Question

When Micah was 2 years old, he was frightened by his Aunt Mabel's little dog, which had nipped him on the leg. Because of the incident, Micah developed a strong fear of small dogs but not of large dogs. This best illustrates which of the following?

Answer 1

Answer:

Stimulus discrimination

Explanation:

Stimulus discrimination is referred to the ability for an individual or animal, as the case may be, to discriminate between two different stimuli and react differently. From the question, Micah was frightened by a little dog when he was 2 years old. The stimulus in this example will be Micah's fear of little dogs. The question clearly stated that Micah does not fear large dogs, which means that he reacts differently to a different stimulus (large dogs). If Micah responds with fear when he sees large dogs, then this phenomenon will be known as Stimulus generalization. The difference between stimulus discrimination and stimulus generalization is that while discrimination entail differing response to different stimuli, generalization entails same response to different stimuli.