Classical Conditioning Questions
1. What is classical conditioning?
2. What famous scientist first studied classical conditioning? __________________
3. A friend has learned to associate the sound of a dentist’s drill to a fearful reaction because of a painful
experience she had getting a root canal. In this example, what is the:
a. UCS? _____________________________________________b. UCR? _____________________________________________
c. CS? _______________________________________________
d. CR? ______________________________________________
(Hint: replace the word “conditioned” with “learned” and it will be easier.)
For each of the following, identify the UCS, UCR, CS, and CR:
4. A BMW commercial has lots of pretty people in it. People who watch the commercial find the people pleasing
to look at. With repeated viewing, they begin to associate the car with the pleasant feeling.
a. UCS? _____________________________________________b. UCR? _____________________________________________
c. CS? _______________________________________________
d. CR? ______________________________________________
5. You get in a car accident and find you are afraid to get in a car.
a. UCS? _____________________________________________b. UCR? _____________________________________________
c. CS? _______________________________________________
d. CR? ______________________________________________
6. You go to a fancy restaurant and decide to try an appetizer you’ve never tried before – escargot. After dinner,
you go to a concert and get violently ill. From then on, you can’t even look at snails without feeling sick.
a. UCS? _____________________________________________b. UCR? _____________________________________________
c. CS? _______________________________________________
d. CR? ______________________________________________
7. You are cruising on 440 at 75 mph when you see flashing police lights behind you. You pull over and the
policeman gives you a ticket. You get in insane amounts of trouble from your parents. The next time you see
flashing police lights, your heart rate speeds up.
a. UCS? _____________________________________________b. UCR? _____________________________________________
c. CS? _______________________________________________
d. CR? ______________________________________________
8. Look at the cartoon below:
a. UCS? _____________________________________________b. UCR? _____________________________________________
c. CS? _______________________________________________
d. CR? ______________________________________________
Exercise 2: Stimulus - Response
Definitions: Stimulus = something that happens TO the person/animal
Response = behavior performed by the person/animal
Identify each of the following as a STIMULUS or RESPONSE.
1. _____ A flashing light
2. _____ Answering this practice exercise
3. _____ A stop sign
4. _____ An ant crawling on your arm
5. _____ Vomiting
6. _____ Coughing
7. _____ The sound of heavy breathing
8. _____ Seeing and smelling a piece of chocolate cake
9. _____ Bad tasting medicine
10. ____ Laughing
11. ____ Screaming
12. ____ A feather tickling your arm
Exercise 3: Types of reinforcement and punishment
In learning theory, remember that positive means adding something and
negative means subtracting something. Reinforcement will increase the
likelihood of a response in the future; punishment will decrease the
likelihood of a response in the future.
Identify each of the following examples as either:
positive reinforcement
negative reinforcement
positive punishment
negative punishment
1. ___________________ Jimmy's father gives him £5 for washing the car.
2. ___________________ Maria was fighting with her sister. Her mother says she can't watch TV tonight.
3. ___________________ Jane is 4 years old. Her mother smacks her for running out into the street.
4. ___________________ Your teacher says you don't have to take the final exam if you have a "B" average at the end of
the semester.
5. ___________________ You receive a £100 incentive bonus from your boss for completing a project early.
6. _________________ You are assigned 10 hours of trash pick up after being caught smoking in the campus library
toilet.
7. _________________ Charlotte’s parents don't allow her to use the family car for 2 weeks after she received a "D" in
her high school chemistry class.
8. _________________ You always put on your seat belt so that the annoying buzzer will stop.
Classical vs. Operant Conditioning
For each of the following learning situations, indicate whether classical or operant conditioning best applies. The, follow
the appropriate instructions below:
Instructions
1. If you decide the situation is an example of classical conditioning, you should label the UCS, UCR, CS, and CR.
2. If you decide the situation is an example of operant conditioning, you should decide which of the following
principles best fits: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, or negative
punishment.
1. A very bright (mildly painful) light is turned on a rat. The rat has learned that he can turn off the light by pressing
a lever on the other side of his cage. As soon as the light comes on, the rat suns across the room and presses
the lever.
2. When a mother strokes her infant’s skin, the stroking creates pleasure responses in the baby. After this goes on
for many days, the baby begins to show pleasure responses simply at the sight of her mother (even before being
touched).
3. A patient in a mental hospital is very disruptive at mealtimes. She grabs food from the plates of those sitting
near her and tries to cram the food in her mouth. Because this behavior of stealing food is very undesirable, a
plan is developed whereby every time the patient steals food from other plates, she is immediately taken to a
room without food.
4. Imagine you have a friend who keeps the temperature in her home so high that each occasion on which you visit
her you find yourself perspiring. The last time you visited her, you noticed that you began to perspire and
became uncomfortable as soon as you saw her house (even before you got inside).
5. Fred leaves his clothes and toys all over his room. It seems that the only time he cleans up his room is when his
mother yells at him. When she yells at him, Fred picks up his clothes and put away his toys.