John and Steve Are Roommates at Siberian University

question 16

Essay

John and Steve are roommates at Siberian University. They are planning to have a party this coming weekend and need to go shopping for snacks. They know all of their friends like nacho cheese flavored tortilla chips, so that is the only type of snack they plan to buy. After pooling their cash, they take $18 and head out to the nearest grocery store. Walking down the chip aisle, they fill their cart with 6 bags of Tostada brand chips at $3 per 14-ounce bag. Continuing down the chip aisle, they see Durango brand chips are available at $2 per 14-ounce bag, so they put all of the Tostada chips back and instead purchase 9 bags of Durango chips. Is John and Steve's behavior consistent with "the law of demand"? Explain. (Extra Credit: If they hadn't changed their minds, would they have violated the law of demand?)

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Definitions:

Unconditioned Stimulus

In behavioral psychology, a stimulus that naturally and automatically triggers a response without any learning process involved.

Conditioned Responses

Learned reactions that occur in response to previously neutral stimuli after conditioning.

Higher-order Conditioning

A complex form of classical conditioning where a stimulus is paired with a previously conditioned stimulus, rather than with an unconditioned stimulus, to elicit a response.

Discriminative Stimuli

Refer to environmental cues or signals that indicate the probable consequence of a particular behavior, guiding organisms to respond accordingly.