GRE Psychology Subject Test
Learning - Correct Answers -The relatively permanent or stable change in behavior as
the result of experience
E.L. Thorndike - Correct Answers -This man suggested the law of effect, precursor of
operant conditioning.
Law of Effect - Correct Answers -E.L. Thorndike's idea that postulated a cause-and-
effect chain of behavior revolving around reinforcement. Any behavior that is followed
by reward is likely to be repeated. One followed by unpleasant consequences is likely to
be stopped.
Kurt Lewin - Correct Answers -This man developed the theory of association, forerunner
of behaviorism.
Theory of Association - Correct Answers -Organisms associate certain behaviors with
certain rewards and certain cues with certain situations. Precursor to Pavlov's Classical
Conditioning.
Ivan Pavlov - Correct Answers -He is famous for work on digestion. Developed
Classical Conditioning.
Classical/ Pavlovian Conditioning - Correct Answers -A concept that involves teaching
an organism to respond to a neutral stimulus by pairing the neutral stimulus with a not-
so-neutral stimulus.
John B. Watson - Correct Answers -He founded the school of behaviorism. He believed
that everything can be explained by stimulus-response chains and that conditioning was
the key factor in developing these chains. ONLY OBJECTIVE and OBSERVABLE
elements were of importance to organisms and psychology.
B.F. Skinner - Correct Answers -This man developed operant conditioning.
Operant Conditioning/ Instrumental Conditioning - Correct Answers -This concept of
behavior being influenced primarily by reinforcement. The Skinner Box was used to
develop this idea: to condition rats to perform an unnatural behavior--pressing the lever
in the skinner box.
Neutral Stimulus - Correct Answers -A stimulus that does not produce a specific
response on its own.
,Unconditioned Stimulus - Correct Answers -Without conditioning, this stimulus elicits a
response.
Conditioned Stimulus - Correct Answers -The neutral stimulus once it has been paired
with the UCS.
Unconditioned Response - Correct Answers -The naturally occurring response to the
UCS.
Conditioned Response - Correct Answers -The response that the CS elicits after
conditioning. Often times, it is the same as the UCR.
Simultaneous Conditioning - Correct Answers -A conditioning technique where the UCS
and the CS are presented at the same time.
Higher Order/ Second-Oder Conditioning - Correct Answers -A conditioning technique in
which a previous CS now acts as a UCS.
Forward Conditioning - Correct Answers -A conditioning technique in which the CS is
presented before the UCS
Delayed Conditioning - Correct Answers -The presentation of the CS begins before that
of the UCs and lasts until the UCS is presented.
Trace Conditioning - Correct Answers -The CS stimulus is presented and terminated
before the UCS is presented.
Backward Conditioning - Correct Answers -A conditioning technique in which the CS is
presented after the UCS is presented. It proves to be ineffective. Produces an inhibitory
conditioning effect.
Shaping/ Differential Reinforcement of Successive Approximations - Correct Answers -A
process where the experimenter gradually molds an organism by reinforcing any
responses similar to the desired response.
Primary Reinforcement - Correct Answers -Something that is reinforcing on its own
without the requirement of learning. Ex. Water and Food.
Secondary Reinforcement - Correct Answers -A learned reinforcer, often learned
through society. Ex. Money
Positive Reinforcement - Correct Answers -A type of reward or positive event acting as
a stimulus that increases the likelihood of a particular response.
Negative Reinforcement - Correct Answers -Reinforcement through the removal of a
negative event.
,Continuous Reinforcement Schedule - Correct Answers -A schedule where every
correct response is met with some form of reinforcement. This type of reinforcement
strategy facilitates the quickest learning but most fragile learning (as soon as the
rewards stop coming, the animal stops performing).
Partial Reinforcement Schedule - Correct Answers -In this schedule, not all correct
responses are met with reinforcement. This type of reinforcement strategy may require
a longer learning time, but once learned, these behaviors are more resistant to
extinction. There are four types of this schedule.
