Chapter 8 Doing the Right Thing at the Right Time and Place Stimulus Discrimination and Stimulus Generalization Study Questions 1 What is a stimulus Give two examples that are not from the text A stimulus is the people objects and events currently present in one s immediate surroundings that impinge on one s sense receptors and that can affect behavior Some examples of a stimulus would be a laptop or a textbook 2 What is an ABC assessment Identifying the antecedents and consequences of a behavior is sometimes referred to as an ABC antecedents behavior and consequences assessment 3 Define stimulus control We use the term stimulus control to refer to the degree of correlation between the occurrence of a particular stimulus and the occurrence of a subsequent response 4 What is good stimulus control Describe an example that is not in this chapter Good or effective stimulus control refers to a strong correlation between the occurrence of a particular stimulus and a particular response that is when the stimulus occurs An example of good stimulus control would be street signs because they exert good stimulus control over trying to find your way to your destination 5 Define S D and give an example Identify both the S D and the response in the example A discriminative stimulus or S D pronounced ess dee is a stimulus in the presence of which a response will be reinforced Loosely speaking an S D is a cue that a particular response will pay off In our example of Johnny s swearing the stimulus of the other kids is an S D for the response of swearing because their laughter and attention reinforced that response 6 Define S delta and give an example Identify both the S delta and the response in the example An S delta pronounced ess delta is a stimulus in the presence of which a response will not be reinforced Loosely speaking an S delta is a cue that a particular response will not pay off The stimulus of Grandpa and Grandma is an S delta for the response of swearing because it was not reinforced in their presence 7 What is the difference between a stimulus and a discriminative stimulus A stimulus can simultaneously be an S D for one response and an S delta for another that is in the presence of a particular stimulus one response may be reinforced while another may not be reinforced 8 Describe an example not from this chapter of a stimulus that is an S D for one behavior and an S delta for a different behavior Sleeping late is an S D for being well rested but is an S delta for making it to class on time 9 Identify examples of S Ds and S deltas as follows two S Ds from Table 3 1 two S Ds from Table 3 3 two S deltas from Table 5 1 and two S deltas from Table 5 2 Table 3 1 mother ironing and the pleasant feedback from the driver Table 3 3 attention from mother and lost clothes Table 5 1 parents talking to guests and parents ignore the child Table 5 2 ignoring your friend and two staff members talking 10 Describe the stimulus discrimination training procedure and give an example Stimulus discrimination training refers to the procedure of reinforcing a response in the presence of an S D and extinguishing that response in the presence of an S delta In the example with the teacher in the Auckland classroom the children received discrimination training as diagrammed on p 100 The result was stimulus control The printed signs came to exert control over their appropriate behavior 11 State the two effects of stimulus discrimination training After sufficient stimulus discrimination training the effects can be described as 1 good stimulus control a strong correlation between the occurrence of a particular stimulus and a particular response or 2 a stimulus discrimination a response occurs to an S D not to an S delta 12 Define stimulus generalization and give an example Stimulus generalization refers to the procedure of reinforcing a response in the presence of a stimulus or situation and the effect of the response becoming more probable in the presence of another stimulus or situation In other words instead of discriminating between two stimuli and responding differentially to them an individual responds in the same way to two different stimuli Thus stimulus generalization is the opposite of stimulus discrimination Consider a case that is familiar to many parents an infant learns to say doggie to a large hairy four legged creature with floppy ears and a friendly bark Later the infant sees a different kind of large dog and says doggie 13 In a sentence state the difference between an instance of stimulus discrimination and an instance of stimulus generalization Instead of discriminating between two stimuli and responding differentially to them an individual responds in the same way to two different stimuli Thus stimulus generalization is the opposite of stimulus discrimination 14 What do we mean by common element stimulus class By conceptual behavior Describe an example of each A common element stimulus class is a set of stimuli all of which have one or more physical characteristics in common For example cars have four wheels windows a steering wheel and so forth When a child learns to say the word car when seeing a particular one the child is likely to show unlearned stimulus generalization and be able to identify other cars When an individual responds in this way such as to the concept red we say that the individual is showing conceptual behavior When an individual emits an appropriate response to all members of a commonelement stimulus class and does not emit that response to stimuli that do not belong to the class we say that the individual generalizes to all members within a commonelement stimulus class or concept such as recognizing red objects as red and discriminating between common element stimulus classes such as between red objects and blue objects 15 Describe how you might teach the concept of honest to a child Would your program teach a child to be honest Why or why not 16 17 18 19 20 To teach a child the concept of honest would probably be rather difficult I think the easiest way to go about this would be to wait until you catch your child telling their first lie and then explain to them that lying is wrong and that always telling the truth is the right thing to do I would then show them examples of honesty and dishonesty and try to help them distinguish between the two Yes my program would teach a child to be honest because I m explaining and showing the child the different between honesty and