Question

Three-year-old Daniel fell and cut his chin and required several stitches. The medical personnel in the emergency room who assisted in the suturing wore white coats. When Daniel went to the store and saw a butcher in a white apron, he began to cry with fear. This is an example of ________.

Answer 1

This is an example of Classical Conditioning.

Step-by-step explanation:

Classical Conditioning is the perspective by which different types of stimulus are used in order to trigger certain responses.

The process goes as follows:

1. An individual is presented with an unconditioned stimulus which creates an unconditioned response.
2. A neutral stimulus creates no response but when it's combined with the unconditioned stimulus, it becomes a conditioned stimulus which generates a conditioned response.

In this case, Daniel's fear is the unconditioned response and the unconditioned stimulus is the pain from the suture. The neutral stimulus is the white coat so now when Daniel sees someone else with a white coat such as the butcher, it triggers his now conditioned response since the white coat has turned into a conditioned stimulus. Even though Daniel is not in pain from the sutures anymore, his fear triggers.