Learning is worth about 8% of the CLEP Psychology exam. Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience.
In classical conditioning an organism learns to associate two stimuli so that one triggers a response that originally belonged to the other. Pavlov's four parts:
| Term | Meaning | Pavlov's example |
|---|---|---|
| Unconditioned stimulus (UCS) | Naturally triggers a response, no learning | Food |
| Unconditioned response (UCR) | Automatic, unlearned reaction | Salivation to food |
| Conditioned stimulus (CS) | Once-neutral stimulus that now triggers a response after pairing | Tone |
| Conditioned response (CR) | Learned response to the CS | Salivation to the tone |
"Unconditioned" = unlearned; "conditioned" = learned. The UCR and CR are often the same behavior (salivation) named by their trigger.
Key processes: - Acquisition: the CR emerges and strengthens; works best when the CS comes just before the UCS. - Extinction: the CR weakens when the CS is repeatedly presented without the UCS. - Spontaneous recovery: a weakened CR reappears after a rest — proof the learning was suppressed, not erased. - Generalization: stimuli similar to the CS also trigger the CR. - Discrimination: learning to respond only to the CS and not to similar stimuli.
Watson and Rayner's "Little Albert" (1920) conditioned an infant to fear a white rat by pairing it with a loud noise; the fear generalized to other white furry objects. Complex emotions can be conditioned.
In operant conditioning, voluntary behaviors are changed by their consequences. Thorndike's law of effect: behaviors followed by satisfying consequences recur; those followed by unpleasant consequences do not. B.F. Skinner built the operant chamber to study this precisely. A reinforcer increases the behavior it follows; a punisher decreases it.
| Add a stimulus (positive) | Remove a stimulus (negative) | |
|---|---|---|
| Behavior increases (reinforcement) | Positive reinforcement: add something desirable | Negative reinforcement: remove something aversive (seatbelt beep stops) |
| Behavior decreases (punishment) | Positive punishment: add something aversive (ticket) | Negative punishment: remove something desirable (lose phone) |
"Positive" and "negative" mean add and remove, not good and bad. Negative reinforcement increases behavior by removing something unpleasant — it is not punishment.
Schedules of reinforcement:
| Schedule | Rule | Pattern |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed-ratio | After a set number of responses | High rate, brief post-reward pause |
| Variable-ratio | After an unpredictable number | Highest, steadiest rate; most resistant to extinction |
| Fixed-interval | First response after a set time | Scalloped pattern |
| Variable-interval | First response after an unpredictable time | Slow, steady rate |
Punishment suppresses behavior without teaching a replacement and can provoke fear and aggression.
Observational (social) learning is learning by watching a model, without direct reinforcement. Vicarious reinforcement (seeing a model rewarded) makes imitation more likely. In Bandura's Bobo doll study (1961), children who watched an adult attack an inflatable doll imitated those specific attacks. Bandura also showed learning (acquisition) is separable from performance.
Latent learning (Tolman) is learning that stays hidden until there is a reason to show it; his rats built a cognitive map of a maze. Insight (Köhler) is a sudden solution rather than gradual trial-and-error.
Not everything can be conditioned equally. John Garcia showed taste aversion: a single pairing of a food with later nausea produces lasting avoidance, even across a delay of hours — evidence of biological preparedness. Some associations are learned far more readily than others because they mattered for survival.
Q1 — C (unconditioned stimulus). - Correct: Food/meat powder triggers salivation automatically, with no learning — the textbook UCS. - A) The CS would be the tone. B) and E) are responses, not stimuli. D) The food is not neutral; it naturally elicits salivation. - Fix rule: Works without any training = unconditioned stimulus.
Q2 — A (conditioned response). - Correct: Salivation to the learned cue (the tone) is the CR. - B) The UCR would be salivation to food. C) A stimulus is not a response. D) The tone is no longer neutral. E) This response required learning. - Fix rule: Same drool, but triggered by the learned cue = conditioned response.
Q3 — E (conditioned response). - Correct: Fear triggered by the once-neutral sight of dogs, after pairing with the painful bite, is the learned CR. - A) The UCS is the bite. B) The sight of dogs is no longer neutral. C) The UCR is fear caused by the bite itself. D) The sight of dogs is the CS (a stimulus), but the fear it triggers is the response. - Fix rule: The learned reaction to the once-neutral cue = conditioned response.
