QCAA Psychology Learning

Generalisation refers to responding to stimuli that are similar to the original conditioned stimulus (e.g., fearing all reptiles, not just the rubber snake). The scenario describes the acquisition of the specific behaviour towards the specific object, not the transfer of that behaviour to other objects.

While vicarious reinforcement involves observing consequences (rewards or punishments) received by the model, the scenario only describes the toddlers observing the mother's reaction (behaviour), not a consequence following that reaction.

Modelling (observational learning) is defined as learning that occurs by watching another person (the model) and then imitating or reproducing their actions, which is exactly what the toddlers did by reacting similarly to their mothers.

This option describes the mechanism of classical conditioning (forming an association between a stimulus and an emotional response). While this explains the nature of the fear, the concept of modelling specifically refers to the process of observing and reproducing the behaviour itself.

Pairing refers to the process of associating a neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus (classical conditioning) or a behavior with a consequence, but it does not describe the specific phenomenon of distinguishing between different stimuli.

Recovery, or spontaneous recovery, refers to the reappearance of a previously extinguished response after a period of time, which is unrelated to the ability to distinguish between light colors.

Generalisation occurs when an organism responds to stimuli that are similar to the conditioned stimulus; in this case, the pigeons did the opposite by responding only to the specific reinforced stimulus.

Stimulus discrimination is the ability to differentiate between specific stimuli, responding only to the stimulus associated with reinforcement (yellow/green light) and not to others (red light).