Final answer:
To stop a dog from barking at the mailman, pulling the curtains is an example of extinction in classical conditioning, where removing the conditioned stimulus leads to a decrease in the conditioned response.
Step-by-step explanation:
The suggestion to pull the curtains to prevent a dog from barking at the mailman is an attempt to break a conditioned response through a process known as extinction. In classical conditioning, extinction occurs when the conditioned stimulus (here, the mailman) is presented without the unconditioned stimulus (the excitement or alarm the dog feels that triggers the barking), leading to a gradual decrease in the conditioned response.
In practical terms, preventing the dog from seeing the mailman removes the opportunity for the conditioned response (barking) to be triggered. Over time, if the dog no longer experiences the trigger associated with the mailman, the dog's barking response might decrease or stop entirely as the association weakens.
Another example of this principle is if you had a cat named Tiger that was conditioned to associate the sound of a can opener with receiving food. If you were to use the can opener without providing food to Tiger, eventually the cat's response to the can opener (expecting food) would diminish, illustrating the same concept of extinction.