4.2.1.1 Learning approaches: behaviourism and classical conditioning Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 2

The 20 questions

1. Which assumption is central to the behaviourist approach?

   • Behaviour is determined by genes present at birth only
   • Behaviour is driven by unconscious conflicts in childhood
   • Behaviour is caused by internal mental processes that cannot be observed
   • Behaviour is learned from the environment and can be studied through observable actions

2. In Pavlov's research, what was the unconditioned stimulus?

   • Food, which produces salivation without any learning
   • The experimenter, who fed the dogs
   • The salivation, which was the learned response
   • The bell, which was a neutral stimulus before conditioning

3. In Pavlov's research, what was the conditioned stimulus?

   • The bell, which was paired with food until it produced salivation alone
   • The salivation, which was the learned response that the dogs produced after repeated training with the bell
   • The food, which produced salivation without any learning, since it is a natural stimulus for the dog to respond to
   • The laboratory, which provided the controlled setting in which the dogs were trained and tested over several weeks

4. In Pavlov's research, what was the conditioned response?

   • Salivation to the bell alone, after conditioning
   • Salivation to the food, which occurred before any learning
   • Lack of response to the bell before conditioning
   • Movement of the dog towards the experimenter

5. What is the unconditioned response in Pavlov's research?

   • Salivation to the bell after training
   • The sound of the bell before any training
   • Leaving the room after the bell rings
   • Salivation to food, which occurs naturally

6. Which behaviourist principle is shown by a dog salivating to a bell alone after repeated pairing with food?

   • Imprinting, where a young animal follows the first moving object it sees during a short critical window after hatching
   • Operant conditioning, where behaviour is shaped by its consequences through reinforcement and punishment over time
   • Classical conditioning, where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a natural reflex
   • Social learning, where behaviour is copied from a model that is observed being rewarded or punished in the situation

7. Which statement about classical conditioning is accurate?

   • A reflex can only be produced by the person's own thoughts
   • Behaviour is copied from a model without any pairing
   • A learned response is produced by rewards and punishments after the behaviour
   • A neutral stimulus is paired with an unconditioned stimulus until it produces a learned response

8. Which key assumption of the behaviourist approach is shown by Pavlov's research?

   • Behaviour can be studied objectively, and learned responses can be measured without reference to the mind
   • Behaviour can only be understood by studying the unconscious mind, through dreams, slips of the tongue and childhood conflicts
   • Behaviour is best studied through case studies of individuals, because each person's unique history must be examined in depth
   • Behaviour is determined by genetic inheritance alone, so learning and experience have no real effect on what people do

9. A child becomes anxious at the sound of a dentist's drill after a painful dental treatment. Which explanation from classical conditioning best fits this response?

   • The child has learned to avoid dentists through rewards, since the dentist gives sweets after each painful treatment
   • The drill became a conditioned stimulus paired with pain, producing a conditioned fear response
   • The child has inherited a fear of drills from their parents, who passed on the same anxious response through their genes
   • The child is imprinting on the drill sound, which was the first loud noise they heard during the early years of life

10. In a classical conditioning study, a neutral tone is presented just before a puff of air, causing a blink. After training, the tone alone causes a blink. Which is the conditioned stimulus?

    • The blink to the air puff
    • The experimenter
    • The puff of air
    • The tone

11. Which feature of Pavlov's procedure was needed for the dogs to learn the association between the bell and food?

    • The bell was presented repeatedly just before food
    • The bell was presented only after the dogs had eaten
    • The bell was never paired with food
    • The bell was presented only once, with no food

12. Why is Pavlov's research described as supporting behaviourism rather than cognitive explanations?

    • It explains learning through the dog's conscious decisions about food, since the dog chooses to respond to the bell each time
    • It explains learning through the internal schemas of the dog, which organise its knowledge of food and the laboratory setting
    • It explains learning through the dog's genes alone, which determine how the dog responds to bells and to the food on offer
    • It explains learning through observable stimuli and responses without needing to refer to internal mental processes

13. Which evaluation point applies to explanations of learning based on classical conditioning?

    • Much of the evidence is from animal studies, so applying it to human behaviour requires caution
    • The evidence is entirely from studies of human infants in natural settings, so the findings apply directly to all people
    • Classical conditioning has been shown to explain all human behaviour, from fears and habits to language and social skills
    • Classical conditioning has been rejected by all researchers, who now agree that learning by pairing plays no real role

14. Which evaluation point applies to the behaviourist approach as a whole?

    • It fully accounts for every thought people have, since every internal experience can be explained by stimulus and response
    • It is based on the study of the unconscious mind only, using methods such as dream analysis and free association
    • It has no link with observable behaviour, because the approach is concerned only with thoughts that cannot be seen
    • It ignores the influence of cognitive processes, such as thinking and memory, on behaviour

15. Which of the following best describes the link between classical conditioning and Little Albert's fear of a white rat?

    • The rat was a reward that Albert learned to approach through positive reinforcement
    • A neutral rat was paired with a loud noise, and the rat then produced fear on its own
    • Albert imitated a model's fear of rats
    • Albert was imprinted on the rat during a critical period

16. A researcher wants to test whether a conditioned response can be produced in humans without the original reflex. Which design would best do this?

    • Observe participants in a naturalistic setting with no pairing, and record how often they show the response in daily life
    • Measure participants' genes and compare them with their responses, to see whether inherited differences predict the response
    • Ask participants to describe their memories of childhood, and then compare the vividness of those memories across the sample
    • Pair a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that produces a reflex, then test whether the neutral stimulus alone produces the response

17. Which statement best describes the unconditioned stimulus in classical conditioning?

    • It is a learned response that happens only after training
    • It is a reward that increases the frequency of a behaviour
    • It produces an unconditioned response without any prior learning
    • It is a neutral stimulus that produces no response at all

18. A person feels nervous every time they hear a particular ringtone because it was played just before bad news. Which concept best explains this?

    • Social learning from a model who was nervous
    • Classical conditioning, with the ringtone as a conditioned stimulus
    • Operant conditioning, with the ringtone as a reinforcer
    • Imprinting during a critical period

19. A psychologist claims that behaviour can be explained without reference to thoughts. Which study would best support this claim?

    • The cognitive interview study, which relied on witness reports of a staged crime and their recall of key details afterwards
    • Pavlov's study, in which a conditioned response was produced by pairing stimuli and measuring salivation
    • Ainsworth's study of the Strange Situation, which relied on infant interviews and detailed reports from the infants' parents
    • A survey of people's beliefs about memory, which asked participants to rate how well they think their own memory works

20. Which statement about the behaviourist view of learning is most accurate?

    • Learning is entirely determined by inborn internal processes with no role for experience
    • Learning only occurs through conscious decisions about rewards
    • Learning is the result of experience with the environment, rather than of inborn internal processes alone
    • Learning is fixed at birth and cannot be changed by experience

Related quizzes

• Operant conditioning and social learning theory Quiz · 4.2.1.2 · 20 questions
• The cognitive approach Quiz · 4.2.1.3 · 20 questions
• The biological approach Quiz · 4.2.1.4 · 20 questions
• The psychodynamic approach Quiz · 4.2.1.5 · 20 questions
• Humanistic psychology Quiz · 4.2.1.6 · 20 questions
• Comparison of approaches Quiz · 4.2.1.7 · 20 questions
• Divisions of the nervous system and neurons Quiz · 4.2.2.1 · 20 questions
• Synaptic transmission Quiz · 4.2.2.2 · 20 questions
• Endocrine system and fight or flight Quiz · 4.2.2.3 · 20 questions
• Ways of studying the brain Quiz · 4.2.2.4 · 20 questions