Stimulus control of behaviour

Stimulus control of behaviour

Stimulus control is a term used to describe situations in which a behavior is triggered by the presence or absence of some stimulus. For example, if you always eat when you watch TV, your eating behavior is controlled by the stimulus of watching TV. (This can be an important insight to some people.) If you are talkative with your friends but you never speak out in a classroom, your speech behavior is controlled by your social environment.

Antecedents are things that come before. In operant conditioning, antecedent stimuli are those occurring before a behavior. Teachers of operant conditioning sometimes say behavior is controlled by its consequences. That sums up much of operant conditioning, but the statement is incomplete. Antecedents can also control behavior. When they do, it is called stimulus control.

n  Stimulus control of operant behavior

•          Context drives appropriate behavior

n  Depending on where you are, the situation you are in , etc., certain behaviors are acceptable; these same behaviors may be inappropriate in different contexts/situations

•          Behavior must adjust to the environment

n  Stimulus discrimination and generalization

•          How organisms identify and distinguish different stimuli; considered one of the most important concepts in psychology

n  No situation repeats itself exactly, so a degree of generalization is necessary

n  However, also critical to distinguish various stimuli

n  Stimulus discrimination

Differential responding to two or more stimuli

n  Stimulus generalization

Similar responding to two or more stimuli