Steve seeks therapy because he gets sexually aroused by women's shoes. At each therapy session, he fondles women's shoes and then drinks ipecac, a drug that causes him to become nauseated and vomit a few minutes later. After several sessions of pairing the shoes and vomiting, Steve is no longer aroused by women's shoes, but instead becomes nauseated in their presence. According to classical conditioning theory, the ipecac in this example is the ________ and his nausea in the presence of shoes is the ________.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The ipecac, which naturally causes nausea, serves as the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) because it elicits a response without prior conditioning. The nausea Steve experiences in the presence of women's shoes after conditioning is the conditioned response (CR), as it is a learned response to the previously neutral stimulus (the shoes).

Steve Seeks Therapy Because He Gets Sexually Aroused by Women's