Question

Situation # 1 A little girl is very scared of gray cats.

1. Explain how this conditioned emotional response might have developed in terms of Classical Conditioning. In your answer specify: US, UR, NS, CS, CR. Present the sequence of events. US

UR

NS

CS

CR

2. Provide an example of Stimulus Generalization in the context of the conditioned emotional response in Situation # 1.

3. How would you apply the concept of Stimulus Discrimination to Situation # 1?

Answer 1

• 1. In order to develop fear of grey cats(neutral stimulus),the experimenter can introduce a number of furry animals like dogs,rabbits etc and a grey cat.Then make loud, unpleasant noises by clanging a metal bar with a hammer(unconditioned stimuls). The noise would distressing the girl and the experimenter can pair it with the presentation of the grey cat. After repeating it many times,the girl will develop a conditioning to expect the frightening noise whenever the grey cat was presented to her (unconditioned response). Very soon the grey cat alone could induce a fear response in the girl. (conditioned response)
• 2)It could also be found that without need for further conditioning the fear could be generalised to other animals and situations including a dog, rabbit and a grey furry mask worn by experimenter himself.
• 3)If the hammer noise was unconditioned stimulus,discrmination would involve being able to tell the difference between the hammer noise sound and other similar sounds.