John B.Watson offered a live white rat to Little Albert and then made a loud noise behind his head by striking a steel bar with a hammer.The white rat served as the __________ in his study.
A)discriminative stimulus
B)counterconditioning stimulus
C)conditioned stimulus
D)unconditioned stimulus

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

In classical conditioning, the conditioned stimulus (CS) is a previously neutral stimulus that, after becoming associated with the unconditioned stimulus (UCS), elicits a conditioned response (CR). In this case, the white rat initially had no emotional significance to Little Albert - it was a neutral stimulus. But after being repeatedly paired with the loud noise (which served as an unconditioned stimulus - UCS), the rat became associated with fear and began to elicit a fear response (the conditioned response - CR) in Little Albert. Therefore, the white rat served as the conditioned stimulus (CS) in this study.

John BWatson Offered a Live White Rat to Little Albert and and Then