Operant Condiditioning

My friend, John, has two dogs who he loves very dearly and spends much time playing with. They are both extremely affectionate and smother people with affection. However, their erratic behavior often leads to fighting between the two of them, especially over attention. They also have two different personalities: one is passive and one is very nervous, and sometimes has a problem with uncontrollable urination when excited. On one occasion when I was at my …

…comes back to me. My reflexive action of jumping up when I see Maya approaching me sometimes pertains to the other dog, Cleo. Although there was never any incident with Cleo, and although the unconditioned stimulus was never paired with her, I sometimes react in the same way as I do to Maya, which is the conditioned reflex. This action can be considered generalization as this new stimulus, Cieo, is similar to the other dog.