Which concept describes the tendency for the same type of behavior to be evoked by stimuli that share similar physical properties with the controlling antecedent stimulus?

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

Answer: (D)

Stimulus generalization is the tendency for the same type of behavior to be evoked by stimuli that share physical properties with the original controlling antecedent stimulus. When a behavior is learned in the presence of a particular stimulus, similar stimuli activate the same behavioral rule or expectation, so the same response occurs even though the exact cue isn’t the one that was initially trained. The strength of this response usually diminishes as the test stimuli become less similar, producing a generalization gradient. For example, if a response is reinforced in the presence of a red circle, similar red shapes or shades of red may also elicit that response. The other concepts describe different ideas: valence of behavior relates to the desirability or aversiveness of the behavior, DRA focuses on reinforcing an alternative behavior to reduce a problem behavior, and a functional relation refers to the overall link between environmental events and behavior without signaling similarity-based evocation across stimuli.