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JOGER ! WILLIS !

Unit 3: Motivation and Learning

Learning Objective 1 (pp. 93-94): Motivation; Sources of Motivation

1. What is motivation?
2. What are motives? What does it mean to think of motivation, or a motive, as an intervening
variable?
3. Describe four main sources of motivation. Can you provide an example of each?

Learning Objective 2 (pp. 94-96): The Instinct Doctrine and its Descendants; The Instinct
Doctrine and Mate Selection
1. What is the instinct doctrine of motivation? Does it focus on internal or external factors?
2. How is the instinct doctrine related to the evolutionary perspective on psychology?
3. How might evolution account for similarities and differences between the sexes in mate
selection?
4. What is the scientific support for the evolutionary explanation of the motivation to mate?
5. How can culture explain sex-related preferences in mate selection?

Learning Objective 3 (p. 97): Drive Reduction Theory

1. What is drive reduction theory?
2. What is homeostasis, and how does it relate to the idea of drive-reduction? Does it focus
on internal or external factors?
3. What is the difference between primary and secondary drives? Give an example of each.

Learning Objective 4 (pp. 97-99): Arousal Theory; Incentive Theory

1. What is physiological arousal? Describe activities that increase physiological arousal.
2. What is arousal theory?
3. What is an optimal level of arousal, and what might people do when their optimal level of
arousal hasn’t been met?
4. What is incentive theory? Does it focus on internal or external factors?
5. What is an incentive? How do physiological, cognitive, and cultural factors influence
incentives?
6. What is the difference between wanting and liking?

Learning Objective 5 (pp. 100-101): Learning; Learning About Stimuli

1. What is learning? What are the primary ways humans and other animals learn?
2. What is habituation? What situations lead to habituation?
3. What is dishabituation? What situations lead to dishabituation?
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Learning Objective 6 (pp. 102-103): Classical Conditioning: Learning Signals and

Associations; Pavlov’s Discovery
1. In Pavlov’s initial studies on associations in learning, what were the stimuli that were paired
to create an association in the dog?
2. What is classical conditioning? What are reflexes and how are they incorporated in classical
conditioning?
3. What is an unconditioned stimulus? Why is it called “unconditioned”?
4. What is a conditioned stimulus? Why is it called “conditioned”?
5. How does the conditioned stimulus come to be associated with an unconditioned stimulus
in classical conditioning?
6. What is the difference between a conditioned response and an unconditioned response?

Learning Objective 7 (pp. 103-104): Conditioned Responses over Time: Extinction and
Spontaneous Recovery; Stimulus Generalization and Discrimination
1. What is extinction? In classical conditioning, what leads to extinction?
2. What is reconditioning? How does it show that an extinguished response is not really gone?
3. What is spontaneous recovery? What conditions lead to spontaneous recovery? How does
it show that an extinguished response is not really gone?
4. What is stimulus generalization? What influences the strength of a generalized response?
5. What is stimulus discrimination? Give an example.

Learning Objective 8 (pp. 105-107): The Signaling of Significant Events; Timing;

Predictability; Signal Strength; Attention; Biopreparedness
1. Why is “signaling” an appropriate description of the learned relationship between the CS
and the UCS? What is being signaled?
2. How does the timing of stimuli affect learning in classical conditioning?
3. How does the predictability of stimuli affect learning in classical conditioning?
4. How does the strength of a UCS influence conditioning? How does the strength of the CS
influence conditioning? What do we mean by “strength of the CS”?
5. How does attention affect learning in classical conditioning?
6. How does biopreparedness affect learning in classical conditioning? How does conditioned
taste aversion demonstrate biopreparedness?

Learning Objective 9 (pp. 107-108): Some Applications of Classical Conditioning; Phobias;

Predator Control; Detecting Explosives
1. How might a phobia have been produced through classical conditioning? What would have
been the CS? What would have been the UCS?
2. How can classical conditioning be used to treat phobias? What is this process called?
What would typically serve as a UCS during treatment of a phobia?
3. How can classical conditioning be used to protect sheep from predators? What is the UCS?
4. How can classical conditioning be used to detect explosives? What is the CS?
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Learning Objective 10 (pp. 108-110): Operant Conditioning: Learning the Consequences of

Behavior; From the Puzzle Box to the Skinner Box; Basic Components of Operant
Conditioning; Operants and Reinforcers
1. What role do the consequences of an action play in operant conditioning? How does this
differ from classical conditioning?
2. What is the law of effect?
3. What is operant conditioning?
4. What is an operant behavior? How is it different from a conditioned response? Why is the
term "operant" applied to this behavior?
5. What kind of a consequence is a reinforcer? What does a reinforcer do to the likelihood of
the behavior in the future?
6. What is a positive reinforcer? Give an example.
7. What is a negative reinforcer? Give an example.
8. How would a negative reinforcer be applied following a behavior? (Careful: What has to be
going on in order to apply a negative reinforcer after a behavior occurs?) What happens to
the likelihood of the behavior after this experience?

