CLEP Psychology 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In classical conditioning, salivation to a bell that was previously paired with food is an example of:
- An unconditioned response
- A conditioned response (Correct answer)
- Operant reinforcement
- Latent learning
Correct answer: A conditioned response
Salivation to the bell is a conditioned response — it was learned through repeated pairing of the neutral stimulus (bell) with the unconditioned stimulus (food).
Question 2: Which reinforcement schedule produces behavior most resistant to extinction?
- Fixed-ratio schedule
- Fixed-interval schedule
- Variable-ratio schedule (Correct answer)
- Continuous reinforcement schedule
Correct answer: Variable-ratio schedule
Variable-ratio schedules deliver reinforcement after an unpredictable number of responses, producing the highest response rates and greatest resistance to extinction — similar to gambling.
Question 3: According to Piaget, object permanence — knowing an object exists even when out of sight — develops during the:
- Preoperational stage
- Sensorimotor stage (Correct answer)
- Concrete operational stage
- Formal operational stage
Correct answer: Sensorimotor stage
Object permanence develops during the sensorimotor stage (birth to approximately age 2), as infants begin to form mental representations of objects.
Question 4: According to Craik and Lockhart's levels-of-processing model, which type of encoding produces the most durable memory?
- Visual encoding based on word shape
- Acoustic encoding based on how words sound
- Semantic encoding based on meaning (Correct answer)
- Episodic encoding of personal events
Correct answer: Semantic encoding based on meaning
Semantic processing — encoding the meaning of information — creates the deepest level of processing and produces the strongest, most durable memory traces.
Question 5: The serial position effect in memory research refers to the finding that:
- Only the middle items of a list are remembered well
- Items at the beginning and end of a list are recalled better than middle items (Correct answer)
- Repeated items are always remembered best
- Items that rhyme are easier to recall
Correct answer: Items at the beginning and end of a list are recalled better than middle items
The serial position effect combines the primacy effect (first items rehearsed into long-term memory) and the recency effect (last items still in working memory), both yielding better recall than middle items.
Question 6: Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is defined as:
- The geographic zone optimal for cognitive development
- The range of tasks a child can perform completely independently
- The gap between what a child can do alone and what they can achieve with guided assistance (Correct answer)
- The age range during which formal schooling is most effective
Correct answer: The gap between what a child can do alone and what they can achieve with guided assistance
The ZPD represents skills just beyond a learner's independent ability but achievable with support from a more knowledgeable other, highlighting the role of social interaction in learning.
Question 7: The 'cocktail party effect' is a demonstration of:
- The limits of divided attention
- Selective attention to personally relevant stimuli (Correct answer)
- The attentional blink phenomenon
- Inattentional blindness
Correct answer: Selective attention to personally relevant stimuli
The cocktail party effect shows that people can selectively attend to their own name or meaningful information even amid competing noise, demonstrating selective attention.
CLEP Psychology 2
In classical conditioning, salivation to a bell that was previously paired with food is an example of: