AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -An unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus that leads to an automatic response. In Pavlov’s experiment, the food was the unconditioned stimulus. An unconditioned response is an automatic response to a stimulus. The dogs salivating for food is the unconditioned response in Pavlov’s experiment.

Detailed explanation-2: -Using the terminology of the classical conditioning paradigm, the conditioned stimulus (CS) is a learned stimulus that can eventually trigger a conditioned response. For example, the sound of a bell is the conditioned stimulus in Pavlov’s experiment, and the dogs salivating would be the conditioned response.

Detailed explanation-3: -Conditioned stimulus vs unconditioned stimulus The main difference between a conditioned and unconditioned stimulus is that an unconditioned stimulus is a reflexive response that can naturally trigger biologically involuntary behavior while a conditioned stimulus can only do this after conditioning.

Detailed explanation-4: -Definition. An unconditioned response is a response that is reflexive and involuntary in nature, which is reliably induced every time an organism comes across to biologically significant stimuli.