Six-year-old Kristen is afraid of balloons because a balloon once popped in her face while she was holding it.Last week she went to the circus and there was a clown holding a huge assortment of helium balloons.Now she is also afraid of clowns,even though none of the balloons the clown was holding popped.Kristen's fear of clowns illustrates which classical conditioning process

Question

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Kristen's fear of balloons was originally conditioned through direct association (classical conditioning) between the popping balloon and the loud noise and physical discomfort it caused her. However, her fear has now been generalized to the clown, even though the clown itself did not cause any negative experience. This is an example of higher-order conditioning, where the conditioned response (fear) is transferred from the original conditioned stimulus (balloon) to a new stimulus (clown) that is associated with the original stimulus.

Six-Year-Old Kristen Is Afraid of Balloons Because a Balloon Once