FED (Psychological) 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A student who watches a peer receive praise for organized notes and then begins organizing her own notes is demonstrating:
- Classical conditioning
- Vicarious reinforcement (Correct answer)
- Negative reinforcement
- Punishment by removal
Correct answer: Vicarious reinforcement
Vicarious reinforcement occurs when observing another person being rewarded increases the observer's likelihood of performing the same behavior.
Question 2: A teacher systematically reduces the amount of help given to students as their skill increases. This instructional approach is called:
- Differentiated instruction
- Fading (Correct answer)
- Chaining
- Shaping
Correct answer: Fading
Fading is the gradual withdrawal of prompts and support as the learner becomes more proficient, a technique rooted in behavioral and cognitive theories.
Question 3: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs suggests that a student who is hungry and feels physically unsafe will most likely:
- Be highly motivated to learn for self-actualization
- Focus primarily on social belonging needs
- Have difficulty engaging in academic tasks (Correct answer)
- Show increased intrinsic motivation
Correct answer: Have difficulty engaging in academic tasks
Deficiency needs such as physiological safety must be met before a student can engage effectively with higher-level cognitive and academic tasks.
Question 4: Which concept from Carol Dweck's research refers to the belief that intelligence is fixed and cannot be meaningfully changed?
- Growth mindset
- Self-efficacy
- Fixed mindset (Correct answer)
- Learned helplessness
Correct answer: Fixed mindset
A fixed mindset is the belief that abilities are innate and static, leading students to avoid challenges that might reveal their perceived limitations.
Question 5: A student repeatedly fails math tests and stops trying altogether, saying 'I'm just bad at math.' This pattern best exemplifies:
- Learned helplessness (Correct answer)
- Reactive attachment
- Negative self-concept only
- Attribution retraining
Correct answer: Learned helplessness
Learned helplessness occurs when repeated failure leads a student to believe that outcomes are uncontrollable, resulting in passive disengagement.
Question 6: According to information processing theory, which memory system holds information for only a few seconds with very limited capacity?
- Long-term memory
- Working memory
- Sensory register (Correct answer)
- Episodic memory
Correct answer: Sensory register
The sensory register (or sensory memory) briefly holds environmental input for less than a second to a few seconds before it decays or is transferred.
Question 7: When a teacher praises effort rather than intelligence after a student succeeds, the teacher is applying which research-based strategy?
- Token economy reinforcement
- Process praise to support growth mindset (Correct answer)
- Extrinsic motivation theory
- Behavior modification through shaping
Correct answer: Process praise to support growth mindset
Process praise focuses on effort and strategies, which Dweck's research shows promotes a growth mindset and resilience in the face of challenge.
FED (Psychological) 3
A student who watches a peer receive praise for organized notes and then begins organizing her own notes is demonstrating: