Julie has been fearful of men since her first-grade teacher, Mr. Welch, yelled at her several times in front of the whole class. Because Mr. Welch always wears a bow tie, Julie is only fearful of men wearing bow ties. In this example, Julie has just demonstrated
A) shaping.
B) stimulus discrimination.
C) non-associative learning.
D) stimulus generalization.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Julie's fear is only specific to men wearing bow ties, indicating stimulus discrimination. She has learned to distinguish between men wearing bow ties and other men, likely through repeated exposure and negative experiences with Mr. Welch. Shaping involves reinforcing successive approximations of a behavior, non-associative learning refers to changes in behavior due to repeated exposure to a single stimulus, and stimulus generalization involves responding to stimuli that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus. None of these explanations fit Julie's situation as well as stimulus discrimination.

Julie Has Been Fearful of Men Since Her First-Grade Teacher