Question

Mikaya loves to swim in the river near her house. After swimming in the river one afternoon, she saw two alligators by the dock. When she saw them swimming towards her, Mikaya's heart began pounding with fear. Now when she goes near the dock she shakes with fear. Identify the elements of classical conditioning below. UCS

a. alligators UCR
b. dock (before the conditioning) CS
c. dock (after the conditioning) CR
d. shake with fear NS E) heart pounding in fear

Answer 1

Answer: A) Alligators UCS

Answer 2

The answer is:

a) The alligators are the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the alligators are the stimulus in the environment that produced a behavior (fear).

b) The dock, before the conditioning is the neutral stimulus (NS) because it had no effect on Mikaya before the conditioning happened.

c) The dock after the conditioning is the conditioned stimulus (CS) because after the conditioning it is associated with the unconditioned stimulus, in this case the alligators, and now produces the same response, in this case, fear.

d) Shake with fear is the conditioned response (CR) is the response that is produced when the conditioned stimulus (the dock) is associated with the unconditioned stimulus (the alligators).

e) Heart pounding with fear is the unconditioned response (UCR), that is the response that Mikaya experimented before the conditioning, when she first saw the alligators.