Question

if a child covers his/her ears when seeing fireworks, before hearing the sound of fire works, seeing the fireworks would be a

Answer 1

"conditioned stimulus."

A "stimulus" is anything that causes a behavioral reaction, or a response, from us.

The most important part is that the child covers his ears, even BEFORE he hears the sound of fireworks.

That's a little strange, right? Why would the child cover his ears before he even hears the sound of anything?

Well, you might already know that the child has probably heard fireworks before, and knows that they're loud.
That's why the child covers his ears; he's already getting ready for the loud fireworks.

And that is why seeing the fireworks is a "conditioned stimulus."

Because normally, just SEEING the fireworks wouldn't cause us to do anything at all.

But the child already knows to cover his ears when he sees fireworks. Because he knows they're loud.

The stimulus has been "conditioned."
That means it has been "made" to cause a conditioned response.