Question

identify the elements of classical conditioning in the scenario below. every time you take a shower, someone in the house flushes the toilet. this causes the water to turn cold and you to become cold. now, every time you hear a flush, you get cold.

Answer 1

The scenario illustrates classical conditioning, where the sound of a flushing toilet (conditioned stimulus) becomes associated with the expectation of cold water (conditioned response) due to repeated pairing with the experience of cold water (unconditioned stimulus).

Step-by-step explanation:

In the given scenario, the elements of classical conditioning can be identified as follows: The unconditioned stimulus (UCS) is the sudden cold water when someone flushes the toilet, and the unconditioned response (UCR) is the feeling of coldness when the shower water turns cold. The conditioned stimulus (CS) is the sound of the toilet flushing, and the conditioned response (CR) is the anticipation of feeling cold upon hearing the flush, even without the shower water turning cold.

This process involves an association between the UCS and CS during the acquisition phase, leading to the CR being elicited by the CS alone. Extinction can occur if the flushing is no longer followed by cold water, leading to a decreased CR. The initial learning phase where the association is made is known as acquisition, and timing between the CS and UCS is crucial for conditioning to be established.