conditioning practice answer key

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING PRACTICE 1. While George was having a cavity filled by his dentist, the drill hit a nerve that had not been dulled by anesthetic, a couple of times. Each time he cringed in pain. George now gets anxious each time he sees the dentist. Unconditioned stimulus Drill Conditioned stimulus Seeing the dentist Unconditioned response Cringe in pain Conditioned response Anxiety 2. Every time a psychology instructor enters the classroom, she goes straight to the board to write an outline on it. Unfortunately, she has long finger nails and each time she writes the outline, her nails screech on the board, making students cringe. After a few weeks of this, students cringe at the sight of the teacher entering the classroom. Unconditioned stimulus Nails on chalkboard Conditioned stimulus Seeing teacher Unconditioned response Cringe at sound Conditioned response Cringe at teacher 3. Fanny eats fried chicken that has e coli in it and ends up vomiting for hours that night. Luckily she recovers within a day, but now just the thought (or the sight or the smell) of fried chicken makes her nauseous. Unconditioned stimulus Bad chicken Conditioned stimulus Thought, sight, or smell of chicken Unconditioned response Vomiting Conditioned response Nausea 4. At a football game, every time the home team scores a touchdown, the person behind you blasts an air horn near your ears causing you to wince. Unfortunately for you, the home team scores frequently. As the end of the game nears, the home team scores a touchdown, and even though the inconsiderate fan behind you has left, you still wince. Unconditioned stimulus Air horn Conditioned stimulus Home team touchdown Unconditioned response Wince at air horn Conditioned response Wince at touchdown 5. LaToya’s husband puts on Polo cologne every time they’re going to be sexually intimate. Now when LaToya is walking through the mall and passes a stranger wearing Polo cologne, she becomes sexually aroused. Unconditioned stimulus Husband Conditioned stimulus Polo cologne (on anyone) Unconditioned response Sexual arousal Conditioned response Sexual arousal 6. Charlie has been humiliated in the past for doing poorly on tests. When that has happened, he would get so upset he would shake. Now when presented with a test, he begins to shake. Unconditioned stimulus Poor performance on test Conditioned stimulus Presentation of any test Unconditioned response Shaking Conditioned response Shaking 7. It is springtime and the pollen from the flowers causes you to sneeze. Soon you are sneezing at the mere sight of a flower…real or fake. Unconditioned stimulus Pollen Conditioned stimulus Real or fake flowers Unconditioned response sneeze Conditioned response sneeze You ride a roller coaster and get sick afterward. Now, whenever you are near a roller coaster you feel queasy. Unconditioned stimulus Roller coaster ride Conditioned stimulus Near a roller coaster Unconditioned response Getting sick Conditioned response Queasy OPERANT CONDITIONING PRACTICE Classify each as positive/negative reinforcement/punishment. A rat presses a bar and receives a food pellet. Positive reinforcement A child swears and is spanked. Positive punishment A child has her bike taken away for crashing it. Negative punishment A teenager is grounded for keeping the car out too late. Positive punishment (adding the grounding) Negative punishment (taking away time with friends) You study and get an A. Positive reinforcement Your teacher takes an aspirin every time she feels a headache coming on. Negative reinforcement (taking away the headache; strengthening the aspirin taking behavior) You are caught speeding and are given a ticket by the highway patrol. Positive punishment Your parents take away the car for speeding. Negative punishment A student acts up in class and is sent to the corner of the room for 10 minutes. Positive punishment (adding time in the corner) Negative punishment (taking away time from class) You clean up your room to avoid your mom’s nagging. Negative reinforcement (taking away the nagging; strengthening the cleaning behavior) Not wearing a name tag at work causes you to lose $5.00 from your pay, so you always wear the name tag. Negative punishment Money for washing dishes. Positive reinforcement No TV for a week. Negative punishment Receiving a paycheck. Positive reinforcement The dog gets a treat for rolling over and playing dead. Positive reinforcement