Final answer:
Acquisition in classical conditioning occurs when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. Generalization, discrimination, extinction, and spontaneous recovery are all processes that can be applied to the example of waking up to an alarm clock.
Step-by-step explanation:
Acquisition in classical conditioning occurs when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus. For example, when you wake up at 7:00 a.m. to the sound of an alarm clock, your body learns to associate the sound of the alarm clock (neutral stimulus) with waking up (unconditioned response).
Generalization happens when an organism responds to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus. In this case, you might also wake up to other similar sounds, such as ringing bells or buzzing alarms.
Discrimination occurs when an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar. For example, you may learn to only wake up to the specific sound of your alarm clock, while ignoring other similar sounds.
Extinction occurs when the conditioned response weakens or disappears after the conditioned stimulus is repeatedly presented without the unconditioned stimulus. If you consistently wake up to the sound of your alarm clock, but stop setting the alarm, eventually you may stop waking up at 7:00 a.m. when you hear the sound.
Spontaneous recovery is when the previously extinct conditioned response reappears after a break or pause from conditioning. In this case, if you took a break from setting the alarm clock, but later set it again, you may find that you start waking up at 7:00 a.m. when you hear the sound of the alarm clock.