If George is spanked immediately after his baby sister cries, he is likely to become fearful every time she cries. If Ken is spanked immediately before his baby sister cries, he is not likely to become fearful when she cries. What do the different reactions of George and Ken suggest about the role of cognitive processes in associative learning?

Associative learning may be defined as a type of learning in which the new response gets easily associated with the stimulus. Except habituation learning all simple learning procedure are included in this learning.

In the associative learning, reactions of an individual are based on there spank. George learns to cry on being spanked this is because this stimulus of sister cries gives response. Crying do not show any effect on ken because he does not know about his sister crying.