Question

Suppose a one year old child playing with atoy near an electrical out let. He sticks part of the toy into the outlet. He gets shocked, becomes frightened, and begines to cry. For several days after that experience, he shows fear when his mother gives him the toy and he refuses to play with it. what is the UCS?

UCR? CS? CR?

Answer 1

UCS: Electrical shock

UCR: Crying

CS: Toy

CR: Crying

Step-by-step explanation:

As we can see in the example, the child experiences electrical shock when he plays with his toy, and accidentally sticks a part of the toy to the electrical outlet. Because the boy perceives the toy to be the cause of the electrical shock, which in turn makes him cry; the toy, which was originally a neutral stimulus, becomes a conditioned stimulus because of the association with the electrical shock.

Although it is tempting to say that the UCR/CR is fear, remember that this is a form of classical conditioning, which is part of the behaviorism school of thought. Thus, responses and stimuli can only be determined by observable behaviors as seen in the subjects; when we are using behaviorism principles, we do not make inferences based on what goes on in the subject's minds - including their feelings.