| Course | PSYC 110N Psychology |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Principle and prediction paper |
| Length | About 560 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Chamberlain University |
| Program | BSN general education |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PSYC 110N Week 2
Principle and Prediction Paper on Classical Conditioning: Why the Smell of Hospital Hand Sanitizer Now Makes a Nursing Student Tense, Fitted Part by Part, a Forecast With a Condition and What the Episode Did Not Test
Student Name
Chamberlain University
PSYC 110N: Psychology
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Principle and Prediction Paper on Classical Conditioning: Why the Smell of Hospital Hand Sanitizer Now Makes a Nursing Student Tense, Fitted Part by Part, a Forecast With a Condition and What the Episode Did Not Test
The Principle
In classical conditioning, a neutral stimulus that is repeatedly paired with a stimulus that already causes a response comes to cause a similar response on its own (Spielman et al., 2020). The parts are the unconditioned stimulus, the unconditioned response, the neutral stimulus that becomes conditioned and the conditioned response.
The Episode, Trimmed
During my first clinical rotation, on a busy medical unit, I used the alcohol-based hand sanitizer at every door, about 40 times a shift. The rotation was stressful: a preceptor who corrected me sharply in front of patients, and two shifts that ended with a rapid response call. Three months later, at a campus event, someone used the same brand of sanitizer next to me, and I felt my shoulders tighten and my heart speed up before I knew why.
I trimmed the episode to the parts the principle needs: the repeated smell, the stressful events and the later reaction. The preceptor's name, the patients and the rest of the semester are left out because they do not change the analysis.
Fitting the Parts
Unconditioned stimulus: the stressful events on the unit, sharp correction and emergencies, which produced tension without any learning. Unconditioned response: the tension itself, a faster heart and tight muscles. Neutral stimulus: the sanitizer smell, which had meant nothing to me before nursing school. Pairing: the smell occurred dozens of times a shift, often seconds before entering rooms where stressful events happened. Conditioned stimulus: the smell, after repeated pairing. Conditioned response: the tension at the campus event, with no stressful event present.
A Forecast With a Condition
If I am exposed to the smell many times without stressful events following, the tension should weaken, which is extinction. My next rotation is on a calmer outpatient unit. If the tension at the sanitizer fades over the first month there, the forecast is supported. If it does not fade, something other than conditioning is keeping it going.
What the Episode Did Not Test
It did not separate the smell from other cues: the hospital's sounds, the uniform, the time of day. The campus event had none of those, which supports the smell as the cue, but one occasion is not a test. It also did not measure the response; "shoulders tightened" is my report. A heart rate reading would be better evidence.
Why It Matters
Nursing students often report tension around clinical cues. Knowing it may be conditioned, not a sign that I am unsuited to nursing, changes how I respond to it.
It also gives me something to do. If the tension is a learned response to a cue, I can expect it to fade with calm exposures, and I can notice it without reading it as a judgment on my ability. That turns a worry about myself into a question I can watch.
References
Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/details/books/psychology-2e
Reading the PSYC 110N Week 2 instructions
Choose one principle from the unit and one episode from your own life or clinical experience that it can explain. Define the principle with its parts, citing the course text. Trim the episode to the facts the principle needs and say what you left out. Fit each part of the principle to a specific element of the episode. Then make a forecast: what should happen next if the principle is right, with a condition that could prove it wrong. State what the episode did not test, such as other cues or a measured response. Close with why the principle matters for you. Keep the analysis to one principle; a second one usually blurs the fit.
How this PSYC 110N Week 2 example is built
The principle section defines classical conditioning and its four parts, citing Spielman et al. (2020). The episode section describes about 40 uses of sanitizer a shift on a stressful medical unit and a tense reaction to the same smell at a campus event, then explains that names and other details were trimmed. The fitting section pairs stressful events with tension, the smell with neutral meaning, repeated pairing at room doors and the later reaction. The forecast section predicts extinction over a month on an outpatient unit. The limits section notes other hospital cues and an unmeasured response. The last section reframes the tension as learned rather than as unfitness for nursing.
PSYC 110N Week 2 rubric: what full points look like
The grader checks whether each part of the principle is matched to the episode. A paper that defines the principle and tells the story without connecting them part by part loses the most. Credit goes to an accurate definition, a trimmed episode, every part fitted, a forecast with a condition and an honest account of what was not tested. Applying the principle to the writer's own response earns marks. Cite the OpenStax chapter in APA form. Concise writing is rewarded, since the paper is about one principle and one episode rather than a review of the chapter. Trimming the episode to what the principle needs, and saying what was left out, shows control of the material.
PSYC 110N Week 2 help from the desk
Papers most often slip by confusing the unconditioned and conditioned stimulus, or by naming a stimulus that was never paired. Another frequent gap is a forecast with no condition, which cannot fail. Some papers include several principles and fit none fully. Others tell the episode in so much detail that the principle gets lost. If your episode is from clinical practice, leave out patient details entirely. A paper that ends with a forecast you could check next month, and says what you would conclude if it failed, shows the principle understood well enough to use. Draw the four parts as a small table before writing, with one element of your episode in each cell.
Get a PSYC-110N Week 2 example written to your instructions
Send your classroom's assignment instructions and rubric and a PSYC-110N Week 2 paper is written to them, principle, episode, fitting and forecast in the proportions your section rewards, back inside 24-48h and the first one free. Name the principle you were given and the example is built on that one.
More PSYC 110N papers and BSN general education samples
- PSYC 110N Week 1: What Psychology Asserts Post
- PSYC 110N Week 3: Reinforcement Analysis
- PSYC 110N Week 4: Attitude and Persuasion Write-up
- PSYC 110N Week 5: Personality Traits Write-up
- PSYC 110N Week 6: Social Influence Analysis
- PSYC 110N Week 7: Alternative Explanation Paper
- PSYC 110N Week 8: Motivation and Leadership Essay
- PSYC 290N Week 2: Infancy and Toddlerhood Analysis
PSYC 110N Week 2 questions, answered
How small does the episode need to be?
Small enough that every part of it is available for inspection. One or two people, one continuous run of events, and an end point you can name. The failure is not a short episode but a wide one, since a claim about how people behave at work in general contains no particular moments for the principle's components to attach to.
Can the forecast be about the same people in the episode?
Yes, and that is usually the strongest version. Predicting what these two do the next time the same arrangement comes around is checkable in a way that a prediction about people at large is not. What the row wants is a direction and an occasion, so say which behavior should rise or fall and when you would expect to see it.
What if the assigned principle does not obviously have parts?
Then the first section's job is to give it some, from the course material rather than from invention. Almost every principle in this course names conditions under which it holds: who has to be present, what has to precede what, what the person has to already believe. Those conditions are the parts, and listing them turns an unfittable slogan into something a paragraph can work on.
Where can I find a free PSYC 110N Week 2 sample paper?
Below the facts table you can read the full PSYC 110N Week 2 paper fitting classical conditioning, part by part, to a nursing student's reaction to hand sanitizer.
What forecast does the PSYC 110N Week 2 sample make?
That the tension at the smell will weaken through extinction during a calmer outpatient rotation; if it does not fade within a month, something other than conditioning is keeping it going.