Which of the following scenarios best illustrates classical conditioning?

• A. A person avoids touching a hot stove after being burned once.
• B. A dog salivates when it hears a bell because the bell has been repeatedly paired with food.
• C. A child learns to ride a bicycle by watching an older sibling.
• D. A student studies harder after receiving praise for good grades.

Answer: (B)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Understand the concept of classical conditioning. Classical conditioning is a learning process where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus, eventually triggering a similar response. This was first described by Ivan Pavlov in his experiments with dogs.
2. Step 2: Identify the key elements of classical conditioning: the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that naturally triggers a response, the unconditioned response (UCR) which is the natural reaction, the conditioned stimulus (CS) which is initially neutral, and the conditioned response (CR) which is the learned response to the CS.
3. Step 3: Analyze each scenario to see if it involves a neutral stimulus becoming associated with an unconditioned stimulus to produce a conditioned response. For example, in the dog salivating scenario, the bell (neutral stimulus) is paired repeatedly with food (unconditioned stimulus), causing the dog to salivate (conditioned response) when hearing the bell alone.
4. Step 4: Compare the other scenarios to classical conditioning. Avoiding a hot stove after being burned is an example of operant conditioning (learning from consequences), learning to ride a bike by watching is observational learning, and studying harder after praise is operant conditioning involving reinforcement.
5. Step 5: Conclude that the scenario where the dog salivates at the sound of a bell best illustrates classical conditioning because it clearly shows the association between a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus leading to a learned response.