Fixed Ratio Schedule - Correct Answers -A partial reinforcement schedule where a
reinforcement is delivered after a consistent number of responses. The power of drug
addiction has been proven using this schedule. The behavior is vulnerable to extinction.
Variable Ratio Schedule - Correct Answers -In this partial reinforcement schedule,
reinforcements are delivered after different numbers of correct responses. The ratio
cannot be predicted. Learning takes the most time to occur, but the learning is least
likely to become extinguished. Ex. Slot Machines
Fixed Interval Schedule - Correct Answers -A partial reinforcement schedule where
rewards come after the passage of a certain period of time rather than the number of
behaviors. This schedule does little to motivate an animal's behavior.
Variable Interval Schedule - Correct Answers -A partial reinforcement schedule where
rewards are delivered after differing time periods. It is the second most effective
strategy in maintaining behavior.
Token Economy - Correct Answers -An artificial mini-economy where individuals are
motivated by secondary reinforcers. Desirable behaviors are reinforced with tokens,
which can be cashed in for more primary reinforcers.
Primary/ Instinctual Drive - Correct Answers -A drive that an individual can be naturally
motivated by, such as hunger or thirst.
Secondary/ Acquired Drive - Correct Answers -A drive that is learned to motivate an
individual, such as money.
Exploratory Drive - Correct Answers -A drive where individuals are motivated simply to
try something new or to explore their environment.
Fritz Heider's Balance Theory, Charles Osgood & Percy Tannenbaum's Congruity
Theory, Leon Festinger's Cognitive Dissonance Theory, & Hull's Drive Reduction
Theory - Correct Answers -These theories assert that humans are primarily motivated to
maintain physiological or psychological homeostasis. Argument against these theories:
Individuals often seek out stimulation, novel experience, or self-destruction.
, Clark Hull - Correct Answers -The man who proposed that performance=Drive x habit.
Performance=Drive x Habit - Correct Answers -The idea that individuals are first
motivated by drive, and then they act according to old successful habits. They will do
what has worked in the past to satisfy the drive.
Edward Tolman - Correct Answers -The man that proposed that Performance=
Expectation x Value, expectancy-value theory.
Performance=Expectation x Value/ Expectancy-Value Theory - Correct Answers -The
idea that people are motivated by goals that they think they might actually meet.
Another factor is how important the goal is to them.
Victor Vroom - Correct Answers -This man applied the expectancy-value theory to
individual behavior in large organizations. Individuals who are lowest on the totem pole
do not expect to receive company incentives, so these carrots do little to motivate them.
Theory based on: Valence, Expectancy, Instrumentality.
Henry Murray & David McClelland - Correct Answers -These men studied the possibility
that people are motivated by a need for achievement (nAch). This may be manifested
through a need to pursue success or a need to avoid failure.
John Atkinson - Correct Answers -This man suggested a theory of motivation in which
people who set realistic goals with intermediate risk sets feel pride with
accomplishment, and want to succeed more than they fear failure.
Neil Miller - Correct Answers -This man proposed the approach-avoidance conflict.
Approach-avoidance conflict - Correct Answers -This conflict refers to the state one
feels when a certain goal has both pros and cons. Typically the further one is from the
goal, the more one focuses on the pros or the reasons to approach the goal. The close
one is to the goal, the more one focuses on the cons or the reasons to avoid the goal.
Hedonism - Correct Answers -The theory that individuals are motivated solely by what
brings the most pleasure and the least pain.
The Premack Principle - Correct Answers -the idea that people are motivated to do what
they do not want to do by rewarding themselves afterward with something they like to
do.
Yerkes-Dodson Effect - Correct Answers -The effect of arousal on performance. Too
little or too much arousal could hamper performance of tasks. For simple tasks, the
optimal level of arousal is toward the high end. For complex tasks, the optimal level of
arousal is toward the low end, so that the individual is not too anxious to perform well.
