This paper describes the nature of stimulus and response generalization and identifies a number of tasks related to generalization that are commonly taught in early childhood programs. Substantial research has demonstrated that stimulus generalization does not occur automatically and it can often be achieved only as a result of special programing.…

This paper develops a stimulus selection theory, based on an extensive review of previous research, which gives weight to context change or stimulus generalization decrement. The theory assumes no special compounding or configurational process, and accounts for the learning of successive discriminations without the addition of any special process.…

In this study, the effects of rewards on same-different judgments of size, color, and weight were investigated. Subjects were 45 children at the kindergarten and first-grade level. The children were assigned to one of three conditions: (1) rewarded for reporting black in the identification of the colors of balls contained inside gray jars, (2)…

Proposes explanations and further research considerations for the apparent psychological equivalence of the terms "complexity" and "novelty" as they refer to information theory, stimulus generalization, and subject expectancy effects. (RL)

Children's imitation of a model's sentence structure, word content and use of present, imperfect or future tense verbs was studied in third and fourth graders. (Authors)

Three studies are reported which investigated the role of four variables in semantic generalization: Intentional versus Incidental learning instructions, associative and semantic relationships of the generalization stimuli (GSs) to the critical stimuli (CrSs), and rate of CrS presentation. (Author)

Six studies relevant to the analysis of generalized imitative behavior are described. The first examined the role of verbal instructions in generalized imitation by comparing the use of a "do this" instruction with no such instruction and the use of positive reinforcement with no reinforcement. The tenacity of generalized imitation in this study…

Investigated whether women undergoing outpatient chemotherapy for breast cancer can develop classically conditioned emotional distress. Patients' responses to a distinctive stimulus were assessed in a location not associated with chemotherapy administration. Results supported hypothesis that pairing a distinctive stimulus with chemotherapy would…

We studied economic choice behavior in capuchin monkeys by offering them to choose between two different foods available in variable amounts. When monkeys selected between familiar foods, their choice patterns were well-described in terms of relative value of the two foods. A leading view in economics and biology is that such behavior results from…

This study was designed to investigate the effects of increasing levels of task complexity on the conditioned emotional response (CER) with human subjects (Ss). Three hypotheses were proposed: (1) the CER would increase as task complexity increased, (2) there would be sex differences between Ss with respect to the interaction between the CER and…

Multiple examples of the "World's Worst Frame" are given. An analysis, using Guthrie's contiguity theory, is proposed to move programing beyond the world's worst frame. (Author)