When Inez was four years old, she became terrified when the neighbor's parrot got out of its cage and flew at her unexpectedly. Today she is afraid of all birds, including robins, bluejays, and pigeons. Inez's current fear of all birds illustrates

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The question presents a scenario where Inez was frightened by a neighbor's parrot and now fears all birds, not just that specific parrot. We should evaluate what this pattern demonstrates in terms of classical conditioning concepts.
Option 1: preparedness. This idea suggests an innate bias to fear certain categories of stimuli due to evolutionary history, such as snakes or spiders. While preparedness can influence what fears are more easily learned, the stem describes a generalization from one bird to all birds rather than an innate predisposition toward birds specifically. Therefore, this option doesn’t best capture the described generalization.
Option 2: stimulus generalization. This concept occurs when a response learned to one stimulus is elicited by similar stimuli. In this case, fear of one bird (the parrot) spreads to all birds (robins, bluejays, pigeons). This aligns precisely with stimulus generalization, making it a strong candidate for the correct interpretation.
Option 3: negative avoidance. This term would refer to avoiding an aversive stimulus as a consequence of its unpleasant properties, often via negative reinforcement. While Inez indeed avoids birds, the core idea being tested is the generalization of fear to all birds, not simply avoidance behavior in response to an aversive event. So this option doesn’t fit the scenario as well as stimulus generalization.
Option 4: stimulus discrimination. This is the opposite of generalization: recognizing and responding differently to different, even similar, stimuli. Since Inez responds to all birds similarly rather than distinguishing between them, this option is incorrect here.
In summary, option 2 best captures the mechanism at work—her fear has generalized from a single bird to all birds—whereas the other options describe related but incorrect or less applicable processes. The distinctions hinge on generalization versus preparedness, avoidance interpretation, and discrimination between stimuli.

When Inez was four years old, she became terrified when the neighbor's parrot got out of its cage and flew at her unexpectedly. Today she is afraid of all birds, including robins, bluejays, and pigeons. Inez's current fear of all birds illustrates

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