Comparative Psychology Final Exam
Course Introduction
Comparative Psychology is the scientific study of behavior and mental processes across different animal species, including humans. This course explores the similarities and differences in behavioral patterns, cognitive abilities, learning, and adaptation among animals to better understand the evolutionary origins and functions of behavior. Students will examine topics such as animal cognition, communication, social behaviors, instinct versus learning, and the methodological approaches used to compare species. Emphasis is placed on interpreting experimental findings within an evolutionary and ecological framework, ultimately providing insights into human psychology by examining it within the larger context of animal behavior.
Recommended Textbook
Learning and Behavior 7th Edition by
James E. Mazur
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13 Chapters
339 Verified Questions
339 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: History, background, and Basic Concepts
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Sample Questions
Q1) To account for all the relations between two independent variables and three dependent variables,a theory without intervening variables would have to describe
A)two relations
B)three relations
C)five relations
D)six relations
Answer: D
Q2) A neuron's transmitter is released from its A)cell body
B)axon terminals
C)dendrites
D)nucleus
Answer: B
Q3) Laws in the United States require that research animals have A)adequate food and water
B)a clean living environment
C)veterinary care
D)all of the above
Answer: D
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Innate Behavior Patterns and Habituation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements is not an accurate summary of the findings from research on habituation in mammals-
A)Short-term and long-term habituation may involve different brain pathways.
B)Cells in the auditory cortex may "habituate" to tones of specific pitches.
C)The startle response habituates if a loud noise is presented repeatedly.
D)Habituation is most evident in the later (motor)portions of the startle response pathway.
Answer: D
Q2) A fixed-action pattern
A)will stop immediately if the behavior is not appropriate for the situation
B)is a sequence of behaviors that occur in a rigid order
C)both a and b
D)neither a and b
Answer: B
Q3) In the Solomon and Corbit opponent-process theory,the a-process is said to be
A)a pleasant emotional reaction
B)an unpleasant emotional reaction
C)unaffected by repeated trials
D)slow to reach its maximum level
Answer: C
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Chapter 3: Basic Principles of Classical Conditioning
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Sample Questions
Q1) A problem with stimulus substitution theory is that
A)the CR sometimes has components that the UR does not
B)the UR sometimes has components that the CR does not
C)both a and b
D)neither a nor b
Answer: C
Q2) If some pictures are paired with positive adjectives and other pictures of faces with negative adjectives,a person may start to like the first set of faces and dislike the second.This is an example of
A)generalization
B)rapid reacquisition
C)evaluative conditioning
D)disinhibition
Answer: C
Q3) In salivary conditioning,dogs will often orient toward the CS.This phenomenon is
A)evidence against a strict interpretation of stimulus substitution theory
B)evidence supporting a strict interpretation of stimulus substitution theory
C)only observed after many conditioning trials
D)evidence for S-S associations
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: Theories and Research on Classical Conditioning
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Sample Questions
Q1) Physiological studies of classical conditioning in rmammals have found that A)the same parts of the brain are involved in different phenomena such as conditioned inhibition and blocking
B)the same parts of the brain are involved in different CRs such as eyeblinks and heart rate changes
C)the brain structures involved are the same as those in Aplysia
D)many different brain structures are involved in simple classical conditioning
Q2) Experiments with rats have found that they are most likely to associate A)tastes with illness
B)tastes with shock
C)shock with illness
D)audio-visual stimuli with illness
Q3) A limitation of the Rescorla-Wagner model is that it cannot predict
A)the overexpectation effect
B)the CS preexposure effect
C)inhibitory conditioning
D)overshadowing
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Page 6
Chapter 5: Basic Principles of Operant Conditioning
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Sample Questions
Q1) Skinner's explanation of his superstition experiment made use of the concept of A)interim behaviors
B)terminal behaviors
C)accidental reinforcement
D)none of the above
Q2) Unlike a discrete trial procedure,the free operant procedure involves
A)a response that the subject can perform at any time
B)just about any response the experimenter decides to examine
C)both a and b
D)neither a nor b
Q3) A stimulus that occurs in the middle of a response chain serves as A)a conditioned reinforce
B)a discriminative stimulus
C)both a and b
D)neither a nor b
Q4) The Brelands usually observed "instinctive drift" in their animals
A)early in training
B)after a response had been successfully learned
C)during extinction
D)when the animals were not highly motivated to work for food
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Chapter 6: Reinforcement Schedules: Experimental
Analyses and Applications
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Sample Questions
Q1) If a person working at her computer keeps checking her email and occasionally gets a message from a friend,this is similar to a
A)fixed-ratio schedule
B)variable-ratio schedule
C)fixed-interval schedule
D)variable-interval schedule
Q2) Unlike many attempts of ordinary people to change another individual's behavior,with behavior modification
A)the rules for reinforcement are always applied consistently
B)primary reinforcers are always used
C)continuous reinforcement is always used
D)all of the above
Q3) On a variable-ratio schedule,reinforcement is most likely after
A)a long interresponse time
B)a pause in responding
C)one reinforcer has just been delivered
D)none of the above
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Page 8
Chapter 7: Avoidance and Punishment
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Sample Questions
Q1) The effects of punishment are
A)temporary
B)no greater than those of response-independent shocks
C)dependent on the immediacy of the punishment
