After getting food poisoning from the lunch cafeteria, Rodney now gets nauseous when he walks by and smells the food. What was the unconditioned stimulus in this scenario?
A) smell of the food
B) bad food
C) getting sick from the food
D) getting nauseous from the smells

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The unconditioned stimulus is the bad food that caused the food poisoning. This is the stimulus that naturally and automatically caused a physiological response (getting sick). The other options (smell of the food, getting nauseous from the smells) are conditioned stimuli, meaning they only caused a response (nausea) after being associated with the unconditioned stimulus (bad food).

After Getting Food Poisoning from the Lunch Cafeteria, Rodney Now