All Free Psychology MCQs with Answers

• A. Watson
• B. Bandura
• C. Skinner
• D. Pavlov

Explanation: Bandura emphasized observational learning, showing that people can acquire behavior by watching models without directly experiencing…

• A. continuous
• B. fixed ratio
• C. variable ratio
• D. fixed interval

Explanation: A variable-ratio schedule reinforces behavior after an unpredictable number of responses, as in gambling, and produces very persistent…

• A. biological predispositions
• B. external influences
• C. emotions
• D. unconscious motives

Explanation: Skinner’s radical behaviorism explained human behavior mainly through environmental influences and its history of reinforcement and…

• A. partial reinforcement
• B. observational learning
• C. extinction
• D. None of these

Explanation: Partial, or intermittent, reinforcement means that only some correct responses are reinforced rather than every response.

• A. attention process
• B. motivation process
• C. reproduction process
• D. chaining process

Explanation: Bandura and Walters identified attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation as key processes in observational learning.

• A. Hull
• B. Thorndike
• C. Skinner
• D. Watson

Explanation: Edward L. Thorndike wrote Animal Intelligence, based on experiments with animals and his law of effect.

• A. fixed-ration schedule
• B. variable-interval schedule
• C. fixed-interval schedule
• D. verbal-interval-schedule

Explanation: Fixed-interval schedules usually produce the lowest and most uneven response rate, with responding increasing as the expected…

• A. E. L. Thorndike
• B. B. F. Skinner
• C. A. Bandura
• D. I. Pavlov

Explanation: B. F. Skinner gave operant conditioning its systematic experimental treatment in 1938, especially through his work with rats and pigeons.

• A. fixed ratio
• B. variable interval
• C. variable ratio
• D. fixed interval

Explanation: A fixed-interval schedule reinforces the first response after a set amount of time, so the organism benefits from estimating when that…

• A. shaping
• B. modeling
• C. observing
• D. praising

Explanation: Modeling is learning by observing another person and imitating that person’s behavior, a process strongly associated with Bandura’s social…

• A. operant conditioning
• B. response learning
• C. verbal learning
• D. perceptual learning

Explanation: Perceptual learning changes how stimuli are detected or interpreted, so the learning itself cannot be observed directly and must be…

• A. hormones in behavior
• B. activity states on behavior
• C. internal drive states on behavior
• D. rewards and punishment on behavior

Explanation: Thorndike’s Law of Effect states that responses followed by satisfying consequences become more likely, whereas responses followed by…

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

Explanation: Studying to avoid a bad grade is negative reinforcement because the behavior is strengthened by preventing an unpleasant consequence.

• A. spontaneous recovery
• B. inhibition
• C. extinction
• D. higher-order conditioning

Explanation: When the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus, the conditioned response gradually weakens; this…

• A. choices
• B. discrimination
• C. detectability
• D. distinction

Explanation: Generalization means responding similarly to stimuli that resemble the original stimulus, whereas discrimination means responding…

• A. the subject be informed of desired outcome in advance
• B. the UCS be inherently rewarding
• C. the UCS be originally neutral
• D. the CS be originally neutral

Explanation: In classical conditioning, the conditioned stimulus must initially be neutral, meaning it does not yet produce the target response.

• A. primary reinforcement
• B. secondary reinforcement
• C. social reinforcement
• D. both b and c

Explanation: Peer approval is a social reinforcer because it comes from other people, and it is also secondary because its reinforcing value is learned…

• A. primary reinforce
• B. secondary reinforce
• C. negative reinforce
• D. simple operant

Explanation: Money is a secondary, or conditioned, reinforcer because it gains its value through association with primary reinforcers such as food and…

• A. practice alone procedures learning
• B. in addition to reinforcement there must be reward
• C. in addition to practice there must be reinforcement
• D. Skinner's view has been superseded by Hull's

Explanation: Thorndike’s law of effect holds that behavior followed by satisfying consequences becomes more likely, so practice alone is insufficient.

• A. spontaneous recovery
• B. platikurtic
• C. reminiscence
• D. recall

Explanation: Reminiscence is improvement in performance after practice has stopped, often observed following a rest interval.