PSY 121 EXAM 3 QUESTIONS WITH VERIFIED SOLUTIONS LATEST UPDATE 2026
The neural stimulus, when paired with an unconditioned stimulus, becomes a(n)
___________________ in classical conditioning. - Answers conditioned stimulus
Every week, Jade spends her allowance on 1/2-pound of sour lemon gummy candies, even though
they always make her mouth water. One day, as she is walking down the street, Jade sees a girl
carrying a little white bag that looks like a candy shop bag. Jade notices that her mouth is puckering
and overflowing with saliva. In this example, the unconditioned stimulus is the __________________.
- Answers sour lemon gummy candy
Normally, when food is placed in the mouth of any animal, the salivary glands start releasing saliva to
help with chewing and digestion. In terms of Pavlov's analysis of learning, salivation would be referred
to as a(n) ____________________. - Answers unconditioned response
In Watson and Rayner's "Little Albert" study, each time the rat was presented to the boy, it was
accompanied by a loud noise which eventually led Albert to cry when presented with the rat. In this
experiment, Albert's reaction of fear upon seeing the rat was a(n) ___________ response. - Answers
conditioned
In the past, thunder has made you flinch because the loud noise scares you. Lightning always comes
before the thunder and after time, you begin to flinch as soon as the lightning strikes. In this scenario,
lightning can be interpreted as a(n) __________________. - Answers conditioned stimulus
In classical conditioning, __________ occurs when the conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with
the unconditioned stimulus. - Answers extinction
Martha trains her cat Whiskers to salivate to the sound of a bell. She rings the bell every fifteen
minutes and doesn't follow it with food for Whiskers. It salivates less and less and finally stops
salivating at the sound of the ringing bell. A week later, she finds Whiskers salivating to the sound of a
ringing bell. Which of the following terms explains this response? - Answers Spontaneous recovery
Discrimination, generalization, and extinction can occur in _______________________. - Answers
both operant and classical conditioning
_______ reinforcement occurs when something pleasant follows a behavior. - Answers Positive
Fred is afraid of spiders. He won't even watch a nature show on TV about them. When he sees a
picture of a spider, he has a panic attack, but when he avoids looking at the image, his panic goes
away. Fred's avoidance of spiders is being ____________________. - Answers negatively reinforced;
he is rewarded by his anxiety going down
Kyla wants to make sure that her dog Axel does not beg for food from the table. Every time that Axel
begs, Kyla says, "No," in a sharp, scolding voice and she never gives in. Kyla is using
_________________. - Answers positive punishment
Being grounded or put in "time out" effectively removes pleasant stimuli (e.g., attention from others)
from the individual. This is called __________________. - Answers negative punishment
When the number of responses is important to a schedule of reinforcement, that schedule is called a
_____ schedule. - Answers ratio
Which schedule of reinforcement tends to get the highest response rate? - Answers Fixed ratio
________ is the process of reinforcement of complex behaviors by rewarding the small steps in the
overall sequence of behaviors. - Answers Chaining
Gary trains his hamster to roll a marble. First, he reinforces the hamster when it walks toward the
marble, then he reinforces when it touches the marble with its nose. Finally, the hamster learns to roll
the marble and is reinforced for it. This example illustrates _______. - Answers shaping
The application of operant-conditioning techniques to teach new responses or to reduce or eliminate
maladaptive or problematic behavior is called _______________________. - Answers applied
behavior analysis
Ms. Wang gives a sticker for each book her 3rd grade students read. At the end of the year, any
student with more than 10 stickers gets to attend a pizza party. What behavioral technique is Ms.
Wang using? - Answers Token economy
Promising yourself some kind of reward for completing a task you are not excited about is an example
of ___________________. - Answers the Premack principle
A ______ neuron fires not only when an animal engages in a particular action, but also if an animal
observes another animal (or human) engaging in the same action. - Answers mirror
, Research on mirror neurons shows that these neurons fire when an animal
_______________________. - Answers either engages in a particular behavior or watches another
animal engage in the behavior
Michael grows up in a home where his father is generally unloving toward his mother. He observes his
father yell and degrade his mother, and he notices that his mother never resists this treatment. Based
on the work of Bandura, what might we predict about Michael's own relationships when he is older? -
Answers Michael may treat women with discourtesy and disrespect, as he repeats the behavior he
saw in his father.
For observational learning to occur, each of the following must happen except __________________.
- Answers being reinforced for imitating the model
You need to remove a broken light bulb from a lamp. Without a pair of gloves, you are likely to cut
yourself on the jagged glass. Suddenly, it occurs to you that you can use a cut potato to remove the
light bulb from the socket. You have just demonstrated ___________. - Answers insight learning
Scientists like Tolman and Kohler conducted important studies to help determine the role of
________ in learning. - Answers cognition
Rats that have never received any reinforcement for finding the end of a maze are presented with
food the next time they complete the maze. According to the theory of latent learning, the next time
the rats enter the maze, their performance will be _____________________. - Answers as fast as rats
who have always received reinforcement
What is it called when learning has taken place but has not yet been demonstrated? - Answers Latent
learning
Sal's dog loves to go on a walk and starts spinning in circles and wagging his tail in excitement when
his lead is clipped onto his collar. Eventually Sal begins to notice that his dog starts to act excited
when he puts on his tennis shoes before a walk. His dog's behavior of spinning in circles and wagging
his tail when Sal puts on his tennis shoes is a _________________. - Answers conditioned response
In a conditioning experiment, a sound is paired with a brief puff of air to the eye of a rabbit. After
several pairings, the rabbit ultimately blinks its eye when it hears the sound. Which of the following is
true? - Answers The puff of air serves as the unconditioned stimulus.
