Go to: Answers to Section 3-4 Quiz Questions

1. My dog has learned to push open the door of the cabinet in which his food is stored. This is an example of

A. extinction.
B. spontaneous recovery.
C. classical conditioning.
D. operant conditioning.

2. The greater the amount of control that is applied in a research situation, the less _____ the research results tend to be.

A. verifiable
B. valid
C. generalizable
D. reliable

3. When a stoplight turns yellow, Don pushes harder on the gas pedal in order to make it through the intersection before the stoplight turns red. In this example, the discriminative stimulus is

A. pushing harder on the gas pedal.
B. making it through the intersection.
C. the stoplight turning yellow.
D. the stoplight turning red.

4. Whenever I take the 101 to work, I always get stuck in a traffic jam. Now, I no longer take the 101 to work. Getting stuck in a traffic jam is a _____ and taking the 101 to work is a(n) _____.

A. negative reinforcement; operant response
B. negative reinforcement; discriminative stimulus
C. punishment; operant response
D. punishment; discriminative stimulus

5. Your child whines every night at bedtime because you have allowed her to stay up sometimes when she has done this in the past. Now, you no longer allow her to stay up no matter how much she whines. You are trying to

A. extinguish her whining behavior.
B. punish her whining behavior.
C. negatively reinforce non-whining behavior.
D. positively reinforce non-whining behavior.

6. In order for measurements of a psychological concept to be verifiable, all of the following must occur EXCEPT:

A. The concept must be generalizable.
B. The concept must be objectively defined.
C. The measurements must be reliable.
D. The measurements must be valid.

7. In operant conditioning, a(n) _____ is associated with a(n) _____.

A. unlearned behavior; consequence of that behavior
B. voluntary behavior; consequence of that behavior
C. environmental event; unlearned behavior
D. environmental event; voluntary behavior

8. Whenever I am sleeping and the alarm on my clock turns on, I get annoyed and knock the clock off the desk, which causes the alarm to turn off. The alarm turning off is a _____ and my knocking the clock off the desk is a(n) _____.

A. negative reinforcement; operant response
B. positive reinforcement; operant response
C. discriminative stimulus; negative reinforcement
D. discriminative stimulus; positive reinforcement

9. In the learning of a phobia, the two-factor model states that, first, there is _____ and, second, the _____.

A. positive reinforcement of a fear response; negative reinforcement of avoidance (escape) behavior
B. negative reinforcement of a fear response; positive reinforcement of avoidance (escape) behavior
C. operant conditioning of a fear response; classical conditioning of avoidance (escape) behavior
D. classical conditioning of a fear response; operant conditioning of avoidance (escape) behavior

10. When I open the door of the cabinet that holds the dog food, my dogs come running in order to eat. Opening the cabinet door is a(n) _____ and running is a(n) _____.

A. operant response; positive reinforcement
B. discriminative stimulus; operant response
C. operant response; negative reinforcement
D. discriminative stimulus; positive reinforcement

11. Don suffers from masochistic disorder: physical pain causes him to become sexually aroused. Don pays male prostitutes to give him severe beatings, after which he has an orgasm. In this example, Don's paying someone to beat him is a behavior that is

A. reinforced by physical pain.
B. punished by physical pain.
C. reinforced by having an orgasm.
D. punished by having an orgasm.

12. Which of the following will cause the frequency of an operant response to decrease?

A. negative reinforcement and extinction
B. punishment and discrimination
C. negative reinforcement and punishment
D. extinction and punishment

13. When my cat hears me open a can of cat food, he comes running into the kitchen, which typically is followed by his being allowed to eat the food. In this example, the operant response is

A. my cat running into the kitchen.
B. opening the can of cat food.
C. being allowed to eat the food.
D. the sound of the cat food being opened.

14. My dog knows that, when I tap my hand several times on my leg, he will get a treat if he comes to me. This is an example of

A. stimulus discrimination.
B. stimulus generalization.
C. classical conditioning.
D. operant conditioning.

15. When my dog hears me opening the refrigerator door, he comes running into the kitchen because he knows that I may drop some food on the floor. In this example, the opening of the refrigerator door is a _____, and my dog running into the kitchen is a(n) _____.

A. discriminative stimulus; operant response
B. discriminative stimulus; conditioned response
C. positive reinforcement; operant reponse
D. positive reinforcement; conditioned response

16. The antidepressant medication, paroxetine, helps to reduce the symptoms of major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobias, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. This has led me to conclude that paroxetine probably will improve just about any disorder involving problems in personality functioning? My conclusion is best thought of as an example of a(n)

A. over-extrapolation.
B. reasonable generalization.
C. objective observation.
D. none of the above

17. When the light turns yellow at intersections with "red-light-running" cameras, I often slam on my brakes in order to make sure that I don't get a ticket. In this example, the light turning yellow is a(n)

A. conditioned stimulus.
B. unconditioned stimulus.
C. discriminative stimulus.
D. punishment.

18. When my cat hears our car turning into the driveway, he knows that, if he runs to the front door, we will pet him. In this example, running to the front door is a(n) _____, and petting the cat is a(n) _____.

A. operant response; discriminative stimulus
B. operant response; positive reinforcement
C. conditioned response; postive reinforcement
D. conditioned response; unconditioned stimulus

19. The light switch in my bedroom stopped working recently. Now, when I flip up the light switch, nothing happens. Over time, I have stopped flipping up the light switch. In this example,

A. the operant response of flipping up the light switch has extinguished.
B. the operant response of flipping up the light switch has been punished.
C. the positive reinforcement of flipping up the light switch has extinguished.
D. the positive reinforcement of flipping up the light switch has been punished.

20. With respect to the two-factor model, exposure therapy for phobias is focused on extinguishing

A. the operantly conditioned avoidance response.
B. the classically conditioned avoidance response.
C. the operantly conditioned fear response.
D. the classically conditioned fear response.

21. In which of the following ways does classical conditioning (CC) differ from operant conditioning (OC)?

A. In OC, individuals are learning new reflexive behaviors, whereas in CC, individuals are learning new habitual behaviors.
B. In OC, individuals learn an association between a response and the consequence of that response, whereas in CC, individuals learn an association between a stimulus and a second stimulus that follows it.
C. In CC, individuals respond to a stimulus, whereas in OC, individuals respond to another response.
D. In CC, individuals learn an association between stimuli, whereas in OC, individuals learn an association between responses.

22. In classical conditioning, one knows that an association has formed when a(n) _____ appears; in operant conditioning, one knows that an association has formed when a(n) _____ appears.

A. conditioned stimulus; discriminative stimulus
B. unconditioned stimulus; reinforcement
C. conditioned response; operant response
D. unconditioned response; operant response

23. The greatest difficulty in measuring psychological concepts is that they

A. are arbitrary and subjective.
B. can be observed only through introspection.
C. are not verifiable or reliable.
D. refer to unobservable mental phenomena.

24. When a measuring instrument (such as a personality test) measures well the concept it was designed to measure, we say that the instrument has high

A. reliability.
B. verifiability.
C. generalizability.
D. validity.

Go to: Answers to Section 3-4 Quiz Questions