30 multiple-choice (MCQ / objective) questions from this chapter, in the common exam-style shapes. Every question comes with an explanation along with the answer, so you remember why the option is correct, not just which one it is.
1 Direct Questions
Direct Questions
- 1 markWhich one of these changes in behaviour would the chapter count as learning?
(A) Feeling too sleepy to keep driving after a long journey(B) A child handling a matchbox carefully after once burning her fingers on a matchstick(C) A change in behaviour while a person is under sedatives(D) Orienting reflexes to a loud noise fading away as the noise continues - 1 markRiya is disturbed by loud music from a wedding next door, but after some time she no longer even notices it. What is this change called?
(A) Insight(B) Spontaneous recovery(C) Extinction(D) Habituation - 1 markIn Pavlov’s experiment on dogs, what role did the meat powder play before conditioning?
(A) Unconditioned stimulus(B) Conditioned stimulus(C) Conditioned response(D) Unconditioned response - 1 markWhich time arrangement of CS and US is described as the most effective way of acquiring a conditioned response?
(A) Simultaneous conditioning(B) Trace conditioning(C) Delayed conditioning(D) Backward conditioning - 1 markA small child is frightened when a balloon bursts with a loud bang in his hands. Now he cries whenever someone hands him a balloon. In this case the balloon is the:
(A) unconditioned stimulus(B) unconditioned response(C) conditioned stimulus(D) conditioned response - 1 markHow quickly is aversive classical conditioning established, according to the chapter?
(A) In one, two or three trials, depending on the intensity of the aversive US(B) Only after many more trials than appetitive conditioning needs(C) Never, because aversive stimuli block learning(D) Only when the US comes before the CS - 1 markAman always fastens his seat belt so that the traffic police do not fine him. Which principle is at work here?
(A) Positive reinforcement(B) Punishment(C) Primary reinforcement(D) Negative reinforcement - 1 markAccording to the chapter, money, praise and grades work as which kind of reinforcers?
(A) Primary reinforcers(B) Secondary reinforcers(C) Unconditioned stimuli(D) Aversive stimuli - 1 markWhich researchers first demonstrated learned helplessness in a study on dogs?
(A) Seligman and Maier(B) Bandura and his colleagues(C) Kohler(D) Tolman - 1 markMeera stares at a tricky puzzle for a while without any progress, then suddenly sees the answer, and the next day she solves a similar puzzle at once. Which learning is this?
(A) Latent learning(B) Serial learning(C) Insight learning(D) Incidental learning - 1 markIn Tolman’s study, what had the unrewarded rats developed while exploring the maze?
(A) An insight into using tools(B) A conditioned salivary reflex(C) A performance plateau(D) A cognitive map of the maze - 1 markA student learns a list of Hindi words paired with their French equivalents; the score is the number of trials taken until all responses are given without error. Which method is this?
(A) Free recall(B) Serial learning(C) Category clustering(D) Paired-associates learning - 1 markKaran can now drive his car smoothly while chatting, with little conscious effort and little disturbance from outside noise. Which phase of skill learning has he reached?
(A) Cognitive phase(B) Autonomous phase(C) Associative phase(D) Performance plateau - 1 markA young schoolchild keeps confusing b with d and was with saw, and cannot copy words correctly. Which learning disability does this show?
(A) Dyslexia(B) Hyperactivity(C) Poor space orientation(D) Poor manual dexterity
2 Assertion-Reason
Assertion-Reason
- 1 markAssertion (A): Responses learned under partial reinforcement are more resistant to extinction.
Reason (R): In classical conditioning, the experimenter controls the occurrence of the US.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A(B) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A(C) A is true, but R is false(D) A is false, but R is true - 1 markAssertion (A): Negative reinforcement increases the probability of avoidance or escape responses.
Reason (R): Negative reinforcement is a kind of punishment that suppresses responses.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A(B) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A(C) A is true, but R is false(D) A is false, but R is true - 1 markAssertion (A): In Bandura’s study, children who saw the model rewarded for aggression were the most aggressive.
Reason (R): In observational learning, performance is influenced by whether the model’s behaviour is rewarded or punished.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A(B) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A(C) A is true, but R is false(D) A is false, but R is true - 1 markAssertion (A): Generalisation shows that the organism has succeeded in discriminating between stimuli.
