ABA glossary
Stimulus generalization
Definition
A response reinforced in the presence of one stimulus also occurs in the presence of untrained stimuli that share features with it, such as new people, settings, or materials.
In plain words
Skills are only useful if they show up beyond the teaching table. Stimulus generalization is what happens when a learner who was taught with one set of materials, one person, or one room responds the same way with new ones. The more a new stimulus resembles the training stimulus, the more likely the response is to occur. Generalization often does not happen on its own, so teams plan for it from the start: teaching with varied materials and people, practicing in natural settings, and probing untrained situations.
Example from a session
Eli learned to say "car" with a red toy car at the clinic table. During a generalization probe the program calls for, the RBT shows him a picture of a blue car in a book and a real car in the parking lot, without prompting. Eli says "car" for both. The RBT records the probe results separately from teaching trials, so the BCBA can see the skill extending to untrained stimuli.
For BCBA candidates and supervisors
Analysts program stimulus generalization with strategies such as teaching multiple exemplars, general case analysis, programming common stimuli, training loosely, and teaching in the natural environment, and they probe generalization regularly rather than assuming it. Too much generalization is also a problem: overgeneralization (calling every four-legged animal "dog") shows that discrimination training is needed. A generalization gradient shows how responding declines as stimuli become less similar to the training stimulus. Faulty stimulus control can look like a generalization failure, so analysts check what is actually controlling the response.
Often confused with response generalization, stimulus discrimination
Stimulus generalization is the same response under new stimulus conditions (saying "car" to a new car). Response generalization is a new, untrained response that serves the same function (saying "automobile" or "vehicle"). Stimulus discrimination is the opposite of generalization: responding differently to different stimuli.
Exam tip
Ask what is new in the stem. New stimulus (person, place, material) with the same response is stimulus generalization. Same situation with a new response form is response generalization.
Can you spot stimulus generalization in a scenario?
Practice BCBA B.14 with exam-style questions and instant feedback.