You place an empty dog-food dish across the room from a puppy that then goes over to investigate the dish. You pick the dish up and ten minutes later you place it in a different part of the room, and you keep repeating this pattern. After the fifth time the puppy no longer goes over to the empty dish. Which of the following terms best describes this form of learning?

Question

A.  trial and error learning
B.  habituation
C.  classical conditioning
D.  operant conditioning
E.  imprinting


Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?

What type of thinking is required?


Gather Content:
What do you already know about types of learning behaviors? What other information is related to the question? 


Choose Answer:
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?


Reflection on Process:
  Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?

Answer 1

B.  habituation


Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
The question is about the type of learning exhibited in a puppy.

What type of thinking is required?
This is an apply level question. You are being presented with a situation. Using what you know about the different behavioral terminology, you can explain why the puppy loses interest in the food bowl.


Gather Content:
What do you already know about types of learning behaviors? What other information is related to the question? 
This question comes from the section of the textbook that covers the types of learning. In this question you are being asked to apply what you know about the different types of behaviors to the situation of the dog and the food bowl. There is no reward or punishment in this situation, and the food bowl is always empty.


Choose Answer:
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
The initial few presentations of the bowl elicit a reaction, but after multiple presentations the dog stops reacting because there is never anything in the bowl. This is an example of habituation.


Reflection on Process:
  Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
Did you select the correct answer? You needed to take what you know about animal behavior and apply it to this situation to come up with the answer. You needed to breakdown the series of behaviors and look at each part.