Stuart has a rather unusual fear _____________. He is afraid of public speaking, but only when he has to make speeches on the weekend. He is a professor and has no trouble speaking in front of large groups of students, and he has made effective presentations at conferences, as long as he presents on a weekday. The specificity of Stuart's fear most clearly demonstrates the process of _____________.
A)escape conditioning
B)avoidance conditioning
C)stimulus generalization
D)discrimination

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Stuart's fear is specific to making speeches on the weekend, showing he can discriminate between different situations (weekend vs. weekday speeches). This specificity illustrates the process of discrimination, where a response is conditioned to occur in the presence of a specific stimulus but not in its absence.

Stuart Has a Rather Unusual Fear _____________