Lily, a 1-year-old girl, notices that Kirsten, her mother's friend, often visits them. She knows that her mother accompanies Kirsten every time Kirsten leaves the house. Lily always cries when the ladies go out. One day, seeing Kirsten at the door, Lily starts crying. In the context of the behaviorist approach to cognitive development, Lily's behavior most likely exemplifies

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Lily has learned to associate Kirsten's visits with her mother leaving, which causes her to cry. This is an example of classical conditioning, where an unconditioned stimulus (mother leaving) that naturally causes an emotional response (crying) is paired with a neutral stimulus (Kirsten's visits), which then becomes a conditioned stimulus eliciting the same emotional response.

Lily, a 1-Year-Old Girl, Notices That Kirsten, Her Mother's Friend