As a child, Mary always had an unpleasant time whenever she visited her cousins. In addition, most of the times she visited, her aunt would serve meatloaf for dinner. As an adult, Mary hates meatloaf. She doesn't even have a conscious recognition that she associates meatloaf with the nasty way her cousins treated her. If her dislike of meatloaf were classically conditioned, the meatloaf would be the
A) unconditioned stimulus.
B) unconditioned response.
C) conditioned response.
D) conditioned stimulus.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

In this scenario, the meatloaf is the conditioned stimulus because it has become associated with the negative experiences Mary had with her cousins, which elicits a negative response or conditioned response (her dislike of meatloaf). The unpleasant experiences and negative feelings associated with her cousins and their behavior would be the unconditioned stimulus, while her negative reaction to those experiences would be the unconditioned response.

As a Child, Mary Always Had an Unpleasant Time Whenever