Question

Learning Essay Question.

A small girl visited the Science Center to view a tarantula, and as she did so, her brother screamed in her ear and pinched her. A few days later, her brother did the same thing when she viewed a tarantula at a zoo exhibit. Now the young girl is terrified of tarantulas. Briefly explain the learning that took place.

Review the US, UR, CS, and CR. Include the following terms in your discussion, and predict the path that the girl's learning may eventually take: acquisition, generalization, discrimination, extinction, and spontaneous recovery.

Answer 1

The US in this scenario is the brother screaming and pinching the little girl’s arm, and that evokes the UR, which is fear and pain. The CS is the tarantula that the little girl sees every time her brother screams and pinches. After two events, the US and CS are paired and therefore the CS now evokes fear and pain (originally the UR, but now the CR). The behavior is acquired because of the two events wherein the US and the CS were paired. We can assume the girl’s learning has been generalized. This is because although the conditioning took place at the scientific exhibit and then the zoo, she is now afraid of tarantulas in general. We can also assume that her ability to discriminate is seen in the fact that she is only scared of tarantulas and not other species of spiders.