All AP Psychology Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #14 : Operant Conditioning
A group of researchers is interested in observing mice ring a bell. As a positive reinforcement, they offer cheese. If the mice fail to do so, they provide a small electrical shock. After some time, they change their reinforcement schedule. From reinforcing every desired behavior, they only reinforce behavior after an unpredictable amount of time has elapsed. What reinforcement schedule have they most likely chosen?
Variable-interval schedule
Continuous-interval schedule
Fixed-ratio schedule
Fixed-interval schedule
Variable-ratio schedule
Variable-interval schedule
Reinforcement schedules are patterns that define how often reinforcement will occur for a desired behavior.
For a variable-interval schedule in operant conditioning, the desired behavior is reinforced after what seems to be unpredictable amount of time. This resembles receiving a rewarding text message after persistently checking one's phone. There's no way of being able to determine how long the waiting period will be between texts. A simple way to remember the difference between ratio and interval schedules is to keep in mind ratio refers to number of responses while interval refers to time. These terms are modified by the schedule being specified as variable (varying) or fixed (specified).
Example Question #664 : Ap Psychology
Which of the following best explains how operant conditioning differs from classical conditioning?
Operant conditioning focuses on conditioning reflexive behaviors, unlike classical conditioning
Classical conditioning focuses on conditioning around the environment and consequences, unlike operant conditioning
Operant conditioning is complex in that it employs negative and positive conditioning whereas classical focuses on one or the other
Classical conditioning operates with a stimulus unlike operant conditioning
Classical conditioning is complex in that it employs negative and positive conditioning whereas operant focuses on one or the other
Operant conditioning is complex in that it employs negative and positive conditioning whereas classical focuses on one or the other
Classical conditioning was illustrated by Pavlov's dog experiment. Pavlov observed canine reflexively as they salivated at the site of food. He used an initial neutral stimulus and was able to condition the dogs to associate the once neutral (now conditioned) stimulus with the site of food. Ultimately the dogs would no longer require the actual site of food to salivate because the conditioned stimulus sufficed to induce the response. Conversely, operant conditioning was illustrated in Skinner and Thorndike's law of effect, where behaviors that were rewarded were more likely to be repeated than those that had negative consequences.
Example Question #82 : Learning
A rat is presented with positive reinforcement for pressing a lever. It is provided a food reward at varying times (e.g. one, two, and three minutes) after a specific lever is depressed. This is an example of which of the following types of conditioning?
Fixed-interval schedule operant conditioning
Variable-interval schedule classical conditioning
Variable-ratio schedule operant conditioning
Fixed-interval schedule classical conditioning
Variable-interval schedule operant conditioning
Variable-interval schedule operant conditioning
This is operant conditioning because behaviors are controlled through reinforcement. In this case, a reward, or positive reinforcement, is being presented. This is a variable-interval schedule because reinforcement is presented after varying intervals of time.
Example Question #672 : Ap Psychology
Scott wants his girlfriend, Victoria, to stop swearing. In order to gradually accomplish this, Scott decides that he will pinch Victoria on the arm every time she swears. What kind of operant conditioning technique is Scott slyly employing to curb Victoria's verbal habits?
Positive reinforcement
Positive punishment
Negative reinforcement
None of these
Negative punishment
Positive punishment
Scott decides to pinch Victoria every time she utters a swear word. In other words, Scott is administering an aversive stimulus (the painful pinching) in order to decrease the frequency of Victoria's swearing (an unwanted behavior in Scott's opinion). This is an example of positive punishment.
Example Question #81 : Learning
A parent rewards their young child with a compliment whenever they correctly pluralize a word by adding "s" to the end of the word. The child begins to pluralize words like "fish" and "man" by adding "s" to the end, and is upset when this does not result in a compliment. What failure of learning is the child demonstrating?
Generalization error
Modeling error
Specificity error
Syntax error
Transference error
Generalization error
Generalization errors occur when a particular reinforced or conditioned behavior leads to a reaction to stimulus (or an attempt at behavior, for operant conditioning) that is superficially close to, but not actually, the desired condition. Examples of this are children overgeneralizing the rules of grammar, dogs learning to bark at (or be friendly to) everyone they meet rather than just the targeted individuals, and a person with a food aversion feeling sick when something smells vaguely like the food they had the reaction to.
Example Question #84 : Learning
Which of the following is an example of negative reinforcement?
A person who listens to music at a high volume over many years begins to go deaf.
A rat which successfully runs a maze is given a saucer of milk.
A child who improves their grade in math to an A is exempted from having to wash the dishes after dinner for a month.
A police officer gives a ticket to a driver who is speeding, reducing their available money.
A teacher awards extra credit to anyone who attends every lecture in a semester without being tardy.
