
What is a neutral stimulus?
Find out more about the definition of the neutral stimulus and how it can change into a conditioned stimulus, and discover real-world examples of this type of stimulus, including the experiment of Pavlov and his dogs. Updated: 09/10/2021 What Is a Neutral Stimulus? A neutral stimulus is a stimulus that does not produce an automatic response.
When deciding whether to commit to a choice be neutral?
When deciding whether to commit to a choice be neutral. Turn off your biases. But once you’ve committed to a choice, stay committed by emphasizing the benefits of your choice and de-emphasizing the costs. I call this the Spin Doctor’s Hippocratic Oath: When deciding, unspin. Employ your powers of neutral thinking. But once you’ve decided, spin.
How did Pavlov turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus?
Discovered by Ivan Pavlov, classical conditioning can turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus. Pavlov experimented with a bell and was able to get his dogs to drool, even if there was no food around. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
How do you use your powers of Neutral Thinking?
Employ your powers of neutral thinking. But once you’ve decided, spin. Employ your powers of positive thinking to motivate yourself and others about the choice you’ve made, and employ your power of negative thinking to discount discredit and demotivate about the options you didn’t choose.

What is the response to a dummy treatment?
The response to a dummy treatment is called the placebo effect. In a double-blind experiment, neither the subjects nor those who interact with them and measure the response variable know which treatment a subject received.
What is the placebo effect in statistics?
Explanation: The placebo effect is when effects are seen in a group of people who did not actually receive a treatment.
When reasonable explanations for an experiment are not eliminated?
Confounding occurs when the experimental controls do not allow the experimenter to reasonably eliminate plausible alternative explanations for an observed relationship between independent and dependent variables.
Which of the following describes the placebo effect?
Explanation: The placebo effect describes a phenomenon in research wherein someone experiences the results that they expect to experience, even if they are given an inert (i.e. inactive) treatment.
What is another word for placebo?
•fake pill (noun) inactive drug, sugar pill, test substance, inactive substance.
What is the opposite of the placebo effect?
The nocebo effect is the opposite of the placebo effect. It describes a situation where a negative outcome occurs due to a belief that the intervention will cause harm. It is a sometimes forgotten phenomenon in the world of medicine safety. The term nocebo comes from the Latin 'to harm'.
Does every experiment have a positive and negative control?
A positive control group can show the experiment is functioning properly as planned. Negative control groups are groups where the conditions of the experiment are set to cause a negative outcome. Control groups are not necessary for all scientific experiments.
What is extraneous variable?
In an experiment, an extraneous variable is any variable that you're not investigating that can potentially affect the outcomes of your research study. If left uncontrolled, extraneous variables can lead to inaccurate conclusions about the relationship between independent and dependent variables. Research question.
When the results of an experiment can confidently be attributed to the effect of the independent variable The experiment is said to have?
When the results of an experiment can confidently be attributed to the effect of the independent variable, the experiment is said to have internal validity - remember that internal validity refers to the ability to draw conclusions about casual relationships from our data.
What is the meaning of nocebo effect?
Listen to pronunciation. (noh-SEE-boh eh-FEKT) A situation in which a patient develops side effects or symptoms that can occur with a drug or other therapy just because the patient believes they may occur.
Which of the following best describes the placebo effect quizlet?
Which of the following statements best describes the placebo effect? It can be brought about by the individual's expectations.
Which of these describes the placebo effect quizlet?
Which of these describes the placebo effect? It refers to the lessening of symptoms because of a person's belief in being cured.
What are some examples of neutral stimuli?
Examples of Neutral Stimuli. Sam puts a hard candy in his mouth, and it gets lodged in his throat. After that, every time someone offers him that brand of hard candy, Sam's throat hurts. The candy was a neutral stimulus that was turned into a conditioned stimulus when he choked on it.
Who discovered that classical conditioning can turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus?
Something that initially did not produce a certain reaction can eventually stimulate one based on association. Discovered by Ivan Pavlov, classical conditioning can turn a neutral stimulus into a conditioned stimulus.
What is classical conditioning?
In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus turns into a conditioned stimulus. To understand this better, let's look at an example. Whenever Carly's boyfriend calls her, her phone plays a specific song as a ringtone. Carly doesn't have strong feelings either way about the song, but her boyfriend likes it.
Who discovered classical conditioning?
Classical conditioning was first discovered by Ivan Pavlov. While studying digestion in dogs, Pavlov noticed that the dogs began to drool whenever they saw someone in a lab coat. Pavlov realized this was because the people who fed the dogs always wore lab coats, so the dogs associated eating with lab coats.
Is the brand a neutral stimulus?
