Final answer:
The white rat was both a neutral stimulus (NS) and an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) in the Little Albert experiment. It began as an NS and turned into a CS after pairing with the loud noise (UCS). Little Albert's reaction to similar furry objects is an example of stimulus generalization.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the Little Albert experiment conducted by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner, the white rat initially was a neutral stimulus (NS), which means it did not elicit a fear response from Albert. However, after repeatedly pairing the white rat with the loud sound of a hammer hitting a metal bar, which served as the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), the white rat became a conditioned stimulus (CS) as it began to elicit a fear response in Little Albert without the presence of the loud noise. Therefore, the correct answer to the student's question is d) NS and UCS. The white rat was originally an NS and became associated with the loud noise (UCS) to produce a conditioned response (CR), which was fear, initially elicited by the unconditioned response (UCR) to the loud noise.
In relation to question 6, Little Albert's fear of the white rat and subsequent fear of objects resembling the white rat demonstrates stimulus generalization, where a conditioned response is triggered by stimuli similar to the original conditioned stimulus. The answer is d) stimulus generalization.