Free EPPP Test Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior Questions and Answers — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A college student is injected with epinephrine, causing an increased heart rate and respiration. The student is then placed in a room with a confederate who is acting euphorically. Subsequently, the student reports feeling happy. This outcome is best explained by which theory of emotion?
- James-Lange Theory
- Cannon-Bard Theory
- Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory (Correct answer)
- Lazarus's Cognitive-Mediational Theory
Correct answer: Schachter-Singer Two-Factor Theory
The Schachter-Singer Two-Factor theory posits that emotion results from two factors: physiological arousal and a cognitive label for that arousal. In this classic experimental paradigm, the student experienced undifferentiated arousal from the epinephrine and used the confederate's euphoric behavior as a contextual cue to label that arousal as happiness. The James-Lange theory would suggest the physiological arousal itself directly causes the emotion, while the Cannon-Bard theory suggests arousal and emotion occur simultaneously but independently. Lazarus's theory emphasizes appraisal of the stimulus itself, which precedes both arousal and emotion.
Question 2: A casino designs a slot machine to pay out jackpots after an unpredictable number of plays. This design is intended to maximize player engagement and persistence. Which schedule of reinforcement is being utilized, and what is its characteristic effect on behavior?
- Fixed-Interval; causes a scalloped pattern of responding.
- Variable-Interval; produces a slow, steady rate of response.
- Fixed-Ratio; produces a high response rate with a post-reinforcement pause.
- Variable-Ratio; produces a high, steady rate of response and is highly resistant to extinction. (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Variable-Ratio; produces a high, steady rate of response and is highly resistant to extinction.
A variable-ratio (VR) schedule provides reinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses. This unpredictability leads to a high, steady rate of responding because the learner is always hopeful the next response will be the one that is reinforced. This schedule is also the most resistant to extinction, which explains the persistence of behaviors like gambling.
Question 3: A client is able to state that Paris is the capital of France but cannot recall any personal experiences of ever visiting the city or learning this specific fact. This client is successfully accessing which type of long-term memory?
- Episodic memory
- Procedural memory
- Implicit memory
- Semantic memory (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Semantic memory
Semantic memory refers to general world knowledge, facts, ideas, and concepts that are not tied to a specific personal experience. The knowledge that Paris is the capital of France is a classic example of semantic memory. Episodic memory involves recalling personal events (e.g., "I remember learning that in my 7th-grade geography class"). Procedural memory involves skills (e.g., riding a bike), and implicit memory is unconscious memory.
Question 4: After watching several vivid news reports about recent airplane crashes, a person decides to drive across the country for their vacation instead of flying, despite statistical evidence showing that driving is significantly more dangerous. This decision-making error is most likely due to the:
- Availability heuristic (Correct answer)
- Representativeness heuristic
- Anchoring and adjustment heuristic
- Confirmation bias
Correct answer: Availability heuristic
The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut where people estimate the likelihood of an event based on how easily examples come to mind. The vivid and recent news reports make plane crashes more 'available' in memory, leading the person to overestimate their probability, even though they are statistically rare compared to car accidents. The representativeness heuristic involves judging probability based on stereotypes or prototypes.
Question 5: According to Deci and Ryan's Self-Determination Theory, which of the following are the three basic, universal psychological needs that are essential for fostering optimal human functioning, well-being, and intrinsic motivation?
- Achievement, power, and affiliation
- Self-actualization, esteem, and belonging
- Autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Correct answer)
- Expectancy, instrumentality, and valence
Correct answer: Autonomy, competence, and relatedness
Self-Determination Theory (SDT) posits that autonomy (the need to control one's own life), competence (the need to be effective in dealing with the environment), and relatedness (the need to have close, affectionate relationships) are the three innate psychological needs. Their satisfaction is crucial for intrinsic motivation and psychological health. The other options list components of different motivation theories (McClelland's theory, Maslow's hierarchy, and Vroom's expectancy theory).
Question 6: A 3-year-old child, who previously used the word "went" correctly, begins to say "I goed to the store." This error, known as overregularization, is significant because it suggests that language acquisition is not solely based on imitation and reinforcement. This phenomenon provides the strongest support for which perspective of language development?
- The behaviorist perspective (Skinner)
- The linguistic relativity hypothesis (Whorf)
- The nativist perspective (Chomsky) (Correct answer)
- The social interactionist perspective (Vygotsky)
Correct answer: The nativist perspective (Chomsky)
Overregularization occurs when children apply a grammatical rule (like adding "-ed" for the past tense) to irregular verbs. This error indicates that the child is actively learning and applying grammatical rules, rather than simply imitating adults (who don't say "goed"). This supports Chomsky's nativist view that humans have an innate capacity for language acquisition (a "language acquisition device") that involves rule-based learning. The behaviorist view would struggle to explain this non-imitated error.
Free EPPP Test Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior Questions and Answers
A college student is injected with epinephrine, causing an increased heart rate and respiration.
The student is then placed in a room with a confederate who is acting euphorically.
Subsequently, the student reports feeling happy.
This outcome is best explained by which theory of emotion?