Question

In response to cutting up an onion, airborne irritants released by the onion will cause your eyes to automatically water or produce tears. Using Pavlov's terminology, the tears would be termed a(n):

a. conditioned stimulus (CS).
b. conditioned response (CR).
c. unconditioned stimulus (UCS).
d. unconditioned response (UCR).

Answer 1

The tears produced from cutting an onion are considered an unconditioned response (UCR) (option d), as they are a natural, reflexive action to the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) (option c) of the onion's airborne irritants.

Step-by-step explanation:

In response to the cutting up of an onion, the airborne irritants released are an unconditioned stimulus (UCS), and the automatic tearing or watering of the eyes is an unconditioned response (UCR). This physiological reaction happens naturally without prior learning or conditioning. Therefore, when relating to Pavlov's classical conditioning terminology, the tears would be appropriately termed a(n) unconditioned response (UCR) since they are an automatic, reflexive reaction to the stimulus (onion irritants) not requiring prior conditioning. This would be analogous to the unconditioned response of the dogs (salivation) in Pavlov's experiments when they were presented with meat powder, the unconditioned stimulus.