Module 4 Study Guide
Chapters 5 and 6
Learning Objective 1
Chapter 5.1, Your Senses Detect Physical Stimuli and Your Brain Processes Perception
- What is sensation? What is perception? How do sensation and perception differ? (p. 180)
- What are sensory receptors, and what role do they play in sensation? (pp. 180-181)
- Describe the process of transduction. (pp. 180-181)
- Briefly describe how an environmental stimulus becomes a perception. (pp. 180-181, Figure 5.1)
Learning Objective 2
Chapter 5.2, There Must Be a Certain Amount of Stimulus for You to Detect It
- What are sensory thresholds? What is the absolute threshold? (pp. 182-183)
- What is the difference threshold? (p. 183)
- Explain how Weber’s Law describes your ability to notice changes in a stimulus. (p. 183)
- Does sensory adaptation make you more sensitive to a stimulus, or less sensitive? (p. 184)
Learning Objective 3
Chapter 5.5, You Perceive Objects by Organizing Visual Information
- What do the principles of Gestalt psychology tell us about perceptual content? (p. 191)
- Explain the perceptual principle of figure and ground. (pp. 191-192)
- What is the basic Gestalt concept of grouping? Be able to recognize each of the Gestalt principles of grouping mentioned in the textbook. (p. 192)
- What is the sequence of bottom-up processing? (p. 192)
- What is top-down processing? How does it differ from bottom-up processing? (p. 192-193)
Learning Objective 4
Chapter 5.6, 5.8, You Perceive Depth, Objects Remain Constant
- What is depth perception, and how does binocular disparity work to create a sense of depth?(p. 194)
- How do monocular depth cues differ from binocular cues? (p. 194)
- What are the six pictorial cues that create a sense of depth? When do you use these? (pp. 194-195)
- Why do you usually perceive objects as unchanging despite changes in their sensory input? (p. 196)
- What are the four types of object constancies described in the textbook? (pp. 196-198)
- What does object constancy say about the objectivity of your perceptions? (pp. 197-198)
Learning Objective 5
Chapter 6.1, 6.2, Learning from Experience, Three Ways we Learn
- How do psychologists define learning? (p. 222)
- How did John Locke’s tabula rasa influence John Watson’s ideas of behaviorism? (pp. 222-223)
- What is the difference between associative learning and non-associative learning? (pp. 223-224)
- Compare the two forms of non-associative learning. What circumstances does each apply to? (pp. 223-224)
- What are the two forms of associative learning? (pp. 223-224)
- What are the ways that we might learn new behaviors simply by watching others? (pp. 223-224)
Learning Objective 6
Chapter 6.3, Classical Conditioning
- Who was Ivan Pavlov? (pp. 225-228)
- What becomes associated in classical conditioning? (p. 226)
- What is an unconditioned stimulus (US)? Why is a US necessary for classical conditioning? (p. 226)
- What is an unconditioned response (UR)? Is the UR learned? (p. 226)
- What is a neutral stimulus and a conditioned stimulus (CS)? (p. 226)
- What is the conditioned response (CR)? Is the CR learned? (pp. 226-228)
- What are some examples of a CS and CR that have been conditioned in your own life experiences? What might have been the US in each? (p. 228)
Learning Objective 7
Chapter 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, More on Classical Conditioning
- What is the acquisition of a learned association? (pp. 229-230)
- What is extinction, and how does it happen? Is it total? Is it permanent? (p. 230)
- What is stimulus generalization in classical conditioning? What is stimulus discrimination? Which of these must be learned? (p. 231)
- Who were John Watson and Little Albert? How did Watson demonstrate that classical conditioning can account for some of our emotional reactions? (pp. 231-232)
- Once you become conditioned to fear something, what influence might stimulus generalization have? (p. 232)
- Describe counterconditioning (a la Mary Cover Jones). What might the US be when counterconditioning for a phobia? (p. 232)
- What is conditioned taste aversion, and what evidence suggests that it is different from ordinary classical conditioning? (p. 233)
- What does it mean to be biologically prepared to acquire some (and not other) conditioned associations (according to Martin Seligman)? (p. 233)
- Explain how expectations might alter the strength of an association in classical conditioning. (p. 234)
Learning Objective 8
Chapter 6.7, 6.8, Operant Conditioning
- What is a behavior, and why are behaviors essential to operant conditioning? (p. 234)
- Who was Edward Thorndike and what was he demonstrating with his puzzle box? (p. 235-236)
- What is the basic idea in Thorndike’s law of effect? (p. 236)
- Who was B.F. Skinner, and what did he claim about behaviors and their effects? How can Skinner’s claims be seen in a “Skinner box”? (pp. 236-237)
- What is a reinforcer? How do you know if you have reinforced some behavior in someone else? (pp. 236-237)
- Why do some behaviors require shaping? What is reinforced during a shaping sequence? (pp. 237-238)
- What are some of your own behaviors that must have gone through a shaping procedure? (p. 238)
- What is the difference between primary reinforcement and secondary reinforcement? What are some examples of each? (p. 238)
- What eventually happens to a behavior that is no longer reinforced? (pp. 238-239)
Learning Objective 9
Chapter 6.9, 6.10, 6.11, More on Operant Conditioning
- What do “positive” and “negative” mean in operant conditioning? Why is “negative reinforcement” not the same as punishment? (p. 239)
- How do reinforcements differ from punishments? (p. 239)
- How does negative reinforcement work? (p. 240)
- What is the difference between positive and negative punishment? (p. 240)
- What is continuous reinforcement? Does the reward depend on the behavior? (p. 241)
- What is the difference between a fixed schedule of reinforcement and a variable schedule? (p. 241)
- How does an interval schedule differ from a ratio schedule of reinforcement? (p. 241)
- What are the features of a fixed interval schedule? (p. 242)
- What are the features of a variable ratio schedule? (pp. 242-243)
- From a trainer/teacher’s perspective, what is the advantage of the partial reinforcement extinction effect? (p. 243)
- What problems can occur from using positive punishment, especially on people? (pp. 243-244)
- What is behavior modification? (pp. 245-247)
- What is a token economy, and how is it used in connection with behavior modification? (p. 245)
Learning Objective 10
Chapter 6.12, 6.13, Biology and Cognition in Operant Conditioning; Learning by Watching Others
- What neurotransmitter is associated with the neural networks involved in processing reward? (p. 247)
- How might an animal’s biological predispositions interfere with operant training attempts? (p. 248)
- Can learning occur without reinforcement? What does the acquisition of cognitive maps have to do with this? (pp. 248-249)
- Why is the acquisition of a cognitive map a matter of “latent learning”? (p. 249)
- How does Bandura’s Bobo doll study verify that we can learn behaviors through observation? (pp. 250-251)
- How do we know that humans naturally model one-another? (p. 251)
- What is vicarious conditioning? (pp. 253-254)
- What is the difference between the acquisition of a new behavior and the performance of that behavior? What motivates performance? (pp. 253-254)