counterconditioning as a treatment for cocaine use, cocaine would be the: 
Select one: 
A. conditioned stimulus.   
B. unconditioned stimulus. 
C. positive reinforcer. 
D. negative reinforcer.

Answer 26

A

Question 27

Question ID #18110: In his studies on memory and forgetting, Ebbinghaus:
Select one:
A. used hungry cats as research subjects.
B. used himself as the research subject.
C. had volunteers memorize word pairs.
D. had volunteers think aloud while solving complex problems.

Answer 27

B

Question 28

Question ID #18099: The mother of a teen-age girl complains that all her daughter wants to do is talk on the telephone and that, as a result, the girl is not studying and her grades have been declining. The psychologist suggests that the daughter adhere to a schedule that allows her to talk on the telephone only after she has studied for a specified amount of time. The psychologist is recommending that the mother use which of the following strategies? 
Select one: 
A. overcorrection 
B. Premack Principle   
C. response cost 
D. flooding

Answer 28

B

Question 29

Question ID #18109: Charging telephone customers for using directory assistance to obtain phone numbers in order to decrease their use of directory assistance is an application of which of the following? 
Select one: 
A. Premack Principle 
B. overcorrection 
C. negative reinforcement 
D. negative punishment

Answer 29

B

Question 30

Question ID #18082: When using covert sensitization to treat a sexual fetish, the fetish object acts as a(n): 
Select one: 
A. primary reinforcer. 
B. secondary reinforcer. 
C. unconditioned stimulus. 
D. conditioned stimulus.

Answer 30

D

Question 31

Question ID #18107: Research confirming which of the following provides support for the encoding specificity principle?
Select one:
A. Elaborative rehearsal is more effective than maintenance rehearsal.
B. Retroactive interference has a greater impact on recent (versus remote) memories.
C. Recognition memory is ordinarily better than recall memory.
D. Most memory loss is consistent with the typical forgetting curve.

Answer 31

C

Question 32

Question ID #18087: From a behavioral perspective, phobic reactions to benign objects or events are acquired when those objects or events become associated with a stimulus that naturally produces a fear response. In other words, phobic reactions are due to: 
Select one: 
A. negative reinforcement.   
B. negative punishment. 
C. stimulus generalization. 
D. classical conditioning.

Answer 32

D

Question 33

Question ID #18092: A person consistently avoids an object that produces a classically conditioned anxiety response because avoidance is: 
Select one: 
A. positively reinforced. 
B. negatively reinforced.   
C. a conditioned response. 
D. an unconditioned response.

Answer 33

B CORRECT In this situation, the person’s avoidance behaviors allow him/her to reduce or alleviate anxiety. In other words, avoidance behaviors occur because they are being negatively reinforced.
C Incorrect The phobia (anxiety reaction) is the result of classical conditioning but the avoidance behavior is the result of operant conditioning. Consequently, the avoidance behavior is not a conditioned (or unconditioned) response.