Question

Instructions: For each of the following learning examples, classical conditioning is at work. In each example, identify the unconditioned stimulus (US), conditioned stimulus (CS), unconditioned response (UR) and conditioned response (CR).

1. Jonathan loves spicy dood! Last week he ate at Tia Mexicna three times and literally perspired from the hot spices. Yesterday, as he drove past the restaurant, Jonathan began to perspire profusely.

2. When he was just a puppy, Barney’s cruel owner took him out hunting and fired his shotgun right next to Barney’s car. Barney’s new owner notices that whenever there’s a thunderstorm, Barney hides under the bed and whimpers until the storm passes.

3. Jeremiah is six months old. His mother warns his bottles in the microwave. Whenever the bell on the microwave rings, Jeremiah begins to drool.

4. Tiffany was playing with her cousin. Suddenly her cousin let out a horrifying scream and cried, “A bee!” She yanked Tiffany by the arm and dragged her brutally into the house. Now Tiffany is refusing to go outside to play, claiming she is afraid of “the bees.”

5. Serita had to give a speech for English class. She was so nervous she thought she was going to be sick. Shanelle was sitting in the front row wearing “Twilight” perfume (too much Twilight perfume). Even though her speech was over, for three days, whenever Serita smelled Shanelle’s perfume, she felt extremely nervous and sick to her stomach.

6. George had an unfortunate accident. While shaving one morning his electric razor shorted out and burned a large parch of whiskers of his chin. Now George displays a fear of electric toasters, coffee makers, and toaster ovens.

7. After a cat is exposed to repeated pairings of an electrical shock and a yellow light, the cat’s heart races whenever a yellow light is presented.

8. Marge fixed Mr. Lee her special recipe meatloaf---convinced tat he would beg for more. Several hours later, Mr. Lee felt very ill. He immediately blamed on Marge’s meatloaf and told her he would never eat it again.

Answer 1

Let’s begin by understanding the terms in classical conditioning given by Ivan Pavlow - unconditioned stimulus (US), conditioned stimulus (CS), unconditioned response (UR) and conditioned response (CR).

Unconditioned stimulus (US) and unconditioned response (UR) are linked closely. For example, when you drive by food stalls, you feel hungry. Here the sight and smell of food is the stimulus and hunger is the response. Simply put, the natural conditions in the environment are the unconditioned stimulus and the reflexive/ obvious response to this stimulus is the unconditioned response.

Conditioned stimulus (CS) is when a natural stimulus is used again and again in training to elicit a specific, learned response. This learned response is the conditioned response (CR). For example, when someone intentionally drives past a food stall, it is a conditioned stimulus and the learned response over a period of time is feeling hungry/ salivating/ craving for food.

Look at example 1. Jonathan’s love for spicy food is natural. This is the unconditioned stimulus (US). Sweating while eating spicy food is a natural response and learned response here and thus qualify as an unconditioned response (UR) & a conditioned response (CR).

Apply this same logic to the other examples. Good Luck!