Chapter 09

Describe a stimulus that you would like to establish as an SD for a behavior of yourself or a friend, and describe the behavior. Then, for that stimulus, answer the four questions that you asked yourself in Question 17.

Suppose that you want to teach your neighbor's child to understand the significance of a "Block Parent" sign that you have in your window. A "Block Parent" sign is different from other stimuli in the window in both shape and color; it can be presented in the window when adults are home to respond to children in the streets who may knock on the door as a function of the sign; it is quite distinctive and therefore is likely to be attended to by children who have been instructed about its function; and it is not likely to control any undesirable responses. Any appropriate example is acceptable.

Was the children's high on task behavior to the posted rule in the Auckland classroom likely rule governed or contingency shaped? Justify your choice.

The high on-task behavior to the posted rule in the Auckland classroom was likely rule- governed behavior. The reason is that the children showed high on-task behavior during the very first session after the teacher explained the new set of rules, whereas contingency- shaped behavior usually takes a number of trials before a sizeable change in behavior occurs.

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?

To teach the concept "honest," you might reinforce a particular response (such as the word "honest") to many different examples of honest behavior and extinguish that response (and perhaps reinforce a different response, such as "dishonest") to examples of dishonest behavior. This procedure teaches a child to recognize instances of honest and dishonest behavior. It does not necessarily teach a child how to "be honest. "For example, a child might have been taught that lying is dishonest, but still lie (and be fully aware that he or she is doing so). Any appropriate example is acceptable.

What is a primary distinction between stimulus generalization involving common-element stimulus classes and stimulus generalization involving stimulus equivalence classes?

With stimulus generalization involving a stimulus common-element class, the stimuli to which generalization occurs have at least one physical characteristic in common with the original SD. With stimulus generalization involving a stimulus equivalence class, the members of the equivalence class are physically different from one another.

What do we mean by an error in stimulus discrimination training?

(a) A response to an S∆ or (b) no response or an incorrect response to an SD.

When you are considering the selection of a stimulus to be set up as an SD, what four questions might you ask yourself about that stimulus? (See p. 90.)

(a) Is the stimulus sufficiently different from other stimuli on more than one dimension? (b) Can it be presented primarily on occasions on which the response should occur? (c) Is there a high probability the person will attend to it? (d) Does it currently control any undesirable responses?

From a behavioral perspective, what is a rule?

A rule is a verbal statement that describes a situation in which a behavior will lead to a consequence.

What do we mean by common-element stimulus class? By conceptual behavior? \Give an example of each that are not in this chapter.

A stimulus common-element class is a set of stimuli, all of which have some physical characteristic in common. For example, red objects would constitute a stimulus common- element class. Conceptual behavior is emitting an appropriate response to all the members of a stimulus common-element class, and not emitting that response to stimuli that do not belong to the class. For example, when faced with several red objects and several green objects, a child would be showing conceptual behavior if the child identified only the red objects when asked, "Which ones are red?" Any appropriate examples are acceptable.

What do we mean by stimulus equivalence class? Give an example that is not in this chapter.

A stimulus equivalence class is a group of stimuli that are physically different, but all control the same behavior. For example, for individuals for whom the word "three," the numeral "3," and the Roman numeral "III" all control the same behavior, those three stimuli would constitute an equivalence class. Any appropriate example is acceptable.

What is a stimulus? Give two examples that are not from the text.

A stimulus is any physical event or object in the environment that can be detected by one's sense receptors and can affect behavior. For example, the sound and sight of an airplane passing overhead are stimuli. Any appropriate examples are acceptable.

What is the difference between a stimulus and a discriminative stimulus?

A stimulus is anything that can be detected by one's sense receptors and can affect behavior. A discriminative stimulus is a stimulus in the above sense, but it is also a cue that a response will pay off.

What is a three-term contingency of reinforcement? Give an example that is not in this chapter.

A three-term contingency of reinforcement describes both the antecedents and consequences of a behavior. For example, at the dining roomtable during dinner, a person says "Pass the salt please" (the antecedent), another person passes the salt (the response), and the first person says "Thank you" (reinforcer). Any appropriate example is acceptable.

State the two effects of stimulus discrimination training.

After sufficient stimulus discrimination training, the effects are: (a) stimulus control—a high correlation between a stimulus and a response; and (b) a stimulus discrimination—a response occurs to an SD and not to an SΔ.

What is an ABC assessment?

An ABC assessment involves the identification of the antecedents and consequences of a behavior.

Define SD, and give an example that is not in this chapter. Identify both the SD and the response in the example.

An SD is a stimulus in the presence of which a response will be reinforced. For example, when two people are eating dinner, the request by one person, "Please pass the salt" would be an SD for the other person to emit the response of passing the salt. Any plausible example is acceptable.

