A 20 year old female repos that she was raised by an abusive father when she was young. Although he has changed and is no longer abusive towards her, she still becomes anxious as soon as she sees him. What is the best explanation for her anxiety based on psychological theory?
High-Yield Explanation
The father is a conditioned stimuli and abuse is an unconditioned stimuli. The fear is the conditioned response. Even without the abuse, the patient is fearful of the father. This is known as classical conditioning.