A child who improves their grade in math to an A is exempted from having to wash the dishes after dinner for a month.
Negative reinforcement occurs when a behavior is reinforced via the subtraction of something negative or undesirable from the organism's environment. This could mean the removal of pain or unpleasant labor, a reduction in stress, or an end to some ongoing negative experience. Note that, since the effect of this is to increase the likelihood of the behavior, rather than to decrease it, this is not the same as punishment.
Example Question #21 : Operant Conditioning
Which psychologist is considered to be the father of operant conditioning?
John Watson
Edward Thorndike
Freud
B.F. Skinner
Ivan Pavlov
B.F. Skinner
B.F. Skinner based his research off of Thorndike's law of effect and is considered to be the father/founder of operant conditioning (the type of learning in which the effects of an action determine whether it will be repeated in the future). He is most famous for Skinner's box-- a box in which he placed animals to conduct operant conditioning experiments.
Ivan Pavlov is one of the earliest psychologists known for classical conditioning and is particularly famous for his experiments in which he got dogs to associate food with sounds, leading them to salivate when there was a bell even when there was not food present.
John Watson was a classical conditioning psychologist who is most famous for his "Little Albert" experiment in which he trained a young boy to be afraid of a rat (or anything like looked like a white rat) because he made an unpleasant noise while presenting the rat. This research indicated that humans too could be classically conditioned.
Edward Thorndike came up with the law of effect, which states that positive consequences increase the likelihood that an action will be repeated and negative consequences decrease the likelihood that it will.
Sigmund Freud is not a psychologist associated with conditioning at all. Instead, he came up with psychodynamic theories that explained people's actions in terms of conflicts in their unconscious.
Example Question #82 : Learning
Which psychologist based his research off of Edward Thorndike's Law of Effect?
Carl Rogers
John Watson
Sigmund Freud
B.F. Skinner
Ivan Pavlov
B.F. Skinner
B.F. Skinner based his research off of Thorndike's law of effect and is considered to be the founder of operant conditioning (the type of learning in which the effects of an action determine whether it will be repeated in the future). He is most famous for Skinner's box-- a box in which he placed animals to conduct operant conditioning experiments.
Edward Thorndike came up with the law of effect, which states that positive consequences increase the likelihood that an action will be repeated and negative consequences decrease the likelihood that it will.
Ivan Pavlov is one of the earliest psychologists known for classical conditioning and is particularly famous for his experiments in which he got dogs to associate food with sounds, leading them to salivate when there was a bell even when there was not food present.
John Watson was a classical conditioning psychologist who is most famous for his "Little Albert" experiment in which he trained a young boy to be afraid of a rat (or anything like looked like a white rat) because he made an unpleasant noise while presenting the rat. This research indicated that humans too could be classically conditioned.
Sigmund Freud is not a psychologist associated with conditioning at all. Instead, he came up with psychodynamic theories that explained people's actions in terms of conflicts in their unconscious.
Carl Rogers is also not a psychologist associated with conditioning. He developed a person-centered method of therapy.
Example Question #22 : Operant Conditioning
Which psychologist is most famous for his Law of Effect?
Ivan Pavlov
Freud
B.F. Skinner
John Watson
Edward Thorndike
Edward Thorndike
Edward Thorndike came up with the law of effect, which states that positive consequences increase the likelihood that an action will be repeated and negative consequences decrease the likelihood that it will.
Ivan Pavlov is one of the earliest psychologists known for classical conditioning and is particularly famous for his experiments in which he got dogs to associate food with sounds, leading them to salivate when there was a bell even when there was not food present.
John Watson was a classical conditioning psychologist who is most famous for his "Little Albert" experiment in which he trained a young boy to be afraid of a rat (or anything like looked like a white rat) because he made an unpleasant noise while presenting the rat. This research indicated that humans too could be classically conditioned.
B.F. Skinner based his research off of Thorndike's law of effect and is considered to be the founder of operant conditioning (the type of learning in which the effects of an action determine whether it will be repeated in the future). He is most famous for Skinner's box-- a box in which he placed animals to conduct operant conditioning experiments.
Sigmund Freud is not a psychologist associated with conditioning at all. Instead, he came up with psychodynamic theories that explained people's actions in terms of conflicts in their unconscious.
Example Question #85 : Learning
With which type of conditioning is Skinner's box associated?
Punishment Conditioning
Negative Conditioning
Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Positive Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
B.F. Skinner is considered to be the founder of operant conditioning (the type of learning in which the effects of an action determine whether it will be repeated in the future). He is most famous for Skinner's box-- a box in which he placed animals to conduct operant conditioning experiments.
Classical conditioning can be thought of as learning through association and operant conditioning as learning through effect. Positive, negative, and punishment conditioning as methods do not exist.