Learning - Correct Answers -The relatively permanent or stable change in behavior as
the result of experience
E.L. Thorndike - Correct Answers -This man suggested the law of effect, precursor of
operant conditioning.
Law of Effect - Correct Answers -E.L. Thorndike's idea that postulated a cause-and-
effect chain of behavior revolving around reinforcement. Any behavior that is followed
by reward is likely to be repeated. One followed by unpleasant consequences is likely to
be stopped.
Kurt Lewin - Correct Answers -This man developed the theory of association, forerunner
of behaviorism.
Theory of Association - Correct Answers -Organisms associate certain behaviors with
certain rewards and certain cues with certain situations. Precursor to Pavlov's Classical
Conditioning.
Ivan Pavlov - Correct Answers -He is famous for work on digestion. Developed
Classical Conditioning.
Classical/ Pavlovian Conditioning - Correct Answers -A concept that involves teaching
an organism to respond to a neutral stimulus by pairing the neutral stimulus with a not-
so-neutral stimulus.
John B. Watson - Correct Answers -He founded the school of behaviorism. He believed
that everything can be explained by stimulus-response chains and that conditioning was
the key factor in developing these chains. ONLY OBJECTIVE and OBSERVABLE
elements were of importance to organisms and psychology.
B.F. Skinner - Correct Answers -This man developed operant conditioning.
Operant Conditioning/ Instrumental Conditioning - Correct Answers -This concept of
behavior being influenced primarily by reinforcement. The Skinner Box was used to
develop this idea: to condition rats to perform an unnatural behavior--pressing the lever
in the skinner box.
Neutral Stimulus - Correct Answers -A stimulus that does not produce a specific
response on its own.
,Unconditioned Stimulus - Correct Answers -Without conditioning, this stimulus elicits a
response.
Conditioned Stimulus - Correct Answers -The neutral stimulus once it has been paired
with the UCS.
Unconditioned Response - Correct Answers -The naturally occurring response to the
UCS.
Conditioned Response - Correct Answers -The response that the CS elicits after
conditioning. Often times, it is the same as the UCR.
Simultaneous Conditioning - Correct Answers -A conditioning technique where the UCS
and the CS are presented at the same time.
Higher Order/ Second-Oder Conditioning - Correct Answers -A conditioning technique in
which a previous CS now acts as a UCS.
Forward Conditioning - Correct Answers -A conditioning technique in which the CS is
presented before the UCS
Delayed Conditioning - Correct Answers -The presentation of the CS begins before that
of the UCs and lasts until the UCS is presented.
Trace Conditioning - Correct Answers -The CS stimulus is presented and terminated
before the UCS is presented.
Backward Conditioning - Correct Answers -A conditioning technique in which the CS is
presented after the UCS is presented. It proves to be ineffective. Produces an inhibitory
conditioning effect.
Shaping/ Differential Reinforcement of Successive Approximations - Correct Answers -A
process where the experimenter gradually molds an organism by reinforcing any
responses similar to the desired response.
Primary Reinforcement - Correct Answers -Something that is reinforcing on its own
without the requirement of learning. Ex. Water and Food.
Secondary Reinforcement - Correct Answers -A learned reinforcer, often learned
through society. Ex. Money
Positive Reinforcement - Correct Answers -A type of reward or positive event acting as
a stimulus that increases the likelihood of a particular response.
Negative Reinforcement - Correct Answers -Reinforcement through the removal of a
negative event.
,Continuous Reinforcement Schedule - Correct Answers -A schedule where every
correct response is met with some form of reinforcement. This type of reinforcement
strategy facilitates the quickest learning but most fragile learning (as soon as the
rewards stop coming, the animal stops performing).
Partial Reinforcement Schedule - Correct Answers -In this schedule, not all correct
responses are met with reinforcement. This type of reinforcement strategy may require
a longer learning time, but once learned, these behaviors are more resistant to
extinction. There are four types of this schedule.
