Multiple ChoiceHistory of Modern Psych, 4e: Study Guide, Chapter 1111-1
1. Starting the in 1930s, behaviorism became a dominant force in American psychology. Of the following factors, which contributed the least?
a. Watson’s behaviorist manifesto
b. the translation of Pavlov’s work into English
c. the development of operationism
d. Watson’s popularizing of behaviorism in the 1920s
2. Why was logical positivism attractive to American experimental psychologists?
a. it provided a means to study unobservable entities and still remain “scientific”
b. it enabled researchers to avoid having to take unobservable entities into account in their
theorizing
c. researchers like facts, not theory, and this movement enabled them to avoid theory
d. it provided a way to reintroduce introspection into psychology, but to do it scientifically
3. Which of the following is inappropriately paired?
a. Hull—hypothetico-deductive system
b. Skinner—intervening variable
c. Tolman—cognitive map
d. Bridgman—operational definition
4. According to Tolman’s system,
a. intervening variables are to be avoided
b. logical positivism and operationism have harmed psychology
c. before being able to understand molar behavior, psychology must understand molecular
behavior
d. behavior is goal-oriented or purposive
5. What did Hull and Tolman have in common?
a. they both rejected the idea of focusing on molecular behavior
b. they both investigated hypnosis and its effects
c. they both included intervening variables in their systems
d. they both believed that reinforcement was essential in order for learning to occur
6. Hull’s famous postulate #4 proposed that habit strength increases
a. only if drive state is very low
b. only if primary reinforcers are used; secondary reinforcers don’t work
c. simply as a result of practice; reinforcement isn’t important
d. as a function of the number of reinforced trials
7. Which of the following best summarizes Skinner’s ideas about operant conditioning?
a. a stimulus paired with a response will, on recurrence, tend to elicit that response again
b. learning results from the gradual construction of cognitive maps
c. behaviors producing positive consequences tend to recur
d. learning occurs through the repeated pairing of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli
8. Which of the following is true about the IQ Zoo?
a. the Brelands found out that reinforcement was powerful enough to produce the conditioning
of any kind of behavior in any species
b. it demonstrated that some animals were instinctively smarter than others
c. it showed that classical (Pavlovian) conditioning had greater application than operant
(Skinnerian) conditioning
d. the Brelands found that there were biological limitations on what could be conditioned
Answers
1. a. CORRECT ANSWER – the manifesto did not have much immediate impact
b. this event, which happened in the 1920s, had a big impact
c. this event, which also happened in the 1920s, had a big impact
d. Watson kept at it, and had an eventual effect
2. a. CORRECT ANSWER – as long as they unobservables were operationally defined
b. these unobservable entities (e.g., hunger drive) were impossible to ignore
c. both Tolman and Hull were heavily involved in theory building
d. in the 1920s, introspection was fading fast
3. a. Hull exemplifies the hypothetico-deductive method for theory building
b. CORRECT ANSWER – Skinner did not feel these were necessary
c. Tolman coined the term cognitive map
d. operational definition began with Bridgman’s work
4. a. Tolman embraced intervening variables (e.g., expectancy)
b. Tolman’s system benefited from logical positivism and operationism
c. Tolman rejected molecular behavior in favor of molar behavior
d. CORRECT ANSWER – a central idea for Tolman (“purposive” is in the title of his book)
5. a. Tolman did; Hull didn’t
b. this was Hull, not Tolman
c. CORRECT ANSWER – Tolman first, then Hull
d. this was only true of Hull
6. a. drive affects performance, not habit strength
b. both work
c. reinforcement was very important for Hull
d. CORRECT ANSWER – note: not just practice, but reinforced practice
7. a. sounds more like Hull
b. this would be Tolman’s idea
c. CORRECT ANSWER – behavior probability is a function of consequences
d. this is Pavlovian conditioning, what Skinner called Type S conditioning
8. a. they discovered that reinforcement had its limits—instinctive drift occurred
b. they were not interested in this question
c. the animals in the IQ Zoo were subjected primarily to operant procedures
d. CORRECT ANSWER – they referred to the phenomenon as instinctive drift