Reason (R): Generalisation is due to similarity, while discrimination is a response due to difference.
(A) Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A(B) Both A and R are true, but R is not the correct explanation of A(C) A is true, but R is false(D) A is false, but R is true
3 Match the Following
Match the Following
- 1 markMatch each psychologist in List I with the study in List II.
List I: (i) Pavlov (ii) Skinner (iii) Kohler (iv) Tolman
List II: (a) insight in chimpanzees (b) latent learning in rats in a maze (c) salivation in dogs during digestion studies (d) lever pressing by rats and pigeons in a box
(A) i-a, ii-b, iii-c, iv-d(B) i-d, ii-c, iii-b, iv-a(C) i-c, ii-d, iii-a, iv-b(D) i-c, ii-a, iii-d, iv-b - 1 markMatch each process in List I with its example in List II.
List I: (i) Generalisation (ii) Discrimination (iii) Extinction (iv) Spontaneous recovery
List II: (a) an extinguished response returns after a rest (b) a dog conditioned to a bell salivates to a ringing telephone (c) a child afraid of a moustached man in black shows no fear of a clean-shaven man in grey (d) a rat stops pressing the lever when no more pellets come
(A) i-b, ii-d, iii-c, iv-a(B) i-b, ii-c, iii-d, iv-a(C) i-a, ii-c, iii-d, iv-b(D) i-c, ii-b, iii-a, iv-d
4 Statement-Based Questions
Statement-Based Questions
- 1 markConsider the following statements about verbal learning.
I. Verbal learning is found in animals as well as in human beings.
II. In free recall, words in the middle of a list are the easiest to recall.
(A) Only I is correct(B) Only II is correct(C) Both I and II are correct(D) Neither I nor II is correct - 1 markConsider the following statements about punishment.
I. Mild and delayed punishment has no effect.
II. A strong enough punishment suppresses a response permanently.
(A) Only I is correct(B) Only II is correct(C) Both I and II are correct(D) Neither I nor II is correct - 1 markConsider the following statements about learning disabilities.
I. They may be seen in children of average to superior intelligence.
II. They are not incurable; remedial teaching helps.
(A) Only I is correct(B) Only II is correct(C) Both I and II are correct(D) Neither I nor II is correct
5 Arrange in the Correct Order
Arrange in the Correct Order
- 1 markArrange these events of Pavlov’s work in the order they happened.
1. Test trial: the bell sounds but no food follows
2. The dog is harnessed and a tube is fitted in its jaw
3. The bell is followed by meat powder for several days
4. Pavlov notices dogs salivating at the sight of the empty plate
(A) 2-4-3-1(B) 4-3-2-1(C) 4-2-1-3(D) 4-2-3-1 - 1 markArrange the steps of a typical word-list learning experiment in the correct order.
1. Present the list for a fixed time
2. Give a pre-test
3. Recall the information after some time
4. New knowledge is acquired after processing
(A) 1-2-4-3(B) 2-1-4-3(C) 2-4-1-3(D) 1-4-2-3
6 Fill in the Blanks
Fill in the Blanks
- 1 markWhen performance stands still while a learner moves from one phase of skill learning to the next, it is called a ______.
(A) spontaneous recovery(B) learned helplessness(C) performance plateau(D) resistance to extinction - 1 markA fixed amount of time is needed to learn a fixed amount of material, regardless of the number of trials that time is divided into. This is the ______.
(A) total time principle(B) partial reinforcement effect(C) category clustering(D) subjective organisation
7 Odd One Out
Odd One Out
- 1 markThree of these are methods used to study verbal learning. Which one is the odd one out?
(A) Paired-associates learning(B) Shaping by successive approximations(C) Serial learning(D) Free recall
8 Passage-Based Questions
Passage-Based Questions
Passage
Ravi’s mother hides sweets in a steel jar on the top shelf of the kitchen. Whenever she goes out, Ravi searches the kitchen, finds the jar and eats a few sweets. One week she moves the sweets to a smaller glass jar kept in a different corner. Ravi still finds them. His younger sister, who has watched him do this many times, soon starts searching the shelves in the same way.