Fixed Ratio Schedule - Correct Answers -A partial reinforcement schedule where a
reinforcement is delivered after a consistent number of responses. The power of drug
addiction has been proven using this schedule. The behavior is vulnerable to extinction.
Variable Ratio Schedule - Correct Answers -In this partial reinforcement schedule,
reinforcements are delivered after different numbers of correct responses. The ratio
cannot be predicted. Learning takes the most time to occur, but the learning is least
likely to become extinguished. Ex. Slot Machines
Fixed Interval Schedule - Correct Answers -A partial reinforcement schedule where
rewards come after the passage of a certain period of time rather than the number of
behaviors. This schedule does little to motivate an animal's behavior.
Variable Interval Schedule - Correct Answers -A partial reinforcement schedule where
rewards are delivered after differing time periods. It is the second most effective
strategy in maintaining behavior.
Token Economy - Correct Answers -An artificial mini-economy where individuals are
motivated by secondary reinforcers. Desirable behaviors are reinforced with tokens,
which can be cashed in for more primary reinforcers.
Primary/ Instinctual Drive - Correct Answers -A drive that an individual can be naturally
motivated by, such as hunger or thirst.
Secondary/ Acquired Drive - Correct Answers -A drive that is learned to motivate an
individual, such as money.
Exploratory Drive - Correct Answers -A drive where individuals are motivated simply to
try something new or to explore their environment.
Fritz Heider's Balance Theory, Charles Osgood & Percy Tannenbaum's Congruity
Theory, Leon Festinger's Cognitive Dissonance Theory, & Hull's Drive Reduction
Theory - Correct Answers -These theories assert that humans are primarily motivated to
maintain physiological or psychological homeostasis. Argument against these theories:
Individuals often seek out stimulation, novel experience, or self-destruction.
, Clark Hull - Correct Answers -The man who proposed that performance=Drive x habit.
Performance=Drive x Habit - Correct Answers -The idea that individuals are first
motivated by drive, and then they act according to old successful habits. They will do
what has worked in the past to satisfy the drive.
Edward Tolman - Correct Answers -The man that proposed that Performance=
Expectation x Value, expectancy-value theory.
Performance=Expectation x Value/ Expectancy-Value Theory - Correct Answers -The
idea that people are motivated by goals that they think they might actually meet.
Another factor is how important the goal is to them.
Victor Vroom - Correct Answers -This man applied the expectancy-value theory to
individual behavior in large organizations. Individuals who are lowest on the totem pole
do not expect to receive company incentives, so these carrots do little to motivate them.
Theory based on: Valence, Expectancy, Instrumentality.
Henry Murray & David McClelland - Correct Answers -These men studied the possibility
that people are motivated by a need for achievement (nAch). This may be manifested
through a need to pursue success or a need to avoid failure.
John Atkinson - Correct Answers -This man suggested a theory of motivation in which
people who set realistic goals with intermediate risk sets feel pride with
accomplishment, and want to succeed more than they fear failure.
Neil Miller - Correct Answers -This man proposed the approach-avoidance conflict.
Approach-avoidance conflict - Correct Answers -This conflict refers to the state one
feels when a certain goal has both pros and cons. Typically the further one is from the
goal, the more one focuses on the pros or the reasons to approach the goal. The close
one is to the goal, the more one focuses on the cons or the reasons to avoid the goal.
Hedonism - Correct Answers -The theory that individuals are motivated solely by what
brings the most pleasure and the least pain.
The Premack Principle - Correct Answers -the idea that people are motivated to do what
they do not want to do by rewarding themselves afterward with something they like to
do.
Yerkes-Dodson Effect - Correct Answers -The effect of arousal on performance. Too
little or too much arousal could hamper performance of tasks. For simple tasks, the
optimal level of arousal is toward the high end. For complex tasks, the optimal level of
arousal is toward the low end, so that the individual is not too anxious to perform well.
