Myers AP Psychology LEARNING Study
Guide Exam and Actual Detailed
Answers (2025-2026) Update.
learning - Answer a relatively permanent change in an organism's behavior due to experience
habituation - Answer an organism's decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure
to it
associative learning - Answer learning that certain events occur together.
classical conditioning - Answer a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more
stimuli and anticipate events
behaviorism - Answer psychology: (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior
without reference to mental processes.
unconditioned response (UR) - Answer the unlearned, naturally occurring reaction to US, such
as salivation when food is in the mouth
unconditioned stimulus (US) - Answer a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a
reaction (like food)
conditioned response (CR) - Answer the learned reaction to a previously neutral (but now
conditioned) stimulus (CS)
conditioned stimulus (CS) - Answer an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with
an US, comes to trigger a conditioned reaction
acquisition - Answer the "learned" behavior or response
higher-order conditioning - Answer a procedure in which the CS in one conditioning
experience is paired with a new NS, creating a second (often weaker) CS.
, generalization - Answer the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli
similar to the CS to elicit responses
discrimination - Answer the learned ability to distinguish between a CS and stimuli that do not
signal an US
learned helplessness - Answer the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human
learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events
operant conditioning - Answer a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed
by a reinforcer or diminished followed by a punisher
law of effect - Answer Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable
consequences become more likely, or where behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences
become less likely
operant chamber - Answer Skinner box containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate
to obtain food or water reinforce; attached devices record the animal's rate of bar pressing or
key pecking
shaping - Answer reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the
desired behavior
discriminative stimulus - Answer a stimulus that elicits a response after association with
reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated with reinforcement)
reinforcer - Answer any event that strengthens the behavior it follows
positive reinforcement - Answer increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as
food.
negative reinforcement - Answer increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative
stimuli, such as shock.
Guide Exam and Actual Detailed
Answers (2025-2026) Update.
learning - Answer a relatively permanent change in an organism's behavior due to experience
habituation - Answer an organism's decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure
to it
associative learning - Answer learning that certain events occur together.
classical conditioning - Answer a type of learning in which one learns to link two or more
stimuli and anticipate events
behaviorism - Answer psychology: (1) should be an objective science that (2) studies behavior
without reference to mental processes.
unconditioned response (UR) - Answer the unlearned, naturally occurring reaction to US, such
as salivation when food is in the mouth
unconditioned stimulus (US) - Answer a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a
reaction (like food)
conditioned response (CR) - Answer the learned reaction to a previously neutral (but now
conditioned) stimulus (CS)
conditioned stimulus (CS) - Answer an originally irrelevant stimulus that, after association with
an US, comes to trigger a conditioned reaction
acquisition - Answer the "learned" behavior or response
higher-order conditioning - Answer a procedure in which the CS in one conditioning
experience is paired with a new NS, creating a second (often weaker) CS.
, generalization - Answer the tendency, once a response has been conditioned, for stimuli
similar to the CS to elicit responses
discrimination - Answer the learned ability to distinguish between a CS and stimuli that do not
signal an US
learned helplessness - Answer the hopelessness and passive resignation an animal or human
learns when unable to avoid repeated aversive events
operant conditioning - Answer a type of learning in which behavior is strengthened if followed
by a reinforcer or diminished followed by a punisher
law of effect - Answer Thorndike's principle that behaviors followed by favorable
consequences become more likely, or where behaviors followed by unfavorable consequences
become less likely
operant chamber - Answer Skinner box containing a bar or key that an animal can manipulate
to obtain food or water reinforce; attached devices record the animal's rate of bar pressing or
key pecking
shaping - Answer reinforcers guide behavior toward closer and closer approximations of the
desired behavior
discriminative stimulus - Answer a stimulus that elicits a response after association with
reinforcement (in contrast to related stimuli not associated with reinforcement)
reinforcer - Answer any event that strengthens the behavior it follows
positive reinforcement - Answer increasing behaviors by presenting positive stimuli, such as
food.
negative reinforcement - Answer increasing behaviors by stopping or reducing negative
stimuli, such as shock.
