John Watson offered a live, white rat to Little Albert and then made a loud noise behind his head by striking a steel bar with a hammer. The white rat served as the ________ in his study.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

In classical conditioning, the conditioned stimulus (CS) is the neutral stimulus that becomes associated with the unconditioned stimulus (US) to elicit a conditioned response (CR). In this case, the white rat was initially a neutral stimulus, but after being paired with the loud noise (US), it became a conditioned stimulus (CS) that elicited a fear response (CR) in Little Albert.

John Watson Offered a Live, White Rat to Little Albert