What term describes a situation in which an antecedent stimulus reliably exerts control over a response?

What term describes a situation in which an antecedent stimulus reliably exerts control over a response?

• A. Stimulus control
• B. Discrimination training
• C. Shaping
• D. Prompt

Answer: (A)

Stimulus control is the idea that a cue in the environment becomes a reliable signal for whether a behavior will occur because reinforcement has consistently followed the response in the presence of that cue. When the antecedent stimulus is present, the response is likely; when it’s absent, the response is unlikely. That reliability across opportunities is what defines the relationship. Discrimination training is the method that helps establish this kind of control by teaching the organism to respond differently to different stimuli, shaping is the process of reinforcing closer and closer approximations to a target behavior, and a prompt is a temporary aid used to elicit the correct response but not the enduring control relationship itself.

Stimulus control is the idea that a cue in the environment becomes a reliable signal for whether a behavior will occur because reinforcement has consistently followed the response in the presence of that cue. When the antecedent stimulus is present, the response is likely; when it’s absent, the response is unlikely. That reliability across opportunities is what defines the relationship.

Discrimination training is the method that helps establish this kind of control by teaching the organism to respond differently to different stimuli, shaping is the process of reinforcing closer and closer approximations to a target behavior, and a prompt is a temporary aid used to elicit the correct response but not the enduring control relationship itself.