Denny is quite fearful of going to the dentist. over time, he has noticed that he becomes anxious at even the smell of the dentist's office. every step denny takes, right up until the dentist starts to drill a tooth, seems to cause muscle tension and anxiety. denny is experiencing

higher-order conditioning

Almost 60% of the people have anxiety or afraid of going to the dentist. About 5-10% are said to have dental phobia.

What Denny is experiencing is a  Higher-order conditioning.

Higher-order conditioning is a form of learning in which a stimulus  (fear of a dentist ) is made meaningful. Because of this fear, Denny becomes anxious even with the smell of the dentist’s office. This stimulus in turn creates muscle tension and anxiety even before the dentist can attend to him.

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