The brand was a neutral stimulus that was turned into a conditioned stimulus by the commercial. Lesson Summary. Let's review. In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus is something that does not produce a specific reaction. After being paired with an unconditioned stimulus, it becomes a conditioned stimulus that elicits a conditioned response.
Why do people choose neutral options?
People also pick neutral options because of ambivalence. Bishop (1987) showed that people’s responses in public opinion polls tend to gravitate towards neutral because they want to avoid the negative feelings associated with their conflicting feelings on an issue.
Why is it important to pick a neutral option?
Additionally, picking a neutral option allows people to avoid the cognitive effort needed to choose between their positive and negative feelings on an issue (Nowlis et al., 2008). Social desirability is a third factor that influences the choice of a neutral option.
What happens after pairing a stimulus with a previously neutral stimulus?
After pairing the unconditioned stimulus with a previously neutral stimulus, the sound of the tone, an association is formed between the UCS and the neutral stimulus. Eventually, the previously neutral stimulus begins to evoke the same response, at which point the tone becomes known as the conditioned stimulus.
What is the conditioned response?
In classical conditioning, the conditioned response is the learned response to the previously neutral stimulus. For example, the smell of food is an unconditioned stimulus, a feeling of hunger in response to the smell is an unconditioned response, and the sound of a whistle when you smell the food is the conditioned stimulus.
What is the difference between conditioned and unconditioned responses?
Here are a few things to remember as you are trying to identify a conditioned response: The conditioned response must be learned, while the unconditioned response takes place with no learning.
What is classical conditioning?
The classical conditioning process is all about pairing a previously neutral stimulus with another stimulus that naturally produces a response. After pairing the presentation of these two together enough times, an association is formed. The previously neutral stimulus will then evoke the response all on its own.
Who discovered classical conditioning?
Let's take a closer look at how the conditioned response works in classical conditioning. Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov first discovered the classical conditioning process during his research on the salivary systems of dogs. 2 Pavlov noted that the dogs would salivate to the taste of meat, but that after a while they also began to salivate whenever they saw the white coat of the lab assistant who delivered the meat.
Does a dog's conditioned response diminish?
While the conditioned response initially developed after one bad experience with a barking dog, that response may begin to diminish in intensity or even eventually disappear if the person has enough good experiences where nothing bad happens when he or she hears a dog's bark.
Can associations lead to undesirable behaviors?
Associations can lead to desirable behaviors, but they can lead to undesirable or maladaptive behaviors (for example, phobias) as well. Fortunately, the same behavioral learning processes that led to the formation of a conditioned response can also be used to teach new behaviors or change old ones.

Abstract
Method
- A sample of 99 college students (88 females, 11 males, age range: 18-23 years) volunteered to participate in the study in exchange for extra credit in undergraduate level psychology courses. The majority of participants were underclassmen (n = 69). All participants read a set of 12 items about four controversial topics: homosexuality, abortion, obesity, and gun control (see Appendic…
Results
- One participant’s data was excluded from the analysis due to failure to understand questionnaire. Prior to conducting this analysis, several steps had to be taken to ensure the viability of the data. First, any reversed items on the questionnaire had to be recoded. Following this step, a reliability analysis was run on the topics. Because the items were rated on different scales (5 vs. 6 points)…
Discussion
- Previous research has suggested that the presence of a neutral response option or a nonresponse option increases the likelihood of participants selecting this option (Kalton, Roberts, & Holt, 1980; Krosnick et al., 2002; Nowlis, Kahn, & Dhar, 2002; Bishop, 1987; Johns, 2005). Numerous explanations for this effect have been posed such as satisficing, ambivalence, and social desira…
References
- Bishop, G. F. (1987). Experiments with the middle response alternative in survey questions. Public Opinion Quarterly, 51, 220-232. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2748994 Boysen, G. A., Vogel, D. L., & Madon, S. (2006). A public versus private administration of the implicit association test. European Journal Of Social Psychology, 36, 845-856. doi:10.1002/ejsp.318 Garland, R. (199…
Appendix A
- For the following questions please write the number from the scale above that best reflects your opinion. 1—————-2——————3——————4——————-5——————6 Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree 1. ________ Homosexuality is a choice. 2. ________ Obesity can be helped. 3. ________ A woman should have the right to choose if she wants an abortion. 4. ________ Obese people shoul…
Appendix B
- For the following questions please write the number from the scale above that best reflects your opinion. 1————————2————————3————————-4————————5 Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree 1. ________ Homosexuality is a choice. 2. ________ Obesity can be helped. 3. ________ A woman should have the right to choose if she wants an abortion. 4. ________ Obese p…