Question

Steve is a conscientious and hard working student with a good attitude. He is a good student but was not in honors classes in the 10th grade. However, because of his excellent work in world history, he has been placed in A.P. American History for the 11th grade. He is filled with uncertainty as he anticipates the first class. Mrs. Marble is standing at the door of the room the first day, and asks the students their names as they come in. After Steve introduces himself, Mrs. Marble smiles broadly and says, "Oh, Steve, I'm very happy to have you in here. Mr. Grants told me about your excellent work last year." Steve felt a big sense of relief. Maybe the year would be OK after all. Each morning Mrs. Marble greeted Steve with the same positive manner as he came into class. Now when Steve walks into American History class, he is quite at ease as he anticipates the class. Consider this as a case of classical conditioning. Of the following, the best description of the conditioned response would be:

Answer 1

Answer:

The best answer to the question, would be: The reaction that is now generated in Steve whenever he enters his AP History class as now he associates it not with fear, stress and insecurity, but rather, with good feelings and a sense of empowerment.

Explanation:

Classical conditioning is a theory in psychology that attempts to explain how human beings adapt and respond to their environment. Classical conditioning has become best known for the "Little Albert" experiment, in which a child was exposed to a series of stimulus to condition his fear response. As the stimuli were presented in succession, accompanied by a second stimulus that generated fear, it was seen that little Albert now associated, and responded, to similar stimulus as the ones that generated fear, without having to be prepared for it. The response had been conditioned into him. In the case of Steve, the process is almost the same, but the response that becomes ingrained in him is a positive one. He first fears his AP class because he does not have the conditions the others do. However, the positive remarks, and constant praise from the teacher, finally transforms Steve´s reaction of fear into one of security and comfort and in the end, now he does not need his teacher to say anything; he already feels secure in his class because he has associated his teacher´s praise with the class itself.