John Watson offered a live, white rat to Little Albert and then made a loud noise behind Albert's head
by striking a steel bar with a hammer. Eventually, the white rat alone made Albert cry. The white rat
served as the ________ stimulus in this study. - Answers conditioned
Watson's experiment with Little Albert demonstrated that fears might be _________________. -
Answers based on classical conditioning
In Pavlov's studies, he was able to condition dogs to salivate in response to specific tones while not
salivating to other similar tones. This is called ________________. - Answers stimulus discrimination
After Little Albert acquired a conditioned fear of rats, Watson wanted to see how he would react to a
white rabbit, cotton wool, and a Santa Claus mask. He was studying whether or not
_________________________ had occurred. - Answers stimulus generalization
You decide to condition your dog to salivate to the sound of a metronome. You give the dog a biscuit,
and then a second later you sound the metronome. You do this several times, but no conditioning
seems to occur. This is probably because __________________________. - Answers the metronome
should have been sounded before the dog ate the biscuit
_____ classical conditioning, operant conditioning requires the organism to voluntarily produce the
_________. - Answers unlike; response
Reflexive learning is related to ___________, while learning related to voluntary behaviors is known
as ____________. - Answers classical conditioning; operant conditioning
Of the following, ________ would serve as a primary reinforcer for most people. - Answers food
Bill hates to clean up after dinner. One night, he volunteers to bathe the dog before cleaning up.
When he finishes with the dog and returns to the kitchen, his wife has cleaned everything up for him.
Which of the following statements is most likely true? - Answers Bill's wife has negatively reinforced
him for bathing the dog
Dr. Sardis provides his students with extra credit points every time they speak in class to encourage
class participation. Dr. Sardis is using _______________. - Answers positive reinforcement
When a stimulus is removed from a person or animal resulting in a decrease in the probability of
response, it is known as ______________. - Answers negative punishment
A reinforcer is a consequence that ________ a behavior, while a punisher is a consequence that
________ a behavior. - Answers strengthens; weakens
The neural stimulus, when paired with an unconditioned stimulus, becomes a(n)
___________________ in classical conditioning. - Answers conditioned stimulus
Every week, Jade spends her allowance on 1/2-pound of sour lemon gummy candies, even though
they always make her mouth water. One day, as she is walking down the street, Jade sees a girl
carrying a little white bag that looks like a candy shop bag. Jade notices that her mouth is puckering
and overflowing with saliva. In this example, the unconditioned stimulus is the __________________.
- Answers sour lemon gummy candy
Normally, when food is placed in the mouth of any animal, the salivary glands start releasing saliva to
help with chewing and digestion. In terms of Pavlov's analysis of learning, salivation would be referred
to as a(n) ____________________. - Answers unconditioned response
In Watson and Rayner's "Little Albert" study, each time the rat was presented to the boy, it was
accompanied by a loud noise which eventually led Albert to cry when presented with the rat. In this
experiment, Albert's reaction of fear upon seeing the rat was a(n) ___________ response. - Answers
conditioned
In the past, thunder has made you flinch because the loud noise scares you. Lightning always comes
before the thunder and after time, you begin to flinch as soon as the lightning strikes. In this scenario,
lightning can be interpreted as a(n) __________________. - Answers conditioned stimulus
In classical conditioning, __________ occurs when the conditioned stimulus is no longer paired with
the unconditioned stimulus. - Answers extinction
Martha trains her cat Whiskers to salivate to the sound of a bell. She rings the bell every fifteen
minutes and doesn't follow it with food for Whiskers. It salivates less and less and finally stops
salivating at the sound of the ringing bell. A week later, she finds Whiskers salivating to the sound of a
ringing bell. Which of the following terms explains this response? - Answers Spontaneous recovery
Discrimination, generalization, and extinction can occur in _______________________. - Answers
both operant and classical conditioning
_______ reinforcement occurs when something pleasant follows a behavior. - Answers Positive
Fred is afraid of spiders. He won't even watch a nature show on TV about them. When he sees a
picture of a spider, he has a panic attack, but when he avoids looking at the image, his panic goes
away. Fred's avoidance of spiders is being ____________________. - Answers negatively reinforced;
he is rewarded by his anxiety going down
Kyla wants to make sure that her dog Axel does not beg for food from the table. Every time that Axel
begs, Kyla says, "No," in a sharp, scolding voice and she never gives in. Kyla is using
_________________. - Answers positive punishment
Being grounded or put in "time out" effectively removes pleasant stimuli (e.g., attention from others)
from the individual. This is called __________________. - Answers negative punishment
When the number of responses is important to a schedule of reinforcement, that schedule is called a
_____ schedule. - Answers ratio
Which schedule of reinforcement tends to get the highest response rate? - Answers Fixed ratio
________ is the process of reinforcement of complex behaviors by rewarding the small steps in the
overall sequence of behaviors. - Answers Chaining
Gary trains his hamster to roll a marble. First, he reinforces the hamster when it walks toward the
marble, then he reinforces when it touches the marble with its nose. Finally, the hamster learns to roll
the marble and is reinforced for it. This example illustrates _______. - Answers shaping
The application of operant-conditioning techniques to teach new responses or to reduce or eliminate
maladaptive or problematic behavior is called _______________________. - Answers applied
behavior analysis
Ms. Wang gives a sticker for each book her 3rd grade students read. At the end of the year, any
student with more than 10 stickers gets to attend a pizza party. What behavioral technique is Ms.
