What is a stimulus? Give 2 examples that are not in 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 behaviour. Two examples are a stop sign one sees while driving and a flashing billboard advertising a restaurant for someone driving on the highway.
Define SΔ and give an example that is not in this chapter.
SΔ is a stimulus in the presence of which a response will not be reinforced. Essentially, it is a cue that a particular response will not pay off. It might also be called a “discriminative stimulus for the non-availability of reinforcement for responding.”
Example - SΔ (mom) -> response (complaining) -> no reinforcer (no positive attention)
Give an example (not from this chapter) of a stimulus that is an SD for one behaviour and an SΔ for a different behaviour
If your friend asks for a cup tea the statement is an SD for you to grab a cup of tea and it is an SΔ for you to get her a cup of coffee.
Describe the stimulus discrimination training procedure, and give an example that is not in this chapter.
Stimulus discrimination training refers to the procedure of reinforcing a response in the presence of an SD and extinguishing that response in the presence of an SΔ. Effects should be (1) good stimulus control – where there is a strong correlation between a particular stimulus occurring and a particular response following, or (2) a stimulus discrimination – a response occurs to an SD, not to an SΔ.
An example would be a student in class when the teacher isn’t around, they would be on the phone but once the teacher looks up from writing on the blackboard, the student puts down their phone. Good stimulus control (when the teacher wasn’t looking, they would be on their phone) and a stimulus discrimination (the student wouldn’t text if the teacher was looking).
What do we mean by common-element stimulus class? By conceptual behaviour? Give an example of each that is not in this chapter.
- A set of stimuli, all of which have one or more physical characteristics in common. For example, cats generally have whiskers, two eyes, a tail.
- Conceptual behaviour - when an individual emits an appropriate response to all members of a common-element stimuli class and does not emit that response to stimuli that do not belong to the class, we say that individual generalizes to all members within a common element stimulus class.
Example - when an individual is able to discriminate between a pencil and pen
What do we mean by “stimulus equivalence class?” Give an example that is not in this chapter.
A stimulus equivalence class is a set of completely dissimilar stimuli (have no common stimulus element) that an individual has learned to group or match together or respond to in the same way.
An example would be recognizing that shark, goldfish, and sea stars are all fish.
What is a primary distinction between stimulus generalization involving common-element stimulus classes and stimulus generalization involving stimulus equivalence classes?
A stimulus generalization involving a common-element stimulus class involves learning a set of stimuli that have some physical characteristic in common whereas the stimulus generalization involving an equivalence class involves a set of completely dissimilar stimuli that an individual has learned to group or match together.
In general what is a contingency? Give an example not found in this chapter.
- Contingency is an if-then type of arrangement
- If you press this button, then the cellphone will turn on and make a noise.
With examples not in this chapter, distinguish between rule-governed and contingency shaped behaviour.
A rule-governed behaviour is a behaviour that is controlled by a statement of a rule. For example, a parent telling a child tonight you’re allowed to watch an hour of TV if you spend an hour on school-work.
Contingency shaped behaviour would be a child recognizing that if they use please and thank you that their parents are more likely to respond to them
Give an example of how ignorance of stimulus discrimination training may lead parents or other caregivers to develop an undesirable behaviour in a child or adult in their care.
- Can be common in households with small children
- A little girl is playing with the TV remote, causing annoying channel changes, volume increases and decreases. Mother starts off with “Please leave the remote alone.” Little girl continues to fiddle with it. Mother gets a little louder and less polite until she reaches the point where she says loudly and with a threatening tone “Leave the remote alone or else!!” Little girl stops playing around with the remote and mother says “Mommy likes it when do what I tell you; why didn’t you do that in the first place?”
- Mother has reinforced little girl for responding to a higher level threat. The discrimination the little girl is learning is that of waiting until Mother is really angry and threatening before attending to her requests.
