Conditioning, Learning, and Behavior Change

Practice Questions

MCAT Social and Behavioral Sciences › Conditioning, Learning, and Behavior Change

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1

Which of the following seemingly decreases the strength of a behavior (i.e. suppresses responding)?

2

American psychologist B.F. Skinner is best known for his work in operant conditioning.Like all great academics, Skinner was not without influence. His work was inspired primarily based on Thorndike's Law of Effect. This law states that behaviors paired with positive consequences/effects/rewards are likely to be repeated, while behaviors paired with unpleasant consequences/effects/rewards are likely to be avoided.

While this principal inspired Skinner, he researched it further and named this principle operant conditioning. Skinner's research showed that conditioning/learning could occur through the use of punishments and rewards. The two important concepts of operant conditioning include punishment and reinforcement. Finally, Skinner also discussed the possibility of a neutral operant, which neither increased nor decreased the likelihood of a behavior occurring.

In operant conditioning, what is the term used to describe taking away a desired stimulus in order to decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring?

3

Which of the following seemingly decreases the strength of a behavior (i.e. suppresses responding)?

4

Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov extensively studied learning in animals. Most significantly, he contributed to the idea that is currently referred to as classical conditioning. Many know him from the popularly cited Pavlovian dog study from the greater experiment known as Lectures on the Function of the Principle Digestive Glands (1897).

In the Pavlovian dog experiment, Pavlov paired a neutral stimulus with a pleasurable one. The neutral stimulus was the ringing sound of a metronome, while the pleasurable stimulus was food. Pavlov never fed his dogs without ringing the metronome first, and as a result, his dogs would later salivate upon hearing the sound of the metronome. This learning process is known as conditioning, and this this specific instance, classical conditioning.

Later, Pavlov began ringing the metronome without feeding the dogs. As a result, the dogs eventually stopped salivating upon hearing the metronome. This is known as extinction. Finally, upon reintroducing the metronome/food pairing, the dogs quickly began salivating again, which is known as spontaneous recovery.

The passage describes classical conditioning, which of the following best describes the relationship between classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

5

Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov extensively studied learning in animals. Most significantly, he contributed to the idea that is currently referred to as classical conditioning. Many know him from the popularly cited Pavlovian dog study from the greater experiment known as Lectures on the Function of the Principle Digestive Glands (1897).

In the Pavlovian dog experiment, Pavlov paired a neutral stimulus with a pleasurable one. The neutral stimulus was the ringing sound of a metronome, while the pleasurable stimulus was food. Pavlov never fed his dogs without ringing the metronome first, and as a result, his dogs would later salivate upon hearing the sound of the metronome. This learning process is known as conditioning, and this this specific instance, classical conditioning.

Later, Pavlov began ringing the metronome without feeding the dogs. As a result, the dogs eventually stopped salivating upon hearing the metronome. This is known as extinction. Finally, upon reintroducing the metronome/food pairing, the dogs quickly began salivating again, which is known as spontaneous recovery.

The passage describes classical conditioning, which of the following best describes the relationship between classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

6

American psychologist B.F. Skinner is best known for his work in operant conditioning.Like all great academics, Skinner was not without influence. His work was inspired primarily based on Thorndike's Law of Effect. This law states that behaviors paired with positive consequences/effects/rewards are likely to be repeated, while behaviors paired with unpleasant consequences/effects/rewards are likely to be avoided.

While this principal inspired Skinner, he researched it further and named this principle operant conditioning. Skinner's research showed that conditioning/learning could occur through the use of punishments and rewards. The two important concepts of operant conditioning include punishment and reinforcement. Finally, Skinner also discussed the possibility of a neutral operant, which neither increased nor decreased the likelihood of a behavior occurring.

In operant conditioning, what is the term used to describe taking away a desired stimulus in order to decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring?

7

American psychologist B.F. Skinner is best known for his work in operant conditioning.Like all great academics, Skinner was not without influence. His work was inspired primarily based on Thorndike's Law of Effect. This law states that behaviors paired with positive consequences/effects/rewards are likely to be repeated, while behaviors paired with unpleasant consequences/effects/rewards are likely to be avoided.

While this principal inspired Skinner, he researched it further and named this principle operant conditioning. Skinner's research showed that conditioning/learning could occur through the use of punishments and rewards. The two important concepts of operant conditioning include punishment and reinforcement. Finally, Skinner also discussed the possibility of a neutral operant, which neither increased nor decreased the likelihood of a behavior occurring.

In operant conditioning, what is the term used to describe taking away a desired stimulus in order to decrease the likelihood of a behavior occurring?

8

Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov extensively studied learning in animals. Most significantly, he contributed to the idea that is currently referred to as classical conditioning. Many know him from the popularly cited Pavlovian dog study from the greater experiment known as Lectures on the Function of the Principle Digestive Glands (1897).

In the Pavlovian dog experiment, Pavlov paired a neutral stimulus with a pleasurable one. The neutral stimulus was the ringing sound of a metronome, while the pleasurable stimulus was food. Pavlov never fed his dogs without ringing the metronome first, and as a result, his dogs would later salivate upon hearing the sound of the metronome. This learning process is known as conditioning, and this this specific instance, classical conditioning.

Later, Pavlov began ringing the metronome without feeding the dogs. As a result, the dogs eventually stopped salivating upon hearing the metronome. This is known as extinction. Finally, upon reintroducing the metronome/food pairing, the dogs quickly began salivating again, which is known as spontaneous recovery.

The passage describes classical conditioning, which of the following best describes the relationship between classical conditioning and operant conditioning.

9

Which of the following seemingly decreases the strength of a behavior (i.e. suppresses responding)?

10

Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov extensively studied learning in animals. Most significantly, he contributed to the idea that is currently referred to as classical conditioning. Many know him from the popularly cited Pavlovian dog study from the greater experiment known as Lectures on the Function of the Principle Digestive Glands (1897).

In the Pavlovian dog experiment, Pavlov paired a neutral stimulus with a pleasurable one. The neutral stimulus was the ringing sound of a metronome, while the pleasurable stimulus was food. Pavlov never fed his dogs without ringing the metronome first, and as a result, his dogs would later salivate upon hearing the sound of the metronome. This learning process is known as conditioning, and this this specific instance, classical conditioning.

Later, Pavlov began ringing the metronome without feeding the dogs. As a result, the dogs eventually stopped salivating upon hearing the metronome. This is known as extinction. Finally, upon reintroducing the metronome/food pairing, the dogs quickly began salivating again, which is known as spontaneous recovery.

Prior to feeding his hamster, a young boy flicks the side of the hamster's cage so that the hamster hears a "bang" noise. He does this every time before feeding the hamster. Based on the passage and the idea of generalization, what behavior can we expect the hamster to perform upon hearing someone knock on the cage, instead of flicking the cage?

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