Q4 — E (spontaneous recovery). - Correct: A weakened or extinguished CR reappearing after a rest is spontaneous recovery. - A) Reacquisition requires re-pairing with the UCS. B) Generalization involves similar stimuli. C) Discrimination is responding narrowly. D) Higher-order conditioning chains a new CS. - Fix rule: Extinguished response returns after a break = spontaneous recovery.
Q5 — E (negative reinforcement). - Correct: Removing an aversive stimulus (the beep) strengthens buckling, so behavior increases — negative reinforcement. - A) and C) are punishment, which would decrease behavior. B) Positive reinforcement adds something desirable, not removes something aversive. D) A primary reinforcer satisfies a biological need; the beep is not one. - Fix rule: Remove something aversive to increase behavior = negative reinforcement.
Q6 — A (satisfying consequences → behavior recurs). - Correct: The law of effect says satisfying consequences make a behavior more likely. - B) is observational learning. C) is classical conditioning. D) describes variable schedules. E) overstates punishment, which Thorndike's law does not claim. - Fix rule: Thorndike's law of effect = satisfying consequences make behavior recur.
Q7 — D (fixed-ratio; high rate with a brief pause). - Correct: A reward after a set number of responses (every 20 units) is fixed-ratio, producing a high rate with a short post-reward pause. - A) Variable-ratio pays after an unpredictable number. B) and C) are interval (time-based) schedules. E) Continuous rewards every response, which this does not. - Fix rule: Reward after a set NUMBER of responses = fixed-ratio.
Q8 — B (flawed; variable-ratio resists extinction longest). - Correct: Partial schedules, especially variable-ratio, resist extinction longer than continuous reinforcement because a dry spell looks normal. - A) and C) invert the partial reinforcement effect. D) is false — schedules strongly affect extinction. E) Primary reinforcers do not by themselves prevent extinction. - Fix rule: Partial (variable-ratio) schedules resist extinction longer than continuous — the partial reinforcement effect.
Q9 — C (shaping). - Correct: Reinforcing successive approximations toward the target behavior is shaping. - A) Latent learning is unrewarded learning shown later. B) Extinction weakens behavior. D) Spontaneous recovery is a classical-conditioning term. E) Generalization is responding to similar stimuli. - Fix rule: Rewarding successive approximations to build a new behavior = shaping.
Q10 — D (observational learning). - Correct: Children acquired aggression by watching a model, with no direct reinforcement of themselves — observational learning. - A) Classical conditioning pairs stimuli, not modeled actions. B) Negative reinforcement removes an aversive stimulus. C) Instinctive drift is reverting to innate behavior. E) Higher-order conditioning chains a new CS to an existing one. - Fix rule: Learning a behavior by watching a model = observational learning.
Q11 — B (latent learning revealed through a cognitive map). - Correct: Spatial knowledge acquired without reinforcement, shown only when needed, reflects latent learning and a cognitive map. - A) Shaping builds behavior through reinforced approximations. C) Classical conditioning pairs stimuli. D) Spontaneous recovery is a return of an extinguished CR. E) Vicarious reinforcement involves watching a model rewarded. - Fix rule: Learned-but-hidden spatial knowledge shown when needed = latent learning + cognitive map.
Q12 — A (flawed; taste aversion is a prepared special case). - Correct: Taste aversion is a biologically prepared form of associative learning that refines, not refutes, conditioning theory. - B) and D) overstate the case. C) Taste aversion is a classical (associative) process, not operant. E) It forms in a single trial, not many. - Fix rule: Taste aversion refines conditioning theory (biological preparedness); it does not disprove learning.
Q1 — C (unconditioned stimulus). - Correct: Food/meat powder triggers salivation automatically, with no learning — the textbook UCS. - A) The CS would be the tone. B) and E) are responses, not stimuli. D) The food is not neutral; it naturally elicits salivation. - Fix rule: Works without any training = unconditioned stimulus.
