Wendy went out with her officemates for snacks and drinks and became violently ill shortly afterward.She attributed her sickness to the food she ate,and if we could zoom ahead in her life,we'd likely find that she will never eat that food again.Meanwhile,of all the events at the restaurant that she could have associated with the sickness (i.e.,the background music,the server,the lighting,the smell in the air,etc.),she associated it with the food.This suggests that
A) Wendy is fixated on food and as such is more likely to learn associations about food than other stimuli.
B) we habituate more readily to some stimuli than others.
C) we have a biological preparedness to make certain associations more readily than others.
D) the meal was more salient of a stimulus than the lightning or the background music.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This suggests that we have a biological preparedness to make certain associations more readily than others. Wendy's association between the food and her illness is likely due to an evolutionary advantage to quickly learn to avoid potentially harmful foods. This is a form of classical conditioning, where the unconditioned stimulus (the food) leads to an unconditioned response (the sickness), and over time, the conditioned stimulus (the food) becomes associated with the unconditioned response, leading to a conditioned response (avoidance of the food).

Wendy Went Out with Her Officemates for Snacks and Drinks