AP PSYCHOLOGY

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LEARNING

HOW WE LEARN AND CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
Mary’s cat runs to the back door when the microwave bell sounds as this usually signals that her dinner is about to be served. The cat also runs to the back door when Mary’s doorbell rings. Mary’s cat is demonstrating an example of
A
stimulus discrimination
B
stimulus generalisation
C
spontaneous recovery
D
extinction
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -A neutral stimulus is a stimulus that at first elicits no response. Pavlov introduced the ringing of the bell as a neutral stimulus. An unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus that leads to an automatic response. In Pavlov’s experiment, the food was the unconditioned stimulus.

Detailed explanation-2: -After a few pairings the dogs salivated when they heard the bell even when no food was given. The bell had become the conditioned stimulus and salivation had become the conditioned response.

Detailed explanation-3: -For example, whenever you come home wearing a baseball cap, you take your child to the park to play. So, whenever your child sees you come home with a baseball cap, he is excited because he has associated your baseball cap with a trip to the park. This learning by association is classical conditioning.

Detailed explanation-4: -Those principles are: acquisition, extinction, spontaneous recovery, stimulus generalization, and stimulus discrimination.

There is 1 question to complete.
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