Question

As a child, you were playing in the yard one day when a neighbor’s cat wandered over. Your mother (who has a terrible fear of animals) screamed and snatched you into her arms. Her behavior caused you to cry. You now have a fear of cats. In this example the conditioned stimulus is:

a. your mother’s behaviorb. your cryingc. the catd. your fear today

Answer 1

C. the cat

Step-by-step explanation:

Conditioned stimulus: In a classical conditioning experiment, the conditioned stimulus is defined as a formerly neutral stimulus that, after being connected or associated with the unconditioned stimulus, automatically comes to prompt a conditioned response.

In the given example:

Conditioned response-Your fear today

Conditioned stimulus-the cat

Unconditioned response-Your crying

Unconditioned stimulus-Your mother's behavior.