All Free Psychology MCQs with Answers

• A. operant conditioning
• B. reinforcement
• C. classical conditioning
• D. vicarious conditioning

Explanation: Pavlov's work established classical conditioning, in which a previously neutral stimulus acquires the ability to elicit a response through…

• A. Instinct
• B. Taxis
• C. Kinesis
• D. All of these

Explanation: An instinct is an inherited behaviour pattern shaped by natural selection.

• A. Skinner
• B. Pavlov
• C. Guilford
• D. Rogers

Explanation: Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning while studying dogs' salivation, observing that they could learn to salivate to signals…

• A. Operant conditioning learning
• B. Trial-and-error learning
• C. Latent Learning
• D. Classical conditioning learning

Explanation: Tolman's maze experiments showed that rats could learn the layout of a maze without immediate reinforcement and later display that…

• A. Skinner
• B. Wundt
• C. Thorndyke
• D. Kohler

Explanation: B. F. Skinner is best known for operant conditioning, in which behaviour is shaped by its consequences, and for applying reinforcement…

• A. Skinner
• B. Pavlov
• C. Guilford
• D. Rogers

Explanation: Pavlov identified classical conditioning through experiments showing that dogs could learn to salivate in response to a previously neutral…

• A. Skinner
• B. Pavlov
• C. Guilford
• D. Rogers

Explanation: Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning while studying dogs’ salivation; a neutral signal such as a bell came to produce salivation…

• A. Imprinting
• B. Habituation
• C. Conditioned reflex type I
• D. Conditioned reflex type II

Explanation: Habituation is the gradual decline of a response when a repeated stimulus is experienced without a meaningful consequence.

• A. relief from anxiety
• B. defending the ego
• C. protecting one's self - image
• D. avoiding existential anxiety

Explanation: Relief from anxiety is negative reinforcement because removing an unpleasant state increases the likelihood of the behavior that produced…

• A. systematic desensitization
• B. psychoanalysis
• C. EMDR
• D. a token economy

Explanation: A token economy is a behaviourist technique in which rewards are given for target behaviours, prompting the criticism that behaviour is…

• A. B. F. Skinner
• B. Sigmund Freud
• C. Carl Rogers
• D. Ivan Pavlov

Explanation: Counterconditioning replaces an unwanted conditioned response with a more adaptive response, building on Pavlov's classical-conditioning…

• A. can not be stopped by the patient which is why he/she is seeking therapy
• B. are signs of an underlying emotional or cognitive problem
• C. can be modified directly, through the application of established principles of conditioning
• D. should be viewed as the expression of an unconscious sexual or aggressive conflict

Explanation: Behavior therapists explain pathological behavior in terms of learned conditioning and therefore target it directly through techniques…

• A. the number of trials in which the CS and UCS are paired
• B. the number of trials in which the CS is presented alone
• C. the percentage of trials in which the CS and UCS are paired
• D. resistance of extinction

Explanation: Rescorla argued that conditioning depends on the predictive relationship, or contingency, between the CS and UCS rather than merely the…

• A. negative reinforcement
• B. punishment
• C. positive reinforcement
• D. secondary reinforcement

Explanation: Both adding an aversive stimulus and removing a desirable stimulus are forms of punishment because each is intended to reduce a behavior.

• A. US
• B. CS
• C. UR
• D. CR

Explanation: The loud noise is the aversive unconditioned stimulus, while the previously neutral snake becomes a conditioned stimulus after being…

• A. the law effect
• B. stimulus generalization
• C. stimulus discrimination
• D. an overactive imagination

Explanation: Stimulus generalization occurs when a conditioned response spreads from the original stimulus to similar stimuli, such as stuffed white…

• A. unconditioned stimulus
• B. unconditioned response
• C. conditioned stimulus
• D. conditioned response

Explanation: The nightgown was originally neutral but became associated with sexual activity, so it functions as a conditioned stimulus that produces…

• A. a steep, unchanging slope
• B. a shallow, unchanging slope
• C. a progressively steeper slope
• D. a progressively shallower slope

Explanation: A cumulative record plots responses over time, so a high, steady response rate appears as a straight line with a steep, constant slope.

• A. Classical conditioning regulates reflexive, involuntary responses exclusively
• B. Operant conditioning regulates voluntary responses exclusively
• C. The distinction between the two types of conditioning is not absolute, with both types jointly and interactively governing some aspects of behavior
• D. Both a and b

Explanation: Classical and operant conditioning are useful distinctions, but behavior is not always governed by only one process.

• A. Fixed-ratio
• B. variable-ratio
• C. Fixed-interval
• D. variable-interval

Explanation: A slot machine pays after an unpredictable number of responses, which defines a variable-ratio schedule.