Q2 — A (conditioned response). - Correct: Salivation to the learned cue (the tone) is the CR. - B) The UCR would be salivation to food. C) A stimulus is not a response. D) The tone is no longer neutral. E) This response required learning. - Fix rule: Same drool, but triggered by the learned cue = conditioned response.
Q3 — E (conditioned response). - Correct: Fear triggered by the once-neutral sight of dogs, after pairing with the painful bite, is the learned CR. - A) The UCS is the bite. B) The sight of dogs is no longer neutral. C) The UCR is fear caused by the bite itself. D) The sight of dogs is the CS (a stimulus), but the fear it triggers is the response. - Fix rule: The learned reaction to the once-neutral cue = conditioned response.
Q4 — E (spontaneous recovery). - Correct: A weakened or extinguished CR reappearing after a rest is spontaneous recovery. - A) Reacquisition requires re-pairing with the UCS. B) Generalization involves similar stimuli. C) Discrimination is responding narrowly. D) Higher-order conditioning chains a new CS. - Fix rule: Extinguished response returns after a break = spontaneous recovery.
Q5 — E (negative reinforcement). - Correct: Removing an aversive stimulus (the beep) strengthens buckling, so behavior increases — negative reinforcement. - A) and C) are punishment, which would decrease behavior. B) Positive reinforcement adds something desirable, not removes something aversive. D) A primary reinforcer satisfies a biological need; the beep is not one. - Fix rule: Remove something aversive to increase behavior = negative reinforcement.
Q6 — A (satisfying consequences → behavior recurs). - Correct: The law of effect says satisfying consequences make a behavior more likely. - B) is observational learning. C) is classical conditioning. D) describes variable schedules. E) overstates punishment, which Thorndike's law does not claim. - Fix rule: Thorndike's law of effect = satisfying consequences make behavior recur.
Q7 — D (fixed-ratio; high rate with a brief pause). - Correct: A reward after a set number of responses (every 20 units) is fixed-ratio, producing a high rate with a short post-reward pause. - A) Variable-ratio pays after an unpredictable number. B) and C) are interval (time-based) schedules. E) Continuous rewards every response, which this does not. - Fix rule: Reward after a set NUMBER of responses = fixed-ratio.
Q8 — B (flawed; variable-ratio resists extinction longest). - Correct: Partial schedules, especially variable-ratio, resist extinction longer than continuous reinforcement because a dry spell looks normal. - A) and C) invert the partial reinforcement effect. D) is false — schedules strongly affect extinction. E) Primary reinforcers do not by themselves prevent extinction. - Fix rule: Partial (variable-ratio) schedules resist extinction longer than continuous — the partial reinforcement effect.
Q9 — C (shaping). - Correct: Reinforcing successive approximations toward the target behavior is shaping. - A) Latent learning is unrewarded learning shown later. B) Extinction weakens behavior. D) Spontaneous recovery is a classical-conditioning term. E) Generalization is responding to similar stimuli. - Fix rule: Rewarding successive approximations to build a new behavior = shaping.
Q10 — D (observational learning). - Correct: Children acquired aggression by watching a model, with no direct reinforcement of themselves — observational learning. - A) Classical conditioning pairs stimuli, not modeled actions. B) Negative reinforcement removes an aversive stimulus. C) Instinctive drift is reverting to innate behavior. E) Higher-order conditioning chains a new CS to an existing one. - Fix rule: Learning a behavior by watching a model = observational learning.
Q11 — B (latent learning revealed through a cognitive map). - Correct: Spatial knowledge acquired without reinforcement, shown only when needed, reflects latent learning and a cognitive map. - A) Shaping builds behavior through reinforced approximations. C) Classical conditioning pairs stimuli. D) Spontaneous recovery is a return of an extinguished CR. E) Vicarious reinforcement involves watching a model rewarded. - Fix rule: Learned-but-hidden spatial knowledge shown when needed = latent learning + cognitive map.
Q12 — A (flawed; taste aversion is a prepared special case). - Correct: Taste aversion is a biologically prepared form of associative learning that refines, not refutes, conditioning theory. - B) and D) overstate the case. C) Taste aversion is a classical (associative) process, not operant. E) It forms in a single trial, not many. - Fix rule: Taste aversion refines conditioning theory (biological preparedness); it does not disprove learning.