Classical Conditioning Examples
Identify the UCS, UCR, CS, CR

Read the following scenarios. Identify which items are the conditioned or unconditioned stimuli or responses. To check your answers, place the curser over the word--if it is one of the targets, it will tell you the correct classification. In addition, look for examples of extinction or generalization when they occur.

1. Fred has a fluffy down pillow with some of the down sticking out of the fabric. When he first tries out the pillow, a piece of down tickles his nose and he sneezes. This happens every time he goes to bed. Soon he sneezes every time he lays down on any kind of pillow.

2. Every time you take a shower, someone in the house flushes the toilet causing the water to turn cold and you to become cold.  Now every time you hear a toilet flush, you get cold.

3. It is springtime and the pollen from the flowers causes you to sneeze.  Soon you are sneezing every time you see a flower.

4. In order to treat bedwetting, a pad that is sensitive to dampness is placed under the sheets.  When this pad becomes wet, it sounds an alarm and you wakeup.  Eventually you don't need the alarm to wake up and your full bladder will wake you up.

5. People receiving chemotherapy often vomit during or shortly after the procedure.  After several chemotherapy sessions, people begin feeling sick at the sight of the treatment room.

6. Often times physicians will give treatments that make people feel uncomfortable (a shot for example).  After this happens several times, people will begin feeling uncomfortable at the sight of anyone in a white lab coat.

7. Your significant other often yells at you and makes you feel bad. Pretty soon you can't stand the look of that person and end the relationship.  You meet another person who looks like your ex. Although they seem nice, you find yourself feeling bad every time you are around them.

8. The sight of food makes you hungry.  Soon every time you go into the kitchen, you feel hungry.

9. One of your friends drinks several Red Bull energy drinks while eating pepperoni pizza.  After becoming sick, she refuses to eat pepperoni pizza.

10. You meet a new person who is an excellent cook. After a few superb meals you find yourself liking that person very much.

11. Whenever you see a scary movie, you always eat a box of thin mints. Now you find that just seeing thin mints makes you feel scared.

12. Whenever you go to bed you fall asleep very quickly. One week you have a lot of stress and instead of falling asleep you lie awake several nights in a row. Now, even though the stress is gone, you have difficulty sleeping in your bed. Eventually, after several nights without stress, you fall to sleep quickly.