In Watson and Ra yner 's experiments.Little Albert was condition ed to fear a white rat,and th en he began to be afraid of other furn wh ite ob ects. This demonstrates __ stimul us generalization higher orde er con ditioning acquisition sti mulus dis crimination

## Step 1<br />The problem refers to a classic experiment in psychology conducted by Watson and Rayner, known as the "Little Albert" experiment. In this experiment, a white rat was initially a neutral stimulus for a child named Albert. However, the rat was paired with a loud, frightening noise, which caused Albert to develop a fear of the rat.<br /><br />## Step 2<br />The question asks us to identify the psychological phenomenon that this experiment demonstrates. The options provided are: stimulus generalization, higher order conditioning, acquisition, and stimulus discrimination.<br /><br />## Step 3<br />Stimulus generalization is a concept in psychology where a conditioned response is elicited not only by the conditioned stimulus but also by stimuli similar to the conditioned stimulus. In this case, Albert's fear of the white rat (conditioned stimulus) generalized to other white objects (similar stimuli), indicating that he had developed a conditioned response to these similar stimuli.<br /><br />## Step 4<br />The other options, higher order conditioning, acquisition, and stimulus discrimination, do not accurately describe the phenomenon observed in the experiment. Higher order conditioning involves the pairing of a neutral stimulus with an already established conditioned stimulus. Acquisition refers to the initial stage of learning when a response is first established. Stimulus discrimination is the ability to differentiate between a conditioned stimulus and other stimuli that have not been paired with an unconditioned stimulus.