After two weeks of being screamed at by his drill sergeant at boot camp and shuddering with fear in response, a Marine recruit named Joe now shudders every time he hears the footsteps of his drill sergeant coming down the hall. When the drill sergeant enters the room, Joe snaps to attention and salutes. In this example, shuddering to the sound of the footsteps is _____ and saluting is _____.
A) an operant response in the presence of a discriminative stimulus; a conditioned response
B) an unconditioned response; an example of latent learning
C) a conditioned response; an operant response in the presence of a discriminative stimulus
D) an unconditioned response; an example of learned helplessness

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Shuddering to the sound of the footsteps is a conditioned response because it was learned through classical conditioning - the association between the sound of the footsteps and the fear-inducing drill sergeant. Saluting is an operant response in the presence of a discriminative stimulus - the presence of the drill sergeant. Joe has learned to associate the presence of the drill sergeant with the need to snap to attention and salute, which is an operant response that has been reinforced through the drill sergeant's command to do so. Therefore, choice C is the correct answer.

After Two Weeks of Being Screamed at by His Drill