Question

Match the following examples with the corresponding component of classical conditioning. Acquisition, Stimulus generalization, extinction, Stimulus discrimination, Spontaneous recovery.

An individual who associated dogs with being bitten gradually stopped feeling afraid around dogs, but then suddenly experienced intense fear when he came across a dog that looked just like the one that bit him previously

An individual experiences fear during a horror film about a murderer, but realizes this fear is different than the fear that would be experienced if faced with a real murderer or threat

An individual is bit by a specific breed of dog, and associates all dogs with that experience, thus reacting with fear to all dogs

After a car accident, an individual gradually stops feeling afraid while driving when he does not have another accident

An individual eats lunch everyday immediate after a social studies class, and eventually begins to associate the class with lunch. After a few weeks, the individual begins to experience hunger during social studies, even when the class is moved to a later time

Answer 1

An individual is bit by a specific breed of dog, and associates all dogs with that experience, thus reacting with fear to all dogs - Stimulus Generation : The extension of a learned response to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus is called stimulus generation. Fearing a spider and responding the same way to all spiders disregarding the size is another example.

An individual who associated dogs with being bitten gradually stopped feeling afraid around dogs, but then suddenly experienced intense fear when he came across a dog that looked just like the one that bit him previously -Spontaneous Recovery : Spontaneous recovery can be defined as the reappearance of the conditioned response after a rest period.

After a car accident, an individual gradually stops feeling afraid while driving when he does not have another accident - Extinction : If the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are no longer associated, extinction occurs.

An individual eats lunch everyday immediate after a social studies class, and eventually begins to associate the class with lunch. After a few weeks, the individual begins to experience hunger during social studies, even when the class is moved to a later time - Acquisition : In classical conditioning, acquisition refers to when the previously neutral stimulus becomes associated with the unconditioned stimulus and comes to evoke a response when presented. At this point, the unconditioned stimulus becomes known as the conditioned stimulus.

An individual experiences fear during a horror film about a murderer, but realizes this fear is different than the fear that would be experienced if faced with a real murderer or threat- Stimulus Discrimination: Stimulus Discrimination is when we learn to respond only to the original stimulus, and not to other similar stimuli.