Use Rescorla-Wagner model : A man has a fear reaction when he sees a piece of ma

Question

Use Rescorla-Wagner model : A man has a fear reaction when he sees a piece of mail from his credit card company, because every time he opens these envelopes he sees big balances that he has trouble paying off. However, when the outside of the envelope also has big lettering saying “Special Offer For You,” it is just an advertisement, and there is no bill inside.

After he receives several ads like this, what will happen to the man’s fear response when he sees the words, “Special Offer For You”?

How do you expect the man to react when he gets mail from his credit card company without the words “Special Offer For You”?

What type of stimulus is the phrase “Special Offer For You”?

Explanation / Answer

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) Types of stimuli:

Man sees credit card bill – Feels apprehensive – Associative strength

Man sees “special offer” and is relieved each time – Conditioned Stimulus CS

Man suddenly sees “bill” and feels nervous again – The subsequent Unconditioned Stimulus UCS

These steps of associative strength, conditioned stimulus and then a subsequent unconditioned stimulus where the subject reverts to the old feeling is known as the Rescorla-Wagner model. This is a formal model where the circumstances of the Pavlonian model is described in terms of associative strength between the CS and UCS as dependant on the strength of the association before conditioning.

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