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Unconditioned Response

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science
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Synonyms

Reflexive response; Unconditional response; Unconditioned reflex

Definition

An unconditioned response is a response that is reflexive and involuntary in nature, which is reliably induced every time an organism comes across to biologically significant stimuli.

Introduction

Living organisms are naturally endowed with a variety of unconditioned responses that prepare them to interact with their environment in an adaptive and usually favorable manner (Baum 2017). Organisms do not have to learn these responses since they biologically received them. These type of responses (i.e., unconditioned responses) appear when an organism comes across stimuli which automatically, and naturally, trigger them (Thines 1987). For instance, a puff of air to an individual’s eye area automatically induces a response of an eyeblink (Shanks 1995). The person has not learned to respond with an eyeblink in the presence of this stimulus (i.e., puff of air); he/she naturally and automatically exhibits...

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References

  • Baum, W. M. (2017). Understanding behaviorism: Behavior, culture, and evolution. Hoboken: Wiley.

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  • Shanks, D. R. (1995). The psychology of associative learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • Spence, K. W. (1978). Behavior theory and conditioning. Westport: Greenwood Press.

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Christoforou, C. (2018). Unconditioned Response. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1043-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1043-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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