neutral stimulus

in classical conditioning, a stimulus that does not elicit a response of the sort to be measured as an index of conditioning. For example, the sound of a bell has no effect on salivation, therefore it is a neutral stimulus with respect to salivation and a good candidate for conditioning of that response.

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Psychology term of the day

May 2nd 2024

recurrent dream

a dream that occurs repeatedly. Sigmund Freud saw recurrent dreams as punishment dreams—rather than wish fulfillment dreams—and linked them to a masochistic need for self-criticism arising from fantasies of excessive ambition. Carl Jung regarded recurrent dreams as more revealing of the unconscious than single dreams, and he believed that in a dream series the later dreams often throw light on the earlier ones (see serial interpretation). Other psychologists see recurrent dreams as an attempt to come to terms with disturbing experiences.