STANDARD 7
STIMULUS DISCRIMINATION
Stimulus: anything that affects a person’s behavior. Stimuli (plural) can be anything from people, objects,
activities, print, places, verbal/nonverbal behavior, sounds, smell, and visuals. Stimuli that follow behavior are
consequences and stimuli that precede behavior are antecedents.
Discrimination training: procedure in which a behavior is reinforced in the presence of one stimulus and
extinguished in the presence of another stimulus.
Discriminative stimulus (SD): Stimulus that precedes behavior and is present ONLY if reinforcement will occur
for that behavior. In other words, an Sd is a stimulus that signals to a person if a certain behavior is emitted in
my presence then reinforcement is likely to occur.
S-Delta (S ): Stimulus that precedes behavior and is ONLY present if extinction will occur for that behavior.
In other words, S-delta are stimuli that DO NOT signal reinforcement if a certain behavior is emitted.
Stimulus control: increased probability that a particular stimulus will evoke a certain behavior. A certain
behavior occurs in the presence of particular stimulus (Sd) and not in the presences of others (S ). The
stimulus now exerts control over a behavior.
Example:
Antecedent
Stimulus
Behavior
Consequence
Future probability of
occurrence
SD or S
notes