Stimulus generalization
When a behavior that was reinforced in the presence of one stimulus also occurs in the presence of other, similar stimuli that were not part of training.
Stimulus generalization happens when a response learned with one stimulus spreads to other stimuli that share features with it. A child who learned to say "ball" for one red ball and then says "ball" for a soccer ball and a tennis ball shows stimulus generalization. The more similar a new stimulus is to the trained one, the more likely the response is to occur.
In applied work, the term covers transfer across materials, people and settings. A skill taught by one RBT that also occurs with a parent, or a skill taught in the clinic that also occurs at home, are examples. Conducting procedures across settings, people and stimuli, the examples the RBT Test Content Outline gives for generalization procedures, promotes this kind of generalization.
Stimulus generalization can also be too broad. A child who calls every man "Daddy" or every animal "dog" is overgeneralizing, and discrimination training may be needed. Good teaching balances generalization and discrimination.
RBTs promote stimulus generalization by following plans that use varied examples, different locations and different people, and by recording performance on untrained stimuli during probes.
Example and non-example
| Example | After learning to wash hands at the clinic sink, a client washes hands correctly at a sink with a different faucet at school. |
|---|---|
| Non-example | A client who learned to say "Hi" now also says "Hello" and waves. Untrained new forms of the response are response generalization. |
Don't confuse it with
| Response generalization | Response generalization is new, untrained forms of the response; stimulus generalization is the trained response occurring with new stimuli. |
|---|---|
| Stimulus discrimination | Discrimination is responding differently to different stimuli; stimulus generalization is responding the same way to similar stimuli. |
Test yourself
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Question 1A toddler who recently learned the word "doggy" now says "doggy" for dogs, cats, cows and horses. This pattern most clearly shows a need for:
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D: Discrimination training between dogs and other animals. Saying "doggy" to many similar animals is stimulus generalization that has gone too far. Discrimination training reinforces "doggy" in the presence of dogs and not in the presence of other animals, so other animals become S-deltas for that word.
- A: The child already extends the word beyond dogs; more generalization training would not teach the difference between dogs and other animals.
- B: The word is said clearly; the problem is which animals it is said to, not its form.
- C: Thinning changes how often the word is reinforced overall, not which animals it is said to.
Task C.6 · 40-hour curriculum section E
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Question 2Which statement best describes the difference between stimulus generalization and stimulus discrimination?
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B: Generalization is responding the same way to similar stimuli; discrimination is responding differently to different stimuli. In stimulus generalization, a response learned with one stimulus also occurs with similar stimuli. In stimulus discrimination, the response occurs in the presence of some stimuli and not others. Teaching usually needs both: enough generalization to new examples and enough discrimination to avoid non-examples.
- A: Both are defined by how responding relates to stimuli, and both can occur in any setting.
- C: Discrimination is built through differential reinforcement (reinforcement in the presence of the SD, none in the presence of the S-delta), not punishment.
- D: A change in response form describes response generalization; stimulus discrimination is about which stimuli occasion the response.
Task C.6 · 40-hour curriculum section E
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Question 3A client says "apple" when shown the red apple photo used in teaching, but says nothing when shown a real green apple or a different apple photo. Which description fits best?
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D: Stimulus generalization to other apples has not yet occurred. The response is controlled by one specific photo and has not spread to other members of the same class. This is the opposite problem from overgeneralization, and it shows why teaching uses several examples of each target.
- A: Overgeneralizing would mean saying "apple" to things that are not apples; here the word is used too narrowly.
- B: Other apples are not S-deltas; "apple" should be reinforced in their presence too.
- C: No prompt is involved; the client responds to the teaching photo alone.
Task C.6 · 40-hour curriculum section E
Answer every question to see your score.
On the RBT exam
This term belongs to task C.8 Generalization in content area C, Behavior Acquisition, which is 19 of the 75 scored questions.