Pavlov placed meat powder in the mouths of the dogs, and they began to salivate. Pavlov's student noticed that after a few days the dogs began to salivate at the sound of the student's footsteps. The salivation to the sound of the footsteps was a _______.
A) primary reinforcer
B) positive reinforcer
C) conditioned response
D) secondary reinforcer

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The salivation to the sound of the footsteps is a conditioned response, meaning it was a learned response associated with a previously neutral stimulus (the sound of the student's footsteps) that became associated with the meat powder (an unconditioned stimulus) through repeated pairing. The other options are incorrect because a primary reinforcer is an innate, biologically-based reinforcer (like food or water), a positive reinforcer is a stimulus that increases the likelihood of a behavior being repeated (like receiving praise for good work), and a secondary reinforcer is a learned reinforcer associated with a primary reinforcer (like money, which can be exchanged for primary reinforcers like food or water).

Pavlov Placed Meat Powder in the Mouths of the Dogs