Cedrick was harassed by two men at the ATM; one he had seen at an earlier bar fight and one he did not know. Although the men were equally scary, Cedrick developed a much stronger fear of the man whom he had never seen before. This scenario is an example of
A) latent inhibition.
B) blocking.
C) higher-order conditioning.
D) sensory preconditioning.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Latent inhibition refers to the phenomenon where familiarity with a stimulus before it is paired with a response makes it harder for that stimulus to be associated with the response later. In this scenario, Cedrick's prior familiarity with one of the men (seen at an earlier bar fight) made it harder for him to develop fear towards that man compared to the man he had not seen before, illustrating latent inhibition.

Cedrick Was Harassed by Two Men at the ATM; One