A person is conditioned to fear white rats. Soon after, she also begins to fear white cats, white dogs, and white rabbits. Her new fears result from ________.
A) response generalization
B) stimulus discrimination
C) stimulus generalization
D) vicarious reinforcement

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The person's new fears (of white cats, white dogs, and white rabbits) result from stimulus generalization, which occurs when a conditioned response to one stimulus is also elicited by similar stimuli. In this case, the similarity of the other animals to the white rat led to a generalization of fear. Response generalization (A) refers to the tendency for the effects of learning to spread from one behavior to another; while stimulus discrimination (B) refers to the ability to distinguish between different stimuli and respond differently to each. Vicarious reinforcement (D) refers to the observation of someone else receiving reinforcement for a behavior, which can influence one's own behavior.

A Person Is Conditioned to Fear White Rats