Final answer:
Stimulus control is a behavioral concept where responses are influenced by specific environmental stimuli. Over time, individuals learn to respond to certain stimuli and not others, a process known as stimulus discrimination. Signal detection theory relates to how motivation can affect the perception of stimuli.
Step-by-step explanation:
The phenomenon described is known as stimulus control, which is part of behaviorism, a psychological perspective. This concept revolves around our behaviors being influenced by environmental stimuli. Our responses to green lights and ringing phones are conditioned reactions to specific stimuli. The way individuals learn to respond to certain stimuli and not others can be explained by stimulus discrimination. Over time, an association between a stimulus and a response is learned, such as picking up a phone only when it rings. This is because the ringing serves as a signal that a call is incoming, which is the conditioned stimulus that prompts the conditioned response of answering the call.
In contrast, this learned behavior is distinct from innate behaviors, which are inherently present in an organism without prior learning. These behaviors form part of the subject's natural response to their environment. Signal detection theory further explores how motivation can affect perception, allowing individuals to perceive meaningful stimuli amidst a background of noise, which demonstrates the finely tuned nature of stimulus control.