Although Little Albert was classically conditioned to fear a rat, he also began to fear dogs, rabbits, and a Santa Claus mask. This is an example of
a. stimulus generalization
b. reconditioning
c. stimulus discrimination
d. spontaneous recovery
The correct answer and explanation is :
The correct answer is a. stimulus generalization.
Explanation:
Stimulus generalization occurs when a response that has been conditioned to one stimulus is also triggered by stimuli that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus. In the case of Little Albert, he was initially conditioned to fear a white rat through classical conditioning. The researchers paired the rat (the neutral stimulus) with a loud, frightening sound (the unconditioned stimulus), which naturally caused Little Albert to experience fear (the unconditioned response). After several pairings, the rat became a conditioned stimulus, and Little Albert learned to fear it.
However, following the conditioning, Little Albert did not only fear the rat. He began to show fear responses to similar stimuli, such as dogs, rabbits, and even a Santa Claus mask. This is an example of stimulus generalization, where the conditioned fear response was not limited to the rat but was extended to other stimuli that resembled the rat in some way (e.g., white, furry objects).
Stimulus generalization highlights the tendency of organisms to respond in a similar way to stimuli that share characteristics with the original stimulus, even if those stimuli were not directly associated with the unconditioned stimulus.
This phenomenon is critical in understanding how fears and phobias can spread to other objects or situations that are similar to the original source of fear. In Little Albert’s case, the fear of the rat generalized to other furry or white objects, demonstrating how the conditioned fear response could be applied to various stimuli beyond the original one.
In contrast, stimulus discrimination (answer choice c) refers to the ability to distinguish between different stimuli and respond only to the specific one that was conditioned. Reconditioning (answer choice b) would involve re-associating the conditioned stimulus with the unconditioned stimulus to undo or alter the learned behavior. Spontaneous recovery (answer choice d) is the reappearance of a conditioned response after a period of extinction, but this does not fit the scenario described with Little Albert.