Learning Objective 11 (pp. 110-111): Forming and Strengthening Operant Behavior;

Secondary Reinforcement; Delay and Size of Reinforcement
1. What is a primary reinforcer? Give an example.
2. What is a secondary reinforcer? How can something become a secondary reinforcer?
3. How does timing of reinforcement influence its effectiveness?
4. How does the size of reinforcement influence its effectiveness?

Learning Objective 12 (pp. 111-112): Negative Reinforcement: Escape & Avoidance

1. What is escape conditioning? Give an example.
2. Why is the behavior of escaping from something a case of negative reinforcement?
3. What is avoidance conditioning? Give an example.
4. What distinguishes avoidance conditioning from escape conditioning?
5. How does avoidance conditioning blend classical and operant conditioning?
6. How does the idea of signaling from classical conditioning apply to avoidance learning?

Learning Objective 13 (pp. 112-114): Punishment

1. What is punishment? What are the two main kinds of punishment?
2. How is punishment different from negative reinforcement?
3. Does punishment actually get rid of behaviors?
4. What are the six negative side effects of using punishment listed in the text?
5. How can punishment be used effectively on children? What are some of the guidelines that
help increase the effectiveness of punishment on children?
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Learning Objective 14 (pp. 114-116): Discriminative Stimuli and Stimulus Control; Shaping
1. What is a discriminative stimulus? What does the discriminative stimulus signal?
2. What broadenings of behavior come from the natural tendency of stimulus generalization?
3. What is shaping? What are successive approximations? How is shaping used to train
complex behaviors?

Learning Objective 15 (pp. 116-119): Schedules of Reinforcement; Schedules and Extinction

1. What is continuous reinforcement? What is partial reinforcement?
2. What is a fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement? Give an example.
3. What is a variable ratio schedule of reinforcement? Give an example.
4. What is a fixed interval schedule of reinforcement? Give an example.
5. What is a variable interval schedule of reinforcement? Give an example.
6. Which reinforcement schedules produce the highest response rates? Why?
7. What is extinction in operant conditioning? How is the rate of extinction related to
reinforcement schedules?
8. What is the partial reinforcement effect? Why does it occur?

Learning Objective 16 (p. 120): Cognitive Processes in Learning; Learned Helplessness

1. What does it mean to be able to detect causality?
2. How do expectations of the consequences of our actions affect learning?
3. How might our interpretations – the meaning we attach to events – influence the
effectiveness of consequences?
4. What is learned helplessness? What is an example of learned helplessness?

Learning Objective 17 (pp. 120-123): Latent Learning and Cognitive Maps; Insight and
Learning
1. What is latent learning? How did the original research with rats show latent learning?
2. What is mentally represented in a cognitive map?
3. Do we need to be reinforced to learn a cognitive map of a place we explore?
4. What is insight? How does sudden insight relate to mental trial and error?

Learning Objective 18 (pp. 123-124): Observational Learning: Learning by Imitation

1. What is observational learning?
2. What role do mirror neurons play in observational learning?
3. What is a vicarious experience of a behavior’s consequence? Can you think of examples?
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Learning Objective 19 (pp. 125-127): Thinking Critically: Does Watching Violence on

Television Make People More Violent?
1. What are three mechanisms whereby watching violent TV might make people more
aggressive?
2. What research evidence supports the view that watching violent TV makes people more
aggressive?
3. What are the arguments against an effect of TV violence on aggression?
4. What is the overall conclusion about the relationship between TV violence and aggression?
5. Which children are especially thought to be influenced by televised violence?

Learning Objective 20 (pp. 127-129): Using Research on Learning to Help People Learn;
Classrooms Across Cultures; Skill Learning
1. What are some factors that may lead to stronger mathematics skills in Asian children,
compared with American children?
2. What are some ways that principles of operant conditioning can be applied to classroom
settings to improve student performance?
3. How is practice related to skill learning? What kinds of practice lead to skill learning, and
how much practice is needed?
4. How are feedback and independent efforts related in skill learning?