Bryson was 3 when his neighbors house burned down. he heard the loud sirens and saw the fire and trembled with fear. now he's st
arting preschool. be heard the loud bell ring and associates it with the fire and fire trucks and begins to tremble. in this setting the sound of the bell is: a) a neutral response
b) a neutral stimulus
c) an unconditioned response
d) a conditioned stimulus
In psychology and behavior, a conditioned stimulus refers to a stimulus that can be a sound, image, situation, etc. that leads to a non-natural response as the response as well as the stimulus have been conditioned through specific experiences. This also means a conditioned stimulus was once a neutral stimulus that did not lead to a response. In the case of Bryson, the bell is a conditioned stimulus, because before the fire this was a neutral stimulus which means when Bryson heard the bell he did not have a specific response; however, due to the fire the sound of the bell triggers a specific fear response and therefore the stimulus has been conditioned due to a specific experience.
