Sheeba, the dog, hates the vacuum cleaner. Starting the vacuum causes Sheeba to bark, to attempt to attack the vacuum and to go crazy. She even acts the same way when the mixer is turned on. What accounts for her barking at the mixer?

stimulus generalization

Explanation:

Stimulus generalization is the process that occurs when our conditioned reaction to one stimulus is similar to the reaction that revokes other, sometimes identical, stimulus.

In this example, we see that Sheeba is reacting to the sound of the vacuum cleaner, and she started connecting the noise of the vacuum to the noise of the mixer. Therefore, they are generalized stimuli, put in the same category in her consciousness, and awaking the same barking and attacking reaction.