Define SΔ, and give an example that is not in this chapter. Identify both the SΔ and the response in the example.

An SΔ is a stimulus in the presence of which a response will not be reinforced. For example, an "out-of-order" sign on a vending machine is an SΔ for the response of putting in money. Any plausible example is acceptable.

What is meant by the term contextual control? Illustrate with an example.

Contextual control is a complex type of stimulus control in which the general setting or context may alter the manner in which an individualresponds to particular stimuli. For example, in North America the left side of the car is an SD for the designated driver to open the door and sitdown. In Britain, the right side of the car is an SD for the designated driver to open the door and sit down. In this example, the country in whichdriving occurs is the context.

With examples that are not in this chapter, distinguish between rule-governed and contingency-shaped behavior.

Contingency-shaped behavior is behavior that has been strengthened simply because it has been immediately followed by reinforcement. For example, if little Johnny swears while playing with friends in the street and his friends laugh at his swearing, swearing would likely be strengthened. Rule-governed behavior is behavior that occurs to a rule that describes a contingency of reinforcement. For example, if Johnny's parents say, "If you talk without swearing all day long, you can stay up for an extra half-hour tonight," and if as a result little Johnny talks without swearing during the day (at least in their presence), then Johnny would be showing rule-governed behavior. Any appropriate examples are acceptable.

In a sentence, state the difference between an instance of stimulus discrimination and an instance of stimulus generalization.

In stimulus generalization, an individual makes the same response to two different stimuli, while in stimulus discrimination, an individual makes a different response to two different stimuli.

Give an example of how ignorance of stimulus discrimination training may lead parents or other caregivers to develop an undesirable behavior in a child or adult in their care.

One might reinforce responses in the presence of highly inappropriate stimuli. For example, parents with a child who has just learned to walk might follow the child around closely when they visit someone else's house and pick the child up each time the child attempts to grab ornaments or other breakable objects. The parents may in fact be teaching the child to immediately walk towards and grab ornaments in other people's houses. Any plausible example is acceptable.

How have studies of stimulus equivalence provided support for a behavioral view of language development?

Psycho-linguists have argued that children appear to learn more about language than is directly reinforced, or that can be explained through stimulus generalization due to physical similarity. That is, children learn that physically different sounds can mean the same thing as other sounds, even though some of those sounds have not been directly paired with each other. However, stimulus equivalence enables us to account for this phenomenon and thereby provides support for a behaviorist view of language development.

Using examples, explain what is meant by reflexivity, symmetry, and transitivity.

Reflexivity involves matching two exemplars of an object or event, such as matching a 3 to a 3. Symmetry refers to bi-directional matching of two objects, such as matching A to B and then matching B to A. Transitivity occurs when an individual has learned to match A to B and B to C, is then able to match A to C without specific training to do so.

Define stimulus control.

Stimulus control refers to the degree of correlation between an antecedent stimulus and a subsequent response.

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 S Δ. For example, when teaching a child to correctly name the colors of objects, you would reinforce saying "Red" when you point to a red object, but you would not reinforce saying "Red" after you have pointed to a green object. Any appropriate example is acceptable.

Define stimulus generalization, and give an example that is not in this chapter.

Stimulus generalization occurs when a behavior becomes more probable in the presence of one stimulus or situation as a result of having been reinforced in the presence of another stimulus or situation. Any appropriate example is acceptable.

In general, what is a contingency? Give an example that is not in this chapter.

In general, a contingency is an "if-then" type of arrangement. For example, if you press the button on the water fountain, then a stream of water will appear. Any appropriate example that was not in the chapter.

What is good stimulus control? Give an example that is not in this chapter.

Good stimulus control refers to a strong correlation between the occurrence of a particular stimulus and the occurrence of a particular response. For example, good stimulus control would be displayed if a driver consistently stops the car at red traffic lights. Any plausible example is acceptable.

Give an example (not from this chapter) of a stimulus that is an SD for one behavior and an SΔ for a different behavior.

If you ask someone, "What time is it, please?" that would be an SD for the person to check their watch and tell you the time; it would be an SΔ for that person to tell you the date of that particular day. Any appropriate example is acceptable.

Just before starting to cross a street, a pedestrian from England visiting Canada observed that the street was clear to the right, stepped into the street, and was struck by a car. Explain how lack of contextual control was involved in this accident.

In England, car drivers drive on the left side of the road. Just before stepping onto the street, therefore, the closest approaching car would come from the right. In Canada, however, car drivers drive on the right side of the street. Thus, just before stepping onto the street, the closest approaching car would be at one's left. In this example, the country that the pedestrian was visiting was the context, and in the context of Canada, stepping onto a street should be preceded by looking left. Unfortunately, the pedestrian was not under the contextual control of the country, and looked right.