John Watson and Rosalie Rayner (1920) conditioned baby Albert to fear a white rat by pairing it with a loud noise that Albert already feared. After the conditioning had taken place, the researchers also found that Albert was afraid of furry white and gray objects, such as a rabbit and a Santa Claus mask. The fact that Albert was afraid of these additional items demonstrated that: A. stimulus generalization had occurred. B. discrimination had occurred. C. extinction had occurred. D. higher-order conditioning had occurred

Question

Biology

Shyanne Mcmahon

26 June, 10:11

John Watson and Rosalie Rayner (1920) conditioned baby Albert to fear a white rat by pairing it with a loud noise that Albert already feared. After the conditioning had taken place, the researchers also found that Albert was afraid of furry white and gray objects, such as a rabbit and a Santa Claus mask. The fact that Albert was afraid of these additional items demonstrated that: A. stimulus generalization had occurred. B. discrimination had occurred. C. extinction had occurred. D. higher-order conditioning had occurred

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Austin · Answer 1

D. higher-order conditioning had occurred

Explanation:

Higher Order Conditioning is a classic Pavlov conditioning term that refers to a situation in which a previously neutral stimulus is paired with a conditioned stimulus to produce the same conditioned response as the conditioned stimulus.

In the case of the experiment conducted by John Watson and Rosalie Rayner, baby Albert was subjected to a situation in the presence of a stimulus that was previously neutral (the presence of a white rat that did not generate fear in the baby), paired with a conditioned stimulus (the loud sound that frightened the baby) so that the baby would associate the sound with the hairy animal's presence and have the same response to both stimuli.