What term describes the phenomenon where a response reinforced in the presence of one cue is evoked by similar cues with shared features?

• A. Functional Relation
• B. Stimulus Generalization
• C. Valence of Behavior
• D. DRA

Answer: (B)

Stimulus generalization explains this phenomenon. When a behavior is reinforced in the presence of a particular cue, the same response may be evoked by other cues that share similar features, even though those cues weren’t directly reinforced. The idea is that the similarity in the cues allows the learned response to transfer to new, but related, situations. For example, if a learner is reinforced for saying “dog” when shown a Labrador, they may also say “dog” when shown a Bulldog because both cues share the feature “dog.” This contrasts with discrimination, where the response would occur only to the exact cue that was reinforced.

The other terms describe different ideas: functional relation refers to the cause-and-effect link between behavior and consequences, not the transfer of a response across similar stimuli; valence of behavior is about the appeal or aversiveness of a behavior rather than cue-based transfer; DRA (differential reinforcement of alternative behavior) is a procedure to strengthen an alternative behavior instead of the undesired one, not the generalization of a response to similar cues.