- 1 markRavi finding the sweets in the new glass jar, which differs in size, shape and place, is an example of:
(A) discrimination(B) extinction(C) spontaneous recovery(D) generalisation - 1 markThe younger sister’s behaviour is best explained by which kind of learning?
(A) Observational learning(B) Classical conditioning(C) Insight learning(D) Learned helplessness
Answer Key and Explanations
Direct Questions
- (B) Learning is a relatively permanent change produced by experience; a single burning experience makes the child careful. Fatigue, drugs and habituation give temporary changes and are not learning.
- (D) The book calls the weakening of orienting reflexes under continuous exposure to a stimulus habituation, and says it is not due to learning.
- (A) Food (meat powder) produces salivation naturally, so it is the unconditioned stimulus (US); salivation to it is the UR.
- (C) The book says delayed conditioning (CS begins before the US and ends before the US ends) is the most effective; backward conditioning very rarely works.
- (C) The balloon became a cue for the noise, so it is the conditioned stimulus (CS); the loud noise is the US and fear of the balloon is the CR.
- (A) Appetitive conditioning is slower; aversive conditioning is established in one, two or three trials depending on the intensity of the aversive US.
- (D) Wearing the seat belt avoids an unpleasant stimulus (a fine or injury), so the response is strengthened by negative reinforcement, the book’s own example.
- (B) Secondary reinforcers gain their reinforcing quality through experience with the environment; the book names money, praise and grades.
- (A) Box 5.2: Seligman and Maier paired sound with inescapable shock, after which dogs failed to escape even when they could.
- (C) Insight learning: a period of no apparent progress, then a sudden solution that can be repeated immediately and generalised to similar problems.
- (D) Tolman said the rats formed a cognitive map, a mental representation of spatial locations and directions, and showed it once reinforced (latent learning).
- (D) In paired-associates learning a stimulus term is paired with a response term (for example foreign-language equivalents), and trials to the error-free criterion are the measure.
- (B) In Fitts’s autonomous phase, attentional demands decrease, interference from outside factors reduces and performance becomes automatic.
- (A) The book lists these confusions (b and d, p and q, was and saw) under dyslexia.
Assertion-Reason
- (B) Both statements are true (partial reinforcement effect; Box 5.1 point 3), but R is about who controls the US and does not explain A.
- (C) A is true. R is false: the book stresses that negative reinforcement is not punishment; punishment reduces a response, a negative reinforcer increases it.
- (A) Both are true and R explains A: observers acquire knowledge by watching, but whether they perform it depends on the model being rewarded or punished.
- (D) A is false: the book says the occurrence of generalisation means failure of discrimination. R is true as stated in the chapter.
Match the Following
- (C) Pavlov: dogs, digestion (c); Skinner: Skinner Box with rats and pigeons (d); Kohler: chimpanzees, insight (a); Tolman: rats, maze, latent learning (b).
- (B) Generalisation = similar response to a similar stimulus (b); discrimination = response due to difference (c); extinction = response disappears without reinforcement (d); spontaneous recovery = return after time lapse (a).
Statement-Based Questions
- (D) Statement I is false: verbal learning is limited to human beings. Statement II is false: items at the beginning and end are easier to recall than those in the middle.
- (A) Statement I is true (book). Statement II is false: no punishment suppresses a response permanently; stronger punishment only lasts longer.
- (C) Statement I is true and statement II is true: the book says both.
Arrange in the Correct Order
- (D) The observation came first (4), then phase 1 harnessing and surgery (2), then bell-food pairings (3), then the test trial (1).
- (B) Pre-test (2), present the list (1), processing ends in new knowledge, i.e. learning (4), recall after time (3).
Fill in the Blanks
- (C) The book calls a standstill in performance between phases a performance plateau.
- (A) The book names this the total time principle.
Odd One Out
- (B) Paired-associates, serial learning and free recall are the three verbal-learning methods; shaping belongs to operant conditioning.
Passage-Based Questions
- (D) When a learned response occurs to a new but similar stimulus it is generalisation; the book uses the same sweets-jar example.
- (A) She learned by watching her brother (the model) and copying him: observational learning, also called modeling.
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