AP Psychology Practice Test 2026 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

Classical conditioning is a type of learning in which an organism comes to associate stimuli. This learning process was famously demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov with his experiment involving dogs, where he showed that dogs could learn to associate the sound of a bell with the presence of food. This leads to a conditioned response where the dog would salivate upon hearing the bell, even in the absence of food. This type of learning involves the linkage of two or more stimuli in the environment.

Options A, B, and C do not accurately capture the essence of classical conditioning. Option A talks about reinforcement of behavior with rewards, which is more related to operant conditioning. Option B partially describes classical conditioning but does not cover the full process. Option C mentions strengthening behaviors with punishments or rewards, which is more related to operant conditioning rather than classical conditioning. Hence, the correct answer is option D as it directly relates to the process of classical conditioning.