Two-year-old Rick was playing with a balloon when it burst and made an extremely loud noise, causing him to cry. Now, whenever Rick sees a balloon, he becomes frightened. In this situation, the fear produced by the sight of the balloon is the
A) unconditioned response.
B) conditioned stimulus.
C) conditioned response.
D) unconditioned stimulus.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The fear that Rick experiences when he sees a balloon is a learned response, which means it is not automatic. It is a result of the association formed between the balloon bursting (unconditioned stimulus) and the fear response (unconditioned response). Over time, the sight of the balloon (conditioned stimulus) became associated with the fear response, and as a result, Rick now experiences fear (conditioned response) when he sees balloons.

Two-Year-Old Rick Was Playing with a Balloon When It Burst