Wang using? - Answers Token economy
Promising yourself some kind of reward for completing a task you are not excited about is an example
of ___________________. - Answers the Premack principle
A ______ neuron fires not only when an animal engages in a particular action, but also if an animal
observes another animal (or human) engaging in the same action. - Answers mirror
, Research on mirror neurons shows that these neurons fire when an animal
_______________________. - Answers either engages in a particular behavior or watches another
animal engage in the behavior
Michael grows up in a home where his father is generally unloving toward his mother. He observes his
father yell and degrade his mother, and he notices that his mother never resists this treatment. Based
on the work of Bandura, what might we predict about Michael's own relationships when he is older? -
Answers Michael may treat women with discourtesy and disrespect, as he repeats the behavior he
saw in his father.
For observational learning to occur, each of the following must happen except __________________.
- Answers being reinforced for imitating the model
You need to remove a broken light bulb from a lamp. Without a pair of gloves, you are likely to cut
yourself on the jagged glass. Suddenly, it occurs to you that you can use a cut potato to remove the
light bulb from the socket. You have just demonstrated ___________. - Answers insight learning
Scientists like Tolman and Kohler conducted important studies to help determine the role of
________ in learning. - Answers cognition
Rats that have never received any reinforcement for finding the end of a maze are presented with
food the next time they complete the maze. According to the theory of latent learning, the next time
the rats enter the maze, their performance will be _____________________. - Answers as fast as rats
who have always received reinforcement
What is it called when learning has taken place but has not yet been demonstrated? - Answers Latent
learning
Sal's dog loves to go on a walk and starts spinning in circles and wagging his tail in excitement when
his lead is clipped onto his collar. Eventually Sal begins to notice that his dog starts to act excited
when he puts on his tennis shoes before a walk. His dog's behavior of spinning in circles and wagging
his tail when Sal puts on his tennis shoes is a _________________. - Answers conditioned response
In a conditioning experiment, a sound is paired with a brief puff of air to the eye of a rabbit. After
several pairings, the rabbit ultimately blinks its eye when it hears the sound. Which of the following is
true? - Answers The puff of air serves as the unconditioned stimulus.
John Watson offered a live, white rat to Little Albert and then made a loud noise behind Albert's head
by striking a steel bar with a hammer. Eventually, the white rat alone made Albert cry. The white rat
served as the ________ stimulus in this study. - Answers conditioned
Watson's experiment with Little Albert demonstrated that fears might be _________________. -
Answers based on classical conditioning
In Pavlov's studies, he was able to condition dogs to salivate in response to specific tones while not
salivating to other similar tones. This is called ________________. - Answers stimulus discrimination
After Little Albert acquired a conditioned fear of rats, Watson wanted to see how he would react to a
white rabbit, cotton wool, and a Santa Claus mask. He was studying whether or not
_________________________ had occurred. - Answers stimulus generalization
You decide to condition your dog to salivate to the sound of a metronome. You give the dog a biscuit,
and then a second later you sound the metronome. You do this several times, but no conditioning
seems to occur. This is probably because __________________________. - Answers the metronome
should have been sounded before the dog ate the biscuit
_____ classical conditioning, operant conditioning requires the organism to voluntarily produce the
_________. - Answers unlike; response
Reflexive learning is related to ___________, while learning related to voluntary behaviors is known
as ____________. - Answers classical conditioning; operant conditioning
Of the following, ________ would serve as a primary reinforcer for most people. - Answers food
Bill hates to clean up after dinner. One night, he volunteers to bathe the dog before cleaning up.
When he finishes with the dog and returns to the kitchen, his wife has cleaned everything up for him.
Which of the following statements is most likely true? - Answers Bill's wife has negatively reinforced
him for bathing the dog
Dr. Sardis provides his students with extra credit points every time they speak in class to encourage
class participation. Dr. Sardis is using _______________. - Answers positive reinforcement
When a stimulus is removed from a person or animal resulting in a decrease in the probability of
response, it is known as ______________. - Answers negative punishment
A reinforcer is a consequence that ________ a behavior, while a punisher is a consequence that
________ a behavior. - Answers strengthens; weakens