D)greatest when the subject has no alternative behaviors available
Q2) As animals become experienced in an avoidance task,
A)visible signs of fear increase
B)visible signs of fear decrease
C)there are visible signs of fear before the avoidance response is made,but not after D)there are visible signs of fear after the avoidance response is made,but not before
Q3) Learned helplessness has been observed in A)dogs
B)cockroaches
C)the spinal cord
D)all of the above
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9
Chapter 8: Theories and Research on Operant Conditioning
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Sample Questions
Q1) Giving an animal a chance to drink sweetened water might reinforce a lower-probability behavior but not reinforce a higher-probability behavior.Such a finding would be evidence against
A)drive-reduction theory
B)trans-situationality
C)Premack's principle
D)response-deprivation theory
Q2) When all behaviors can occur freely,a child spends 30 minutes playing with blocks,15 minutes playing with crayons,and 5 minutes playing with a truck.Suppose the child is required to play with the blocks and the crayons for equal amounts of time.Premack's principle predicts that
A)the time spent playing with blocks will be more than 30 minutes
B)the time spent playing with crayons will be more than 15 minutes
C)the time spent playing with crayons will be less than 15 minutes
D)none of the above
Q3) Need-reduction theory cannot explain why
A)food is a reinforcer
B)water is a reinforcer
C)saccharine is a reinforcer
D)warmth is a reinforcer
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Chapter 9: Stimulus Control and Concept Learning
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Sample Questions
Q1) In deciding whether an ostrich is a bird,a child would probably
A)respond faster than if the question was whether a robin is a bird
B)respond slower than if the question was whether a robin is a bird
C)treat the example of ostrich as a central instance
D)have a distinct mental boundary between birds and non-birds
Q2) Spence's theory of stimulus control states that during discrimination training
A)an excitatory generalization gradient develops around the S B)an inhibitory generalization gradient develops around the S C)both a and b
D)neither a nor b
Q3) Experiments on natural concept formation with pigeons have shown that
A)this type of learning is very slow
B)the subjects accomplish the task by identifying one common feature (such as the color green)that distinguishes all positive instances from all negative instances C)this learning can be transferred to slides the pigeons have never seen before D)both a and c but not b
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Chapter 10: Comparative Cognition
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Sample Questions
Q1) Suppose a rabbit receives a series of classical conditioning trials,and after a trial,something surprising happens.The conditioning will probably be slowest if the surprising event occurs
A)3 seconds after each conditioning trial
B)10 seconds after each conditioning trial
C)90 seconds after each conditioning trial
D)after some conditioning trials but not others
Q2) The peak procedure has been used to demonstrate an animal's ability
A)to discriminate between two stimuli of different durations
B)to discriminate between two different numbers of objects
C)to time the duration of an interval that sometimes ends with a reinforcer
D)all of the above
Q3) Studies have shown that cats and dogs can solve problems involving
A)analogies
B)object permanence
C)both a and b
D)neither a nor b
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Chapter 11: Learning by Observation
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Sample Questions
Q1) In the debate about the relation between watching TV violence and aggressive behavior,
A)there is no correlation between aggressive behavior and watching violent TV
B)there is evidence that boys who watch violent TV are more aggressive many years later
C)any aggressive tendencies disappear a few hours after watching TV violence
D)no one has ever conducted an experiment in which children are actually required to watch either violent or nonviolent TV
Q2) A child's performance on the conservation-of-volume task
A)improves with age,but cannot be improved by observational learning
B)can only be improved through observational learning if the child is at an age where he or she is just about to improve anyway
C)can only be improved through observational learning if the adult model gives a verbal explanation of her behavior to the child
D)none of the above
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13
Chapter 12: Learning Motor Skills
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Sample Questions
Q1) The distinguishing characteristic of an open-loop movement is that it
A)involves a sequence of responses
B)is completed before the individual receives any feedback
C)typically includes several mid-course corrections
D)none of the above
Q2) Compared to Schmidt's schema theory,a limitation of Adams's two-stage theory is that it
A)does not apply to open-loop movements
B)does not apply to continuous movements
C)does not apply to movements that must be different every trial
D)none of the above
Q3) In a continuous tracking task,such as tracing a line drawing,delay of visual feedback has
A)little or no effect on learning or performance
B)a small but temporary effect on the rate of learning
C)a small but permanent effect on performance
D)a large and permanent effect on performance
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Chapter 13: Choice
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Sample Questions
Q1) A pigeon responds on a concurrent VI 60-second VI 60-second schedule.If this animal's behavior roughly follows the matching law,it will probably receive
A)about 60 reinforcers per hour
B)about 120 reinforcers per hour
C)slightly less than 60 reinforcers per hour
D)slightly less than 120 reinforcers per hour
Q2) A self-control choice is a choice between a _______ reinforcer and a _______ reinforcer.
A)small and immediate;large and delayed
B)small and delayed;large and immediate
C)small and risky;large and guaranteed
D)immediate and guaranteed;delayed and risky
Q3) Herrnstein has applied the matching law to situations where a subject responds on VI schedules of different sizes,but only one schedule is presented at a time.He assumed that if the reinforcement for extraneous behaviors is increased
A)the subject's maximum possible response rate does not change
B)response rate on the VI schedule should decrease
C)both a and b
D)neither a nor b
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Page 15