Free Learning and Motivation MCQs with Answers

• 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.

• A. trial-and-error learning
• B. a fixed-action pattern
• C. instinctual drift
• D. insight

Explanation: Köhler interpreted the chimpanzee’s sudden use of joined sticks to reach the bananas as insight learning.

• A. higher order conditioning
• B. forward conditioning
• C. backward conditioning
• D. second order conditioning

Explanation: In backward conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus is presented first and the conditioned stimulus follows it.

• A. an aversive stimulus is administered
• B. a pleasing stimulus is removed
• C. response learning is faster than escape training
• D. an aversive stimulus is removed

Explanation: Negative reinforcement increases a behavior by removing an aversive stimulus, such as stopping an unpleasant noise when a person performs…

• A. feedback
• B. repetition
• C. distribution of practice
• D. reflex action

Explanation: Motor-skill learning depends heavily on feedback, repetition, and the distribution of practice.

• A. extinction
• B. discrimination
• C. secondary reinforcement
• D. generalization

Explanation: A frightening crash can condition fear to the original situation, and fear then spreads to similar stimuli such as other cars.

• A. verbal learning
• B. operant conditioning
• C. classical conditioning
• D. motor task learning

Explanation: Verbal learning depends on language, symbolic meaning, and word associations, capacities treated as especially characteristic of human…

• A. Skinner
• B. Pavlov
• C. Atkinson
• D. Thorndike

Explanation: Edward Thorndike placed cats and other animals in puzzle boxes and measured how their escape time changed across trials.

• A. avoidance conditioning
• B. punishment
• C. escape conditioning
• D. successive approximation

Explanation: Avoidance conditioning occurs when a response to a warning cue prevents an unpleasant event, such as